What emerged was a conversation less about titles and achievements than about curiosity, mentorship, judgement, humility and learning when to let go.<\/p>\n\t\t\t
Before medicine, who was Rosanne Kho?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
RK:<\/strong> I was someone who had my hands on everything all the time. I was never good at sitting still. There was always so much to do, so much fun to have, and so much to be involved with.<\/p>\n Before medical school, I was actually a Montessori teacher. I was pursuing my master’s in Montessori teaching and taught children from 18 months to three years old. I did that for a couple of years before I had a change of mind and said, “I want to do medicine.”<\/p>\n Medicine had really always been there. There was a diversion-an early marriage and having a child at a young age-but the calling was there from the beginning. As early as when I learnt to sign my name in cursive, I would sign it with “MD” at the end.<\/p>\n\t\t\t RK:<\/strong> I knew it was surgery. The question was whether it would be general surgery or obstetrics and gynaecology.<\/p>\n I went to Tulane Medical School, and during my first general surgery rotation I was at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. At that time, the second-year general surgery resident essentially ran the emergency room. There were trauma cases every shift, and I completely fell in love with that model.<\/p>\n I came home excited and told my daughter, who was six at the time, “This is what I want to do-general surgery.”<\/p>\n She looked at me and said, “Who’s going to take care of me, Mom?”<\/p>\n So I thought, okay, let’s do OBGYN-with the GYN in bigger letters! At the time, it offered a more humane residency structure. I went to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and was incredibly fortunate to train with amazing physicians and surgeons. I have never regretted that decision.<\/p>\n\t\t\t RK:<\/strong> Much, much later. I still wonder!<\/p>\n It took me a long time to get to a point where I could say, “If that person can do it, I can do it.”<\/p>\n I’ve had many mentors over the years who really brought me under their wings. One of the first was Dr Timothy Wilson at the Mayo Clinic. As a resident, I could hear his voice in the back of my head:<\/p>\n “Just do it, Rosanne. Just do it. Don’t think twice. Just do it.”<\/p>\n I’ve carried that voice with me ever since.<\/p>\n\t\t\t RK:<\/strong> There were several people. What they did was push me-push me so that I had no choice but to stretch my wings and fly.<\/p>\n Timothy Wilson was one. And definitely Javier Magrina, with whom I did my fellowship.<\/p>\n I then had the extraordinary privilege of operating alongside Javier for years. We were operating every other day and in clinic every other day. We had lunch together every day, no matter what we were doing. I did that for 13 years. One of the most important things I learnt from Javier was this:<\/p>\n He pushed me far enough, but never so far that I felt defeated.<\/p>\n I think that’s one of the secrets of being a good mentor. You challenge someone. You get them outside their comfort zone. But you don’t defeat them.<\/p>\n Javier was also already one of the world’s premier laparoscopic surgeons when, in his late 50s, he embarked on learning robotic surgery. Why would someone already operating at that level bother learning an entirely new technology?<\/p>\n But he did.<\/p>\n I learnt so much from watching that. We are never too old to learn something new. We have to be willing to get out of our comfort zone.<\/p>\n\t\t\t RK:<\/strong> I don’t think I’ve ever really questioned it.<\/p>\n It’s a gift to wake up every morning loving my work. I’ve never wavered and thought, “I should have done internal medicine,” or “I should have done paediatrics instead.”<\/p>\n I’ve loved the process. I’ve loved the path. I’ve genuinely enjoyed every step of the journey.<\/p>\n To me, the scrub sink is a sacred place.<\/p>\n I think we, as surgeons, need to honour that a little more.<\/p>\n At the scrub sink, I think about the patient. What is her story? What does she want? What are her treatment goals? I go through the procedure in my mind.<\/p>\n And then I say my prayer.<\/p>\n My prayer isn’t for a completely smooth and easy case. It is that when something is amiss, I have the wherewithal and the wisdom to recognise that something isn’t right-and to respond to it.<\/p>\n\t\t\t RK:<\/strong> That’s a tough question.<\/p>\n I tell junior colleagues, residents and fellows to appreciate the different phases of our lives.<\/p>\n There are phases where we can focus intensely on training and learning, travel, and take as many opportunities as possible. Then relationships and families come, and it’s okay to step back and slow down.<\/p>\n There was a time in my life when I took no more than two to four weeks off after each baby. Why did I do that?<\/p>\n There was so much burden and guilt. I thought, “I have to get back. I have to get back onto the call schedule. Otherwise, I’m leaning too much on everybody else.”<\/p>\n There are moments in my children’s lives that I missed-games and performances I couldn’t attend.<\/p>\n Looking back, why was I working full-time then when I could perhaps have stepped back to 60 or 80 per cent?<\/p>\n Then the children leave home. Now it’s my time. I have my puppy, Luna!<\/p>\n And I should say this isn’t only about women surgeons. Men have phases in their lives too. If you have the ability to pull back a little, you can always ramp up again later.<\/p>\n Life events, however, you cannot bring back.<\/p>\n\t\t\t RK:<\/strong> That’s a tough question.