Top medical graduate looks forward to a healthy career

February 2008

Lachlan Miles (MBBS 2007) has embarked on a challenging medical internship after graduating from Monash University with several awards. Dr Miles commenced work in the medical unit of Gippsland Base Hospital in Sale last month as part of a compulsory rural rotation with the Alfred Hospital.

Although he admits he is on a steep learning curve, Dr Miles is enjoying the challenge of working in a rural hospital.

“In the rural environment, where there are little or no specialist services, the hospital’s general medical unit takes responsibility for every patient. This means I’ve had the good fortune to be involved in the management of a wide variety of different conditions that a first year graduate might not be directly exposed to,” he said.

Dr Miles hopes to one day specialise in intensive medicine, one of the Alfred’s most renowned disciplines. In 2007, he was recognised as one of Monash’s top medical students, winning three awards in his final year of study. These include the Harriet Power Scholarship in Medicine, the Robert Power Scholarship in Surgery and the Alfred Hospital Residents and Graduates Prize.

Dr Miles was exposed to medicine at an early stage of his life.

“I have been a volunteer with St John Ambulance since I was 12 and attended my first cardiac arrest when I was 14,” he said.

Dr Miles’ father is also a Monash graduate and worked at the Alfred Hospital for 25 years. Mr Campbell Miles (MBBS 1971) retired from the Alfred in 2006 as head of the vascular unit and surgical chairman of the adverse events committee. Dr Miles’ twin brother is a current student at Monash, due to complete Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (with honours) degrees next year.

Dr Miles says his father is his greatest inspiration.

“Sir Issac Newton was once quoted as saying, ‘If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.’ As my brother is fond of remarking, our father is our giant,” he said.