Occasionally there are conversations that captivate you because of the unique way that an individual has faced a challenge and the choices they’ve made to change the dynamic.

This conversation was one of those.

Ben Bravery is on a mission to open up a conversation. A conversation between patients and doctors, between those experiencing illness and the system that has been set up to care for the ill - but sometimes leaves them feeling lost and vulnerable.

Originally a zoologist and science communicator, at the age of twenty-eight, with his Beijing-based science communications business doing well and a new relationship blossoming, Ben woke from a colonoscopy to be told he had stage 3 colorectal cancer.

What’s most fascinating about this conversation is not the cancer diagnosis, but what Ben’s scientific way of viewing the world lead him to do next.

In 2018 Ben became a doctor and is committed to advocating for change in Australia's healthcare system.

What he didn't expect was how being a patient, and a young one at that, would make him feel. During eighteen long months of treatment, including aggressive chemotherapy, Ben felt scared, overwhelmed, sometimes invisible and often alone.

Now, driven by his experience on both sides of the healthcare system, this patient-turned-doctor gives a no-holds-barred account of how he overcame the trauma of his illness to study medicine and shares what he believes student doctors, doctors, patients and their families need to do to ensure that the medical system puts the patient at the very heart of healthcare every day.

Enjoy this conversation with the patient doctor - Ben Bravery.

Website: https://www.benbravery.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drbenbravery/