Educational activities that left a positive footprint on my medical pathway

Artemis Trikola is a gastroenterologist at Athens Naval Hospital in Greece and a military doctor at the same time. She has recently completed her training in gastroenterology. Her research and clinical work focus on inflammatory bowel diseases and neurogastroenterology, the latter being an emerging subspecialty in the Greek healthcare system. Recently, Artemis was able to join prestigious centers worldwide and attended their educational activities (Evangelismos General Hospital in Athens, Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague, and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston) which left a positive footprint on her medical pathway. 
 

What did motivate you to push your career development? 
My main motivation was the constant effort for a holistic approach to the patient. Understanding the diseases of gut-brain interaction and the mechanisms that drive symptoms is the cornerstone to effectively treating patients with chronic diseases that burden substantially their quality of life. Most importantly, apart from self-development, established educational activities helped me to set new goals, interact, and gain experience from seasoned professionals.  

How do you find new opportunities and what advice can you give to beginners? 
I am grateful because I was exposed to numerous educational opportunities and activities at the beginning of my training years, such as the UEG Summer School, which underlined the importance of interaction with other centers and broadened my horizons. There are also opportunities for junior doctors that may facilitate this goal. I was honored to receive one of the UEG Clinical Visiting Fellowships and visited the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) in the Czech Republic, where I spent some fruitful weeks and interacted with esteemed faculty, under the supervision of prof J. Martinek, MD. However, there are many educational opportunities to be seized. My life-changing opportunity was my 6-month fellowship in the Center of Neurointestinal Health at Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, USA), under the supervision of prof B. Kuo, MD in the setting of an international training grant from the American College of Gastroenterology. 

Inspiration, determination, and continuous effort are needed during every step and application process. Opportunities may be found everywhere, from national and international meetings to educational activities and mentorships from societies (like during UEG Week or the Y-ECCO mentorship forum). 

How can you tell that you are on the right track and will be happy working as a gastroenterologist?  
From my perspective, as a doctor, a military officer, a woman, and a mother, balancing between different roles have always been a constant goal and this could only be achieved by the support of my family, my colleagues, my mentors, different educational societies, UEG, and ACG. My continuous professional development makes me feel that I am on the right track and I am more than happy working as a gastroenterologist and treating patients with all my efforts.