IWD - Dr Elise Buisson

Q; What’s the best advice you’ve ever received??

A: Before having kids, I spent a long time asking questions of women in medicine?who had started their families at every level of seniority, from medical student to consultant. I would summarise their cumulative advice as the following: there is no ‘good’ time to have children in the midst of a medical career. It’s a huge, disruptive, wonderful, perspective-changing event, and medical practice does not bend well to accommodate it. My takeaway from that advice was to start a family whenever that was what myself and my partner wanted! For that reason, I had my first child between the fourth and fifth years of medical school, and my second child 3 years later, between internship and residency. I had the good fortune of being able to time both pregnancies with the clinical year, and thus had a year off with each child, which was a total joy. The advice I would pass on is that there is no perfect time to live a life - you can only make the choices that fit best with the story you want to tell about yourself.

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Q: Which woman has inspired you the most??????

A: I’m inspired by my almost 5-year-old daughter! I see the way she moves through the world as her truest self, expressing what she thinks and believes in an earnest and fearless way. I love her critical thinking and thoughtful reflections on the world. I love her gentleness and patience with her little brother, even when he recently turned 2 and learned the phrase “no way!”. She so naturally adopts an educating and leadership role, both within our family unit and with her peers; I can always trust her to follow the road safety rules and to remind us all to do the same!?I love watching her relentless growing, constantly pushing?at the edges of what she knows about the world. I learn from her every day, and my hope for her is that she remains boldly herself throughout her lifetime, and inspires other women to do the same.

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Q: How do you manage work and home life?

A: In our family, we’ve taken the long view of give-and-take in supporting each other as a family unit. During my partner’s training, I had two long periods of maternity leave at home with the kids, and took on more of the domestic load. Now that my partner's training time is up, he’s working part-time and both he and the kids love their days together at home. It’s a huge support to me to now have so much of the mental load of looking after a family managed by my partner- from planning kids’ birthday parties, to cooking dinner each night, to organising our family moving house to be closer to my work. So, how do you manage work and home life? As a team.

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Q: What energises you the most??

A: One of the great fortunes of my life is that it’s filled with things I find energising! I’m energised by working in women’s health. It’s a total privilege to be with women during pregnancy and delivery, and to offer steadiness and calm in high-acuity situations. I’m energised by seeing my beautiful babies each day and going on new adventures with my family. I’m energised by going for a run, which is tricky to fit around my aforementioned passions but fills me with joy! Someday in the future, I also hope to be energised by adequate sleep (at whichever point my dear children deem that appropriate)!