Average Black Surgeon
The Long Distance Between Speed and Experience
He was fifteen years older, calm, conservative in theatre. I assumed the half marathon was mine. He crossed the finish line well ahead of me and barely looked like he'd tried.
Average Black Surgeon
Average Black Surgeon is a lived memoir of becoming, enduring, and choosing. From childhood and identity to surgical training, bias, resilience, and visibility, it traces how discipline, community, and self-belief are forged under pressure. Honest, reflective, and ongoing, it explores the cost of excellence, the responsibility of representation, and the quiet decisions that shape a surgeon’s life—and legacy.
Average Black Surgeon
Zero
I opened the assessment and saw zero. Not a low score. Not borderline. Zero. Across every domain. As if everything I had done in that theatre didn't exist.
Average Black Surgeon
Two Languages
The approach that got me through training failed me completely in the exam room. Same knowledge. Different room. I had to learn a second language nobody teaches you.
Average Black Surgeon
In the Room Where They Used My Work
The panel told me I wasn't ready to sit my exam. That same term, I sat in a lecture theatre and heard my own work being taught to the room. Nobody knew I was there.
Average Black Surgeon
Hospital at night
I chose surgery on a quiet night in a doctors' mess, based on thirty minutes of calm and one honest conversation. The information was incomplete. The commitment was not.
Average Black Surgeon
Sisters and Misters
Some women in surgery don't just inspire you. They hand you the map they had to draw themselves, and quietly show you where the difficult rooms are.
Average Black Surgeon
Brothers in arms
Surgery is competitive by design. Finding people who genuinely want you to succeed — and who you want the same for — changes everything.
Average Black Surgeon
The Art of Showing Your Work
You put your head down, you do the work, and you wait to be noticed. It took one conversation to understand why that was the wrong strategy.
Average Black Surgeon
The Indian Uncle
In surgical training, skill isn’t enough. You need someone in your corner. My “Indian Uncle” spoke little—but protected me, built my confidence, and taught me the quiet power of trust and loyalty.
Average Black Surgeon
Forgotten
Months after CCT, I found myself unemployed, filling out forms and applying for locums while the system moved on without me. When the operating stops, a surgeon must ask a difficult question: who am I now?
Average Black Surgeon
Outcome 3
Outcome 3. A moment when your career feels like it might collapse. Rumours spread, confidence disappears, and the system closes in. Sometimes survival requires finding another way forward.
Average Black Surgeon
Being Called Stupid in Theatre
Thirty-two years old. Exams passed. Years of training behind me. Yet in theatre a consultant called me “stupid.” In surgery, hierarchy is real — and sometimes the hardest lesson is knowing when to hold your ground.