There are probably two or three things that one must have in order to be successful in building collaborations which is really a relationship to do something around which there is mutual interest. One is there must be trust; two, there should be a shared vision around which everybody who is participating is passionate about and the third most important thing is that each individual that participates has to have a skill set that doesn’t necessarily overlap but complements the other.
What can be hard about this?
Probably the most significant challenge is learning how to control one’s competitive instinct and not try to take control of the project but to learn to share what he or she has and to listen to what someone else has to say and learn how to appreciate what they have and to integrate it into the whole
How does this relate with oncology?
For instance, I’m doing a special research project that’s funded by the Medical Research Council of the UK and it involves the use of some new technology to try to accelerate surgical oncology training. It requires a different set of people – it requires a health operations manager, it requires a fundraiser, it requires someone like me who is a clinician who is a surgeon but it also requires forming a relationship with people who are experts in computer graphics, people who are experts in computer design and those who have expertise in gaming, making games. So that’s a very unique conglomerate of people. We’re trying to do that to set up an educational process that catalyses the transfer of surgical skills from someone like me to young trainees in low and middle income countries.
What possibilities do advances in tech bring?
Because using this technology allows us to take off the shelf technology such as Oculus Rift, those glasses where you can put them on and you’re in the virtual space, and design a simulation of the female pelvis because we’re training these young physicians, young surgeons, how to perform cancer surgery, female cancer surgery. So you need computer graphics in order to make that design, you need gaming technology in order to figure out how to make things work with colour and make it similar to the actual female pelvis. You need all of those things.
What would your take home message be?
Know what your target is and stay focussed on the target. Whenever there’s any inclination to try to take full control and try to take credit for what’s being done, just think about that there’s a need for complementary activity and cooperation to reach the goal. The goal is not you, it’s not your ego, it’s not your professional career, it’s service to some individual or to some population or subpopulation. So if you focus on that and focus on being successful that keeps things in line.
