This personal evaluation is submitted with a view to enlightening the reader as to how I perceive myself - my life, my passions, accomplishments, unfulfilled dreams and not least of all, new paths I would like to tread and explore to the fullest of my abilities.

Born the eldest in a family of four boys, the role model I had to play was instilled in me from tender years by my late father. Testimony of my fulfillment is best illustrated by the fact that I paved the way through medical college for all three of my siblings to follow suit. With the benefit of hindsight, I now realise that, amongst my passions, the urge to impart knowledge has always been there. I am poorer for the fact that this yearning has been relatively dormant and subservient to the demands of university studies, career progression, professional pursuits and family. I take comfort in the knowledge that notwithstanding these counter demands, I have always been there for my fellow medical students, my staff at whatever position I have held and generally anyone who could benefit from years of experience and accumulated knowledge.

An early call to military aviation relented to a greater call to medicine. Post medical graduation saw me enlist in the Malaysian Army to which I am ever grateful for the measure of discipline it inculcated in me. Even in those early years, whether in the jungles and remote kampongs of Malaysia or on board a Navy ship in Pacific waters, I always took the opportunity to educate people on how best to look after their health under trying conditions.

My first encounter with tertiary medical education was a 2-year stint with University Malaya as lecturer in anatomy. Much as I enjoyed this appointment the reality was that I needed professional qualification in surgery to see my career through to its rightful conclusion. The time spent in Ireland as Registrar while studying for the professional examination was one of revelation in the spectrum of absorbing knowledge and imparting the same. Post Fellowship graduation and on return to Malaysia, I wasted no time in preparing aspirants for the Part 1 FRACS of the Course and involved myself with assisting the College of Surgeons accordingly.

Beyond the operation theatre and clinics, the focus of my talks, discussions and debates has invariably revolved around the surgical management of patients. Now in my mid-sixties and unshackled from all the extraneous demands of life, I seek the opportunity to fully realise the foremost of passions in my life. I see the return to teaching at tertiary medical education as fulfillment of a long held aspiration.