Staff profile: Dr Karen Wood

(Inside Aotea, February 2010)

CEO & Pathologist

Qualifications

MBChb, DCP, FRCPA

These represent my medical degree and postgraduate diploma in clinical pathology, and my fellowship which is in Anatomic Pathology.

Responsibilities

I have two aspects to my job. Some of my time is spent reporting on specimens we receive from surgeons and physicians. The rest of my time is spent ensuring that everything runs well at Aotea Pathology.

Most rewarding part of your job

Contributing to the care of a patient — particularly if it is an unexpected finding and is a very positive result for that person. Even if the diagnosis is not a good one, I know I am doing the best thing for the patient in getting the right answer back to the doctor.

How do you most enjoy spending time outside work

My road bike, my dog, and my family seem to use up all my spare time, not necessarily in that order. The little time left over might be spent doing some indulgent shopping, reading a good book or catching a good movie.

Health tip

Everybody should be doing some exercise. At the very least they should walk for 30 minutes per day. It doesn’t even have to be done all at once!

Something your colleagues may not know about you

In the middle of the night I sometimes listen to talkback radio. It’s such a good way to find out what matters to people and what the public think on an issue, rather than the media’s opinion. It isn’t usually long until I fall back to sleep.