Freddie Searight

After graduating from Cardiff medical school in 2015, I did various jobs as a junior doctor in the UK, Malta and in Switzerland. I'm now training in general practice in London and looking forward to getting more involved with the EA community here! My hobbies include cycling and swimming. On 20th September I'll be doing a Scottish coast to coast challenge in 72 hours with another medic. We'll be cycling 360km across Scotland (double Ironman triathlon distance). En route we'll hike up Ben Nevis (highest mountain in the UK) and swim 5km across a chilly Scottish loch! We're fundraising for the Against Malaria Foundation. As many of you know, AMF is incredibly cost-effective (each net costs about $2!) and is consistently ranked a top-rated charity by GiveWell. Here is the link to donate: https://www.AgainstMalaria.com/scottishcoasttocoast

I was in the Swiss Alps with a friend who was already keen on effective altruism. We were working on a dairy farm together making Swiss cheese and during a break we hiked up the side of a mountain and he explained the concepts of effective altruism to me. The idea just made perfect sense. As medics, most of us are already keen on doing good, why not aim to do the most good possible?

I knew I wanted to have a career where helping others was at the centre of the work. Aged 16 I really enjoyed science. Combining this with problem solving and helping others seemed to naturally lead into a medical career.

Make the most of all opportunities presented to you. Also, don't feel rushed or pressured into choosing a certain career path. A medical career is a long one and taking the time to explore all your options is absolutely worth it, to ensure you make the right decisions and ultimately feel happy and fulfilled with what you do.

Have clear goals in mind. It's great if you know you're interested in EA, but if you want to develop your career in an effective way, you have to be setting yourself targets for what you hope to achieve. Don't worry if you don't always succeed with this, but by having specific goals to work towards you'll ultimately be more effective in what you do.

I hope to see the community expand and grow over time! As medics often naturally want to help people, EA is often a concept that resonates well within healthcare. We need to maximise on this and encourage more people to use both head and heart to do the most good possible!