<\/p>\n I tell junior colleagues, residents and fellows to appreciate the different phases of our lives.<\/p>\n There are phases where we can focus intensely on training and learning, travel, and take as many opportunities as possible. Then relationships and families come, and it’s okay to step back and slow down.<\/p>\n There was a time in my life when I took no more than two to four weeks off after each baby. Why did I do that?<\/p>\n There was so much burden and guilt. I thought, “I have to get back. I have to get back onto the call schedule. Otherwise, I’m leaning too much on everybody else.”<\/p>\n There are moments in my children’s lives that I missed-games and performances I couldn’t attend.<\/p>\n Looking back, why was I working full-time then when I could perhaps have stepped back to 60 or 80 per cent?<\/p>\n Then the children leave home. Now it’s my time. I have my puppy, Luna!<\/p>\n And I should say this isn’t only about women surgeons. Men have phases in their lives too. If you have the ability to pull back a little, you can always ramp up again later.<\/p>\n Life events, however, you cannot bring back.<\/p>\n\t\t\t RK:<\/strong> I don’t think I ever consciously did.<\/p>\n I’ve been very fortunate to have an executive coach for several years, and I’ve asked: Why do we tell our mentees they need to be so intentional about everything they do? I don’t think I was ever particularly intentional.<\/p>\n I just knew that whatever I was doing at that moment, I had to do my best.<\/p>\n If something was leaving my desk, and my name was going to be attached to it, it had to represent my best work.<\/p>\n People recognise that. Then you get tapped to take on another task, and then a larger task, and eventually to lead.<\/p>\n For me, it was never necessarily about aiming for a particular position. It was about doing whatever was in front of me as well as I could.<\/p>\n Sometimes, being too focused on reaching a particular destination can take some of the joy out of the journey.<\/p>\n\t\t\t RK:<\/strong> At the end of the day, I have to be able to face myself. I need to close my eyes and go to sleep knowing, “I did my best today.”<\/p>\n I’m grateful to have reached a point in my journey where it’s not about me anymore.<\/p>\n It’s about elevating the tide for everybody else.<\/p>\n It’s not about another paper that I need to put my name on. It’s about bringing teams together and taking on bigger problems because you now have a group of people with the expertise to work on them together.<\/p>\n\t\t\t RK:<\/strong> For many years, I didn’t want to say, “I was treated that way because of who I am, what I look like, my gender or my race.”<\/p>\n But unfortunately, there are times when it becomes evident.<\/p>\n And then you have to speak up.<\/p>\n You cannot simply let those things go, particularly when you reach a leadership position, because it isn’t just about you anymore. You have an entire team coming with you.<\/p>\n So I have a responsibility to speak up and say why certain things need to be taken into consideration.<\/p>\n\t\t\t RK:<\/strong> That’s a study we need to do!<\/p>\n I’ve had a post-it note on my desk forever that says: “What makes a good surgeon?”<\/p>\n For me, high on the list is someone who knows when to operate-and when not to operate.<\/p>\n That means you’re genuinely thinking and listening to your patient. It isn’t simply about surgical outcomes. We increasingly recognise that our research shouldn’t only report surgical outcomes either; we have to consider patient-reported outcomes.<\/p>\n The second part is the art of medicine and the art of surgery.<\/p>\n You have to be able to notice when something doesn’t look right, doesn’t feel right, or is behaving differently.<\/p>\n Sometimes it’s incredibly subtle. When I’ve gone back and watched surgical videos of a complication-for example, a ureteric injury-there can be just a tiny clue. Something looks a little more “soupy.”<\/p>\n Why is it more soupy? Something is amiss. You have to know when to pause and listen to that.<\/p>\n We’re constantly teaching and working with learners. There can be many things happening in the operating room at once. But you’re still the primary surgeon. Even if you’re standing there as the second or third assistant while a learner operates, you have to notice everything. You have to own the OR. You need that bird’s-eye view and the ability to recognise the small signal that tells you something isn’t quite right.<\/p>\n\t\t\t RK:<\/strong> I’d like to think so.<\/p>\n How responsible can any one person be for an entire generation? But there are many opportunities where we can make small differences-and hopefully those differences have a ripple effect.<\/p>\n That’s also why writing matters. The printed medium matters. I cherish my role on practice guideline committees because there is an opportunity to make a difference and change clinical practice.<\/p>\n And the more people you bring into that process, the more they understand it. Then little teams begin to form and eventually become sustainable themselves.<\/p>\n\t\t\t RK:<\/strong> Yes, for sure.<\/p>\n Someone who becomes even better than me. I love watching that process.<\/p>\n Every July or August, new learners come into the OR and the clinical setting, and it can be painful. Sometimes you think, “Can I still do this?”<\/p>\n Then, only a few months later, you have the enormous satisfaction of watching someone transition towards becoming an independent clinician.<\/p>\n There is a steep and sometimes painful learning curve, and then suddenly you watch the light bulbs go on.