It is appreciated that most trainees do not wish to follow an academic pathway in the longer term. For those who do, the responsibility to drive innovation and to lead meaningful clinical trials falls to them. They must be the standard bearers of their chosen speciality and carry the practice within that speciality forward.For the rest, time spent in research is not wasted; most ultimately find that it is rewarding providing a useful base for consultant practice. The opportunity is there, with appropriate support, to become an expert on a focused topic. This in itself is a vehicle by which a young surgeon can become a well-known and established member within the surgical community.There is an even greater opportunity to take the time to explore the history of a particular operation or pathology and in so doing understand current practice, and why future developments are taking their present direction.
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