Dr Cheryl Martin

Bio

Cheryl is an emergency physician by background with two decades experience working in a variety of emergency, trauma and critical care settings in both Scotland and Australia. Her other main professional interests are in exercise and lifestyle medicine and the health, wellbeing and sustainability of practice of my colleagues.
She has held wellbeing portfolios at department, hospital and college levels. In 2022, she had further opportunity to develop her leadership skills, to effect meaningful, evidence- based change in this area, at the Stanford Well MD Chief Wellness Officer Course in California.

In 2023/24, Cheryl began undertaking a global senior executive MBA programme at the Melbourne Business School to further deepen and broaden my strategic leadership, managerial judgement and organisational behaviour lens. With a passion for the science, art and practical application of how we might optimise our performance and wellbeing as clinicians and maintain longevity of practice, The Mind Full Medic Podcast project was born in 2020. Outside of work Cheryl is an avid trail runner and finds joy exploring local coastal and mountain trails with her trail tribe. Like her yoga asana practice, running in natural settings is my moving meditation.

What was your first job?

Care assistant local nursing home 16 years as soon as I was legally able to be employed ( I was desperate to start work!). I had several PT jobs through medical school, including 3 jobs simultaneously in 3rd year … it must have been a quiet uni year!

Favourite job was being a postwoman job ( great banter in the sorting office at 4.30 am and finished by 9!), best paid was as a phlebotomist. ( also medical secretary, waitress, retail assistant, barmaid, checkout assistant…).

I’m a qualified yoga teacher ( this was always my plan B having practised since my late teens) I pursued a 350 hr teacher training a decade ago and a few other post-grad trainings in yoga therapy and yoga for athletes with international experts. I have taught in a variety of studio, private, athlete, corporate and healthcare settings ) I’m currently offering yoga for tight and tired senior execs to my MBA peers during our immersions at the business school ha!

I’ll admit to having always feeling like a bit of a square peg in medicine … hence in the CCIM community I have found a tribe, and I am grateful to Dr Amandeep Hansra and team for building this platform. Above said with 21K members and growing this tells us this group are more the rule that the exception My own professional mission is invested in future evidence-based strategy and action to enable our colleagues in medicine to feel supported and professionally fulfilled and have opportunity to thrive in their careers. The quality and safety of our healthcare system depends on it. We have a lot of engrained systemic and cultural barriers which have resulting in increasing rates of occupational burnout, distress and moral injury amongst clinicians, and this is only becoming more apparent over time. We do however have global blueprints for better policy and practice, but it will take courageous and visionary leadership to transform our future healthcare landscape for clinicians and their patients,

What was one really good piece of advice someone has told you?

Don’t take criticism from someone from whom you wouldn’t take advice.

Progress is not linear, keep going.

Favourite quotes

“We don’t rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems” – James Clear

“Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist” – Picasso

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

Links

https://www.themindfullmedicpodcast.com

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/