------- Christina Wang, 180 Degrees Consulting UNSW Consultant -------
Q: Hello Christina, please introduce yourself!
Hey everyone! I’m Christina, a third-year medical student and an aspiring geriatrician. I’ve been involved with 180DC for nearly a year now and if I had to pick one thing that I have learnt from this whole experience, it’s that consultants love their rule of threes!
Q. Why did you join 180DC?
People. Passion. Projects.
People. The people you meet in 180DC are some of the most hardworking, down-to-earth and inspiring people you’ll ever come across in your university journey. I joined 180DC wanting to connect with people outside of the medicine bubble and collaborate with their different skill sets to give back to the community. Every person I’ve met, from my team members and other 180DC consultants, to my professional mentors and industry clients, have given me a little insight to their way of thinking and living.
Passion. I really enjoy problem solving and like medicine, consulting presents you with a problem case from which you need to break down into smaller manageable questions and find the relevant information to answer each question. From there, you piece together all the individual parts to form a bigger picture solution.
Projects. You get to work with active not-for-profit organisations all of whom are eager to receive input on how they can further their impact. Working closely with the clients has highlighted to me the valuable services which run for our communities and the respectful people that put their time in to make it all happen.
Q. What was your experience like as a 180 DC consultant, coming from a medicine background?
I was initially apprehensive about the contributions I could make to my team having come from degree which doesn’t deal a lot with analytical frameworks and issue trees. However, I received a lot of guidance and support from 180DC’s consulting workshops, my project teams and mentors. With this I was able to comfortably go through each phase of the project with my team and come to understand that the role of a consultant isn’t shaped for any specific degree or any specific type of personality. Its value is precipitated by extensive research, effective communication, and higher order problem solving.
Q: Was there a time you were able to apply your science knowledge to add value to your 180DC project?
In one of my projects we worked with an organisation which provided customised transportation services for people in the community. These people were often elderly or disabled and required help being taken to the shops, the doctors or on a social outing. My science background allowed me to bring my team insight on the different needs these users had, including wheelchair-friendly vehicles and door-to-door assistance. Being able to explore the situation from the user perspective not only allowed us to give our client more holistically approached solutions but also gave our team a greater sense of connection with our project.