Hey! I'm Amile. I currently work as a junior doctor in Paediatrics & Neonates in a hospital somewhere in Essex. Over the years I've done a bit of everything from Adult Medicine and Psychiatry to Surgery and A&E.  I set up Off Duty as a way of serving those who serve others in the healthcare industry. 

To let you in on a secret, I first toyed between building an app or website platform before starting this newsletter. I've always been obsessed with media moguls, broadcasters and modern-day strategists. In my day, they used to call them spin doctors. So yes, you'd be right in thinking I was in the wrong specialty. 

Over the years, I've also built various communities including a large amateur running club at my university & a book club out of a gorge Art Deco East London hotel. 

However, as I progressed from medical school to doctordom and then into a reluctant rent-a-medical-opinion online…I began to see the need for a space that supported health professionals workers wanting to make money, do right by their patients & work in a modern era.

Everyday I come across funding streams for budding health entrepreneurs. I also watch individuals sharing excellent resources online. I see people working in exciting tech roles and opening up their own clinics. I join some of the various programmes and organisations that offer me growth. I see people working well across the MDT & engaging in research. I see students supporting each other with their revision and mental health. I use mobile apps to make my reviews safer.  I understand the power of stories and the collective voice online.

So I put on my thinking cap again & came up with Off Duty as a newsletter to bring it all together in one space.

Whenever I start something new, I always look back to one of the most thumbed reads on my bookshelf…The Lean Startup. It gives a clear approach to creating order and success in your business. The principles include testing ideas often, reiterating your MVP, failing quickly & cheaply and measuring progress. This time, I knew I wanted to do something different by building a cross-functional team and making better use of my time. Especiallly as a full-time NHS doctor!

If I was to do this by myself, there's no way you'd be getting two newsletters a week.

Without Marsila, (our jobsboard Curator & resident healthtech professional) you wouldn't be exposed to so many new and exciting roles every Tuesday. Without, Tomisin & Joanna, (our newsletter curators & current medical students) you wouldn't be getting such high quality thoughtful content every Thursday.  And without Alexa, (our podcast curator & soon-to-be doctor!), I would struggle to manage my upcoming guests, interview and the whole podcasting process. 

With their help, I've been able to produce more thoughtful content than I could produce my own & spend more time doing the strategic work of analysing the content, growing our readership & planning for the future.

Anyway,  I won't bore you too much! I only plan on sharing our progress once every 3 months. 

All I ask is that you continue to share with us your thoughts on the newsletter. If there is something that you enjoyed reading, checking out or sending onto a friend, do let us know. If there's an idea that you want to see in a future edition, a question you want us to explore or a story you want to share, let us know. We are also open for you to collaborate with us.

We read every single email and reply to each one. This week, I've changed the email address to my personal one, so feel free to hit the link below. I will reply!