Dua said she noticed a lack of female colleagues 30 years ago when she was training to be a breast surgeon, but she was skilled with her hands – and felt the career had potential for her.
“It’s the curability of breast cancer,” she said.
“As a breast surgeon, you hear the horror stories as patients, you hear the horror stories in the media,” but, she said she wanted to help women see cancer as “that little glitch in the story of your life”.
“These women, they may not be health-wise… they’re so scared,” she said.
She added that she knew it was “not a positive experience” for patients, but if she could “send a woman back to her family” with fewer worries, then she had done her job.
She said it was “fascinating” to have cameras follow her through her home life.
“I think they were quite curious just to see just how much of a symphony it is to organise my life but somehow you just get on with it, you don’t know any different,” she said.
Watching the series for herself even helped her see more of the patient journey than she would have otherwise seen, she revealed.
“It’s the best learning that we can do – to watch ourselves and how we interact – so that’s been quite educational for me as well,” she said.
“I do far too much hugging.”
