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https://ch.linkedin.com/in/konstantinos-tompler-b930b048
Konstantinos Tobler grew up in Psychiko, Athens. He graduated from the College of Athens and Psychiko. He was an excellent student and liked science very much, already at an early age he decided to become a doctor. He followed the positive direction and in 2011 he passed with national exams in the Department of Medicine at the University of Patras. He graduated with honours. He gets his degree, which he recognizes in Switzerland and decides to leave Greece to avoid the waiting list and the known pathologies of the NHS and since he also speaks German, he aims for a German-speaking country. Since Switzerland offers a high standard of living and having excellent German language skills already from school, he wanted to switch to practicing medicine in this country starting already as a year-long student to do internships in clinics in Switzerland while getting to know the Swiss way of life. He felt that knowledge of psychiatry is essential for a comprehensive treatment and better understanding of patients since many organic diseases have a psychiatric/neurobiological background, so it was on the basis of these thoughts that he was led to Psychiatry and later to Neurology in Switzerland.
He followed the advertisements in Switzerland and booked one interview at the University Clinic of Psychiatry in Bern, without having any acquaintance or any “means” as we would say, with the main qualification of existing clinical experience as a student trainee in another Psychiatry Clinic in Switzerland. The interview is conducted by the Director of the Psychiatric Clinic, who, among other things, asks him the following question: “How do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years from now?”. Konstantinos answers: “As an attending physician in a hospital or as a private doctor in Switzerland”. And the director responds that ” they prefer to hire candidates who want to settle in Switzerland permanently and that it is great that he left everything and went from Greece to Switzerland to develop professionally”. After 2 years of residency at the University Clinic of Psychiatry in Bern, he decides to change his orientation and continues as a resident in a neurology clinic.
During the pandemic, a position opened up at the university hospital Hippokratio in the specialty of internal medicine, so he decides to return to Greece after almost 3 years in Switzerland. During his training he is not satisfied with the functioning of the Greek health system and feels that he is reaching a ceiling in terms of his education and skills.
He returns to Switzerland with a vengeance and completes another semester of neurology in a clinic specializing in the rehabilitation of patients with multiple sclerosis and related neurodegenerative diseases. It is suggested that he should specialise in Psychiatry/Neurology, but he is fascinated by the vast scope of internal medicine and it is at this point that the final decision to specialise in Pathology is made. Having settled on the specialty of internal pathology, he can recognize the previous years of residency as 2 years of work in other specialties are also required to obtain the specialty of pathology in Switzerland. He then decides to start with the basic part of pathology, finding a position in a clinic near Zurich specialised in the rehabilitation of patients with chronic lung and cardiac diseases… In 2022, while still in residency, following a promotion proposal from the director, he obtains a position as an attending pneumologist in the same clinic where he continues to work until now. After 4 years of residency in Switzerland, he managed to reach a position where someone else might have needed up to 10 years.
In the end, Konstantinos has remained at this hospital for a year now as a Pulmonology Attending while thinking about the specialization he will pursue in the future.
From November he will move to Zurich and work at the 10th largest hospital in Switzerland, the Winterthur Hospital.
He believes that the satisfaction a Pathologist gets when treating a patient and “returning” them to their previous condition and functionality is unlike anything else.
Konstantinos admits that without the support of his family and close friends, he might not have made it.
He often comes to Greece to see his family and friends.
The 15-year journey from Athens to Patras, Bern to Zurich was not easy or without obstacles, but it was a journey of stubbornness, love and purpose.
The advice he would give to younger children who want to live abroad is: “Love what you do and dedicate yourself to it as your favorite activity to do in your free time. If you don’t love it very much, you won’t last away from Greece.”
He finds joy in the simplest of things. He does activities in nature and plays sports regularly.
From the column “We’d love to hear your story too!”
https://ch.linkedin.com/in/konstantinos-tompler-b930b048
Konstantinos Tobler grew up in Psychiko, Athens. He graduated from the College of Athens and Psychiko. He was an excellent student and liked science very much, already at an early age he decided to become a doctor. He followed the positive direction and in 2011 he passed with national exams in the Department of Medicine at the University of Patras. He graduated with honours. He gets his degree, which he recognizes in Switzerland and decides to leave Greece to avoid the waiting list and the known pathologies of the NHS and since he also speaks German, he aims for a German-speaking country. Since Switzerland offers a high standard of living and having excellent German language skills already from school, he wanted to switch to practicing medicine in this country starting already as a year-long student to do internships in clinics in Switzerland while getting to know the Swiss way of life. He felt that knowledge of psychiatry is essential for a comprehensive treatment and better understanding of patients since many organic diseases have a psychiatric/neurobiological background, so it was on the basis of these thoughts that he was led to Psychiatry and later to Neurology in Switzerland.
He followed the advertisements in Switzerland and booked one interview at the University Clinic of Psychiatry in Bern, without having any acquaintance or any “means” as we would say, with the main qualification of existing clinical experience as a student trainee in another Psychiatry Clinic in Switzerland. The interview is conducted by the Director of the Psychiatric Clinic, who, among other things, asks him the following question: “How do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years from now?”. Konstantinos answers: “As an attending physician in a hospital or as a private doctor in Switzerland”. And the director responds that ” they prefer to hire candidates who want to settle in Switzerland permanently and that it is great that he left everything and went from Greece to Switzerland to develop professionally”. After 2 years of residency at the University Clinic of Psychiatry in Bern, he decides to change his orientation and continues as a resident in a neurology clinic.
During the pandemic, a position opened up at the university hospital Hippokratio in the specialty of internal medicine, so he decides to return to Greece after almost 3 years in Switzerland. During his training he is not satisfied with the functioning of the Greek health system and feels that he is reaching a ceiling in terms of his education and skills.
He returns to Switzerland with a vengeance and completes another semester of neurology in a clinic specializing in the rehabilitation of patients with multiple sclerosis and related neurodegenerative diseases. It is suggested that he should specialise in Psychiatry/Neurology, but he is fascinated by the vast scope of internal medicine and it is at this point that the final decision to specialise in Pathology is made. Having settled on the specialty of internal pathology, he can recognize the previous years of residency as 2 years of work in other specialties are also required to obtain the specialty of pathology in Switzerland. He then decides to start with the basic part of pathology, finding a position in a clinic near Zurich specialised in the rehabilitation of patients with chronic lung and cardiac diseases… In 2022, while still in residency, following a promotion proposal from the director, he obtains a position as an attending pneumologist in the same clinic where he continues to work until now. After 4 years of residency in Switzerland, he managed to reach a position where someone else might have needed up to 10 years.
In the end, Konstantinos has remained at this hospital for a year now as a Pulmonology Attending while thinking about the specialization he will pursue in the future.
From November he will move to Zurich and work at the 10th largest hospital in Switzerland, the Winterthur Hospital.
He believes that the satisfaction a Pathologist gets when treating a patient and “returning” them to their previous condition and functionality is unlike anything else.
Konstantinos admits that without the support of his family and close friends, he might not have made it.
He often comes to Greece to see his family and friends.
The 15-year journey from Athens to Patras, Bern to Zurich was not easy or without obstacles, but it was a journey of stubbornness, love and purpose.
The advice he would give to younger children who want to live abroad is: “Love what you do and dedicate yourself to it as your favorite activity to do in your free time. If you don’t love it very much, you won’t last away from Greece.”
He finds joy in the simplest of things. He does activities in nature and plays sports regularly.
From the column “We’d love to hear your story too!”