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First, Roger Medina-Serra and his wife Holly Riding-Medina celebrated the birth of their first child, a baby daughter, and now he has been recognised as a specialist in veterinary anaesthesia and analgesia.
Roger, who works for Linnaeus-owned North Downs Specialist Referrals (NDSR) in Bletchingley, Surrey, said it has been an amazing year and one he will remember for the rest of his life.
He said: “When I received the results of my examinations telling me I’d become a specialist, I started dancing and jumping with my wife in the living room!
“Being an anaesthetist and analgesia specialist allows me to be first in line to promote patient safety and to alleviate pain, and those were my main motivations when I started my career as a vet.”
Roger’s professional delight came hot on the heels of the joy he experienced at the birth of his baby daughter just eight months ago.
He admitted that combining his studies with his duties as a new dad was hard work but said the support of his family, friends and colleagues at NDSR helped him.
Roger added: “I started preparing for the examinations eight months in advance and, at the same time, we were blessed with the birth of our daughter.
“It has obviously been a challenging time at home but thanks to the support of family, friends and the NDSR team we managed to succeed and I’m very grateful to everyone for their help.
“Now, I am looking forward to a very happy Christmas celebration and, at work, I am very keen to focus on pain management, local anaesthesia techniques and management of critical patients.
“It is my absolute passion to have the opportunity to invest more of my time, energy and skills on NDSR’s interventional pain management clinic.”
Roger, who joined NDSR in autumn 2020 from the Royal Veterinary College, was integral to the launch of the unique interventional pain clinic and NDSR is thought to be the only private referral practice in the country offering the pioneering interventional treatment.
He said: “Interventional pain management, or interventional analgesia, involves a wide range of image-guided injections, using ultrasound and fluoroscopy in the process, with the aim of treating and helping to understand acute and chronic pain management and improving the quality of life of the patient.”
As well as leading his work with NDSR, Roger is also planning on more studying, adding: “Now I have passed these examinations, I will be focusing on my PhD on interventional analgesic procedures.”
NDSR clinical director Gerry Polton said: “We’re all absolutely delighted for Roger. He studied incredibly hard for his exams and, of course, combined his work with becoming a new father.
“He is a highly valued member of the team here and we look forward to benefiting from his continued dedication and experience.”
Roger graduated from Spain’s University of Murcia in 2014 and has completed two anaesthesia internships, one at his alma mater, the other at the University of Liverpool.
He then moved to the Royal Veterinary College of London to undertake a residency in anaesthesia and analgesia before joining NDSR in 2020.
NDSR offers specialist-led services in anaesthesia and analgesia, cardiology, dentistry, dermatology, diagnostic imaging, internal medicine, neurology, oncology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, soft tissue surgery and spinal surgery.
For more information, visit https://www.ndsr.co.uk/home or search for North Downs Specialist Referrals on social media.