<\/p>\n You see that transition.<\/p>\n That’s what keeps me going.<\/p>\n\t\t\t RK:<\/strong> A lot.<\/p>\n I’m a very strong advocate for going to other countries to learn.<\/p>\n It should never be with the mindset of, “I’m coming here to teach you.” I have so much to learn by visiting other surgeons, seeing other operating rooms and observing different ways of managing disease.<\/p>\n I learnt that early in endometriosis care: the importance of collaboration with imaging specialists, colorectal surgeons and colleagues in other disciplines.<\/p>\n The role of imaging in gynaecology and endometriosis in other parts of the world has been so far ahead of the United States. In some respects, we’re probably 10 or 15 years behind.<\/p>\n That’s why international collaboration matters. There is always something we can learn from one another.<\/p>\n\t\t\t Someone who isn’t defeated by the hardest complications. A great surgeon can find the lessons in those complications and become an even better surgeon because of them.<\/p>\n\t\t\t A servant leader. Someone for whom no task is too small or too big.<\/p>\n\t\t\t Letting go-of fear, anxiety, negative thoughts and the things that hold you back.<\/p>\n For me, that also involves trust in God. It took me a long time to understand what letting go actually means. We hold so tightly to things because we want control, without realising that sometimes the landing is right there.<\/p>\n When you’re able to let go, you may find that you land somewhere stable.<\/p>\n\t\t\t Find a good, generous and kind mentor.<\/p>\n That’s my wish for every young learner-not only in the operating room or clinic, but throughout life.<\/p>\n\t\t\t That I’ve spent too much time thinking I have control when I don’t.<\/p>\n\t\t\t Give them that opportunity when you know the greater whole will benefit from it.<\/p>\n Dr Rosanne Kho<\/strong> Interview by Dr Akshara Shyamsunder<\/strong> Who helps us become the surgeons we aspire to be and who will we help become even better? Dr Rosanne Kho shares an inspiring perspective on courage, mentorship and a legacy that reaches beyond the operating room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions\/222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}When did you realise surgery was where you belonged?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
Was there a point when you realised, “I could actually become very good at this”?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
Who saw something in you before you necessarily saw it in yourself?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
There was enormous security in knowing he was operating in the room next door and that I could always call him. But at the same time, I was left on my own so that I could push myself.<\/p>\nHas there ever been a point when you genuinely questioned whether this career was worth it?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
You’ve built an extraordinary surgical and academic career. Has ambition cost you anything? Knowing what you know now, is there anything you would protect more fiercely?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
You’ve built an extraordinary surgical and academic career. Has ambition cost you anything? Knowing what you know now, is there anything you would protect more fiercely?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
When did you realise your responsibility extended beyond your own operating room?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
What does leadership mean to you when nobody is watching?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
Has being a woman changed how your leadership has been perceived?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
You’ve trained and worked alongside many surgeons. What separates an exceptional surgeon from someone who is simply technically very good?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
Do established surgeons have an obligation to create opportunities for the generation behind them?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
Is successful mentorship ultimately creating someone who no longer needs you?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
Australia and the United States have different training systems and surgical cultures. What can we learn from one another?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
RAPID FIRE ROUND<\/h2>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t
A great surgeon is…<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
A great leader is…<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
The best advice you’ve received?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
Every young surgeon should…<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
Something you had to learn the hard way?<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
When you eventually have the power to give somebody else an opportunity, you should…<\/h3>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
![\"rk-001\"](\"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2026\/10\/rk-001.avif\" "\\"rk-001\\"")
\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t
MD
Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology<\/p>\n![\"dr-akshara-shyamsunder-001\"](\"https:\/\/escope.ages.com.au\/november-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2026\/10\/dr-akshara-shyamsunder-001.avif\" "\\"dr-akshara-shyamsunder-001\\"")
\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t
MBBS, MRMed, FRANZCOG, AATP
Banner University Medical Center Phoenix, Arizona, USA<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"