Chaandni Balachandran

Hi everyone, I'm Chaandni, and I'd love to be your Community and Outreach Vice-Chair! I’ve loved being involved in Paeds this year as both Playteam leader and Conference subcommittee member.

I am incredibly passionate about outreach and have participated in multiple outreach programmes throughout medical school. As Roadshow Chair of ICSM Vision, I led a volunteering programme where medical students helped introduce secondary school students to medicine applications. I held various mock MMIs with different widening participation (WP) charities and ran stalls at school careers fairs. As WATCCH mentor and tutor for PotMed and Pathways to Medicine, I could give tailored advice to prospective medical students. These roles allowed me to understand how to foster strong relationships with schools. They gave me insight into the needs of secondary school students and how they would benefit from outreach programmes. I also built strong relationships with various WP charities, such as the Social Mobility Foundation, which I can build on next year.

My ideas for next year:

- Have panels and workshops at schools focused on child health - e.g. paeds BLS, common paeds problems

- Collaborate with outreach charities

- Organise shadowing/work experience in child health

- Continue to expand the conference to secondary school students

As community and outreach vice-chair, I would support the Chair in all their endeavours and strengthen relationships between ICSM Paeds, partner schools, and charities! My skills, experience, and passion for paediatrics and outreach make me well-placed to support the Outreach Chair and launch this programme on a wider scale.