Dr Arjun Ghosh

How did CLS get you ready for the world of work?

The academic rigour required to get into CLS continued once you were admitted. The standard expected was high and prepared us all well for the “real” world outside the classroom. While I was at CLS for 2 years before I left the UK, my time there left an indelible mark on me and I am still friends with boys from my year and go to the reunions! I was happy to have won our year’s old citizens’ FPL group last year!

What was your first job?

I have only ever had one job – being a doctor! I have worked as doctor in a number of different cities in the world, starting off in Kolkata before moving to Ayr and then finding my way back to London. Over the years, I worked my way through my training in general medicine and then cardiology taking numerous compulsory examinations and acquiring a number of degrees and fellowships. It has been a strange quirk of fate that I now work as a Consultant Cardiologist at Barts Heart Centre, St Bartholomew’s Hospital which is a stone’s throw from CLS!

Your biggest professional achievement?

I have been lucky enough to have a number of roles in medicine in national and international organizations which has allowed me to help develop my field – cardio-oncology – the cardiac care of cancer patients. My biggest achievement, I think, was to be appointed as the first consultant cardiologist in the UK specifically in the new field of cardio-oncology. This was recently followed by my appointment as Professor of Cardio-Oncology at Queen Mary University of London in 2025, which allows me to advocate even more for patients with cardio-oncology issues. I was also awarded the NHS’s top National Clinical Impact Award last year which was in recognition of my contribution to UK medicine. The award is a great motivator to keep striving to improve patient care!

Your most challenging professional moment?

The Covid 19 pandemic was a challenge for the world but was most challenging for health care workers. It was a scary and dangerous time seeing colleagues getting infected and dying just from doing their duty. It did however allow for some transformative positive change in healthcare also e.g. phone and video appointments are now routine which was not the case before. I shared my personal experience with the CLS community via the Gazette.

What inspires and motivates you at work?

I am in a very privileged position. I am able to help those in need on a daily basis. This can be through seeing patients on the ward or in clinic or through writing guidelines and curricula changing cardio-oncology clinical practice and training nationally and internationally. This also allows me to keep my work very varied. As cardio-oncology is a new and developing field, it throws up new challenges daily so there is no possibility of ever getting bored of the job!

One piece of advice for pupils and other Old Citizens about getting into your profession

I was speaking to current CLS students recently at a careers morning and there were a number of students who were interested in medicine. I explained that while it is very hard work with many examinations for many years, there are few professions in the world in which you can say you saved someone’s life. There is a real opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of many people so if this sounds like something you would like to do, go for it!