| | OCTOBER 202619important. A technically brilliant surgeon can still fail a patient without the ability to explain a diagnosis, obtain meaningful consent or communicate difficult news. The next generation must also understand research, statistics, digital health and AI. Most importantly, they must retain curiosity and continually ask how things can be done better.How do you identify meaningful opportunities for surgical innovation?I usually begin with a clinical problem rather than a technology. If we repeatedly encounter difficulties in diagnosis, surgical planning, reconstruction, follow-up or long-term monitoring, that is where innovation should begin. I then ask whether the problem is genuinely unmet and whether technology can provide a meaningful solution.However, there is a significant difference between innovation and implementation. Any promising concept needs validation, appropriate study design, reproducibility, safety assessment and meaningful clinical outcomes.In paediatric surgery, the threshold for adoption should be particularly high because we are treating developing organs and patients who may have many decades of life ahead. Innovation should therefore be ambitious, but never impatient.What is your vision for the next phase of your career?I want the next phase of my career to be defined by contribution rather than titles. Clinically, I hope to continue developing advanced paediatric urology, minimally invasive surgery and complex robotic reconstruction. Academically, I want to contribute to research that addresses meaningful clinical questions rather than simply adding publications. Education is equally important, and I hope to help develop surgeons who are technically capable, intellectually curious and emotionally mature.I am also interested in the responsible integration of AI and emerging technologies into surgical education, planning and decision-making. Ultimately, I want to build better systems, better evidence, better teachers and better surgeons. If surgeons I have taught make safer decisions for children because of something they learned from me, that would be a meaningful measure of my career.
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