I’m actually quite a creative person, with my background being in music and arts in high school – I studied piano and the clarinet. In the first three years of my medical degree at The University of Melbourne I was also studying music performance at the Conservatorium of Music. It was this creative side that moved me towards research and its ability to generate novel and creative thinking. Most people think that radiologists simply look at imaging scans and report on a particular diagnosis, but it isn’t that clear cut. Being a radiologist in particular allows me to think somewhat out of the box and with an element of imagination.
I’m a keen golfer and I have actually been involved in a small side project looking at the beneficial effects of mindfulness on performance with a friend I met in the US Erik Anders Lang. We discovered after looking at the brain of around 20 – 30 golfers using MRI both before and after mindfulness that their golf improved and that there is an increased brain volume in certain areas. We think this is probably a result of a reduction in stress hormones, steroids and anxiety that allow an increase in blood flow to the brain and an increase in the volume in certain areas. A colleague of mine has found that adding mindfulness to conventional chemotherapy and radiation makes patients do better with improved outcomes from cancer therapies.
I find golf to be a perfect combination of enjoying the journey, being outdoors, soaking up the wind and the sun, relaxation with friends, discipline, not allowing what has happen affect your state of mind and really just being in the moment.