Putting Things Back In Place

Sporting injuries have played an important role in Dr Alan Cheung’s life and career as an orthopaedic surgeon — they have allowed him to be one of the most trusted experts in his chosen practice.

- Anton D. Javier

Cheung, then only 18 years old, recalls apprehensively standing in front of 20 donated corpses waiting to be dissected. “The smell of preservative was overwhelming, and my 100 fellow students were shocked into silence. As the cadavers under the sheets were revealed, I heard a heavy thump next to me as my classmate George, a large rugby player, fainted clean away. He would later claim that he overindulged in tequila during Freshers’ Week, but we knew better!”

As young medical students, Cheung reveals that he and his contemporaries would witness more harrowing sights, but this was only the beginning. However, in later months, they would learn the human body’s mysteries from the generous souls who chose to donate themselves to medical science. “I then realized how incredible the design of the human body was, and this was the start of my journey to becoming a surgeon.”

A PAINFUL PATH TO SUCCESS

For Cheung, now 44, becoming an orthopedic surgeon was a little more painful than what he and his classmates went through in med school 101.

“The catalyst to becoming an orthopedic surgeon was a series of missed tackles while playing at Cambridge Rugby Club, which led to dislocating both my shoulders. But the more I think about it, the experience of injury and ensuing rehabilitation was a great experience. First-hand, it taught me what it was like to be an athlete recovering from a sporting injury. It also planted a seed of curiosity about the structure and function of the human body. Going forward, my positive experience as a trainee at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore also cemented my desire to become an orthopedic surgeon,” reveals Cheung.