As I was finishing my last year at school, my father was diagnosed with a bile duct tumour. At this point, I met Professor John Windsor, a world-renowned hepato-biliary surgeon who performed an 11-hour surgery on my father. Not only did he save my dad, Professor Windsor was also the first person to hand me a stethoscope, at the tender age of 17. Inspired by my mother's and my own experience of working in a retirement home and looking up to Prof Windsor, I went on to study medicine at the University of Auckland. 