Dr Lisa Searle is a general practitioner from Tasmania who has built a career with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), completing 11 assignments since 2010.
She first started working with MSF in a direct clinical role as a medical doctor, a position she fulfilled on three assignments, in Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Haiti.
As Lisa built up her experience working with MSF in low-resource settings, she took on more responsibilities: as hospital clinical lead in a return to DRC, and then as project medical referent, a role she worked in during assignments in the Central African Republic (CAR), Ethiopia, and Ukraine.
She has also taken on project management roles in her career, working as a project coordinator in the DRC. Most recently she has worked in Haiti as a sexual and gender-based violence program implementer.
Dr Lisa Searle on assignment in DRC, travelling between mobile clinics with the MSF team © MSF
Dr Lisa Searle kindly spoke to us about her career with MSF, which you can read in the interview below.
I made the decision to work for MSF when I was in high school at 15 years old, so by the time I finally applied I had been working towards my objective for 10 years. I was interested in humanitarian work from a very young age and when I heard about MSF from my French teacher, something felt right, and my career path was laid out before me. Since making the decision to work with MSF I have never wavered from this path.
I was a very junior doctor when I started with MSF. It was a very steep learning curve, especially as I started to understand that my role within the organisation was not as a clinical doctor, as I had been trained, but as a manager.
Right from the beginning I was very interested in improving my skills and capacity as a leader, to do a better job managing teams. I was also interested in Sexual and Reproductive Health, and although I have done some training in this area in Australia, I have also gained a lot of knowledge and experience through my work and trainings with MSF, especially in the field of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.
The training opportunities have been incredible and I am so grateful for the high-quality training I have had access to from working with MSF. I have benefited from language training in French and Spanish; I am now fluent in French and over the last 10 years have primarily been living and working in the Francophone world. I have also done training in leadership and people management, medical management, humanitarian access and negotiations, and sexual and reproductive health.
In addition to the formal training sessions, I’ve also had the chance to benefit from on-the-job learning, which has been incredibly valuable. Most of my knowledge and experience in security management and operations has come from direct work experience.
In terms of my medical career, I have focused on MSF and have not had consistent medical work in Australia for many years now. My work in Australia in between MSF assignments is working with the Bob Brown Foundation as an action coordinator, fighting on the frontline against the destruction of Tasmania's wild places. This is a very different career from my MSF path; although there is a lot of crossover in terms of leadership, managing teams, working in remote settings, logistical coordination and the incredible passion and energy of the people I work with to make this world a better place.
My work in Haiti is one of the things I am most proud of in my career with MSF. I first went to Haiti in 2015 to assist with opening a new project - a vertical clinic for survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) that we called Pran Men'm. I was responsible for getting the clinic set up, recruiting and training all the Haitian medical staff and supporting them with their first patients.
It has been so rewarding to return to this project and see much progress has been made since the beginning.
When I returned to Haiti last year, seven years later, the clinic was thriving with an incredible team of people who now have a huge amount of experience. I was tasked with setting up a training unit to increase opportunities for MSF staff and staff from the Ministry of Health and other NGOs. Our training unit has become a centre of excellence and we receive requests from other health centres and organisations every day.
I now have an intimate knowledge of SGBV in Haiti and understand the different actors working in this area, which has enabled me to network with other service providers and improve access to support for survivors of SGBV. It has been so rewarding to return to this project and see much progress has been made since the beginning.
Dr Lisa Searle speaking to a team of Haitian doctors during a training in Sexual and Gender-Based Violence © MSF
I never say no to an opportunity, and I always jump at the chance to throw myself out of my comfort zone and into a new challenge. MSF has encouraged me to keep progressing right from the beginning of my career, and with support from my career manager in Sydney, my pool manager in Amsterdam, and the support of supervisors I have worked with overseas, I am now validated as a Medical Team Leader, SGBV program implementer, and more recently as a Project Coordinator.
I have always been very interested in security management, strategic vision, people management and operations, so although I was asked to step into the role of project coordinator unofficially multiple times throughout my MSF career, I finally achieved validation in this position a couple of months ago and am planning on pursuing a career in operations (Project Coordinator, Emergency Coordinator, Operational Deputy Head of Program, Head of Mission) in the future with MSF.
MSF has encouraged me to keep progressing right from the beginning of my career, and with support from my career manager in Sydney, my pool manager in Amsterdam, and the support of supervisors I have worked with overseas, I am now validated as a Medical Team Leader, SGBV program implementer, and more recently as a Project Coordinator.
Dr Lisa Searle with two of her colleagues outside Baraka general hospital in DRC, where she worked as a Hospital Clinical Lead © MSF
Although my experience managing security including critical incidents, project closures and evacuations is extensive, I do not have a lot of theoretical knowledge in these areas. I am looking forward to working more in MSF operational management to increase my understanding and knowledge.
I am also hoping to do more training in this area in the next 12 months, both face-to-face courses (Project Management Course and Populations in Precarious Situations), and through the MSF training platform known as Tembo (where I'd like to complete Advanced Humanitarian Negotiations and Security Management).
A career with MSF is incredibly challenging, but the work is so enriching, valuable and addictive. I never question the usefulness of what I am doing - I see the direct impact every day of the amazing work that we do and how much hope and relief we bring to communities in distress. This is what keeps me going.
To stand there alongside these people and let them know that they are not alone; that the world has not forgotten them.
If humanitarian crises continue, I will be there, standing alongside teams of the bravest, most selfless, passionate and committed people I have ever met. I get to travel, to get to know places and people that I would never otherwise have the opportunity to see or meet. It is an absolute privilege to be able to bring light and hope to people living in difficult circumstances and to see the difference we can make. To stand there alongside these people and let them know that they are not alone; that the world has not forgotten them.
Do it! In my opinion there is very little else that is more worthwhile that you could do with your life. A career with MSF will push you to your limits, and beyond. You will find strength within yourself that you never knew you had. You will make a positive difference to people's lives in some of the worst situations you can imagine. You will have opportunities to relieve suffering, and to bring hope to the darkest places. You will make friends all over the world, learn new languages, eat amazing exotic food, learn about different cultures and develop skills that will help you in all aspects of your life. You can make your MSF career look the way you want it to, as there is so much flexibility and so many options for career paths within the organisation. Talk to people, find out more, and most importantly get your application in!
