Dr Brindha Shivalingam nearly became a dancer instead of a neurosurgeon, but fate – in the form of geopolitics – intervened.

The Sri Lankan civil war disrupted her training in classical Indian dance. Instead, the 52-year-old former refugee channelled the skills she learnt dancing into the delicate concentration required for brain surgery.

Dr Brindha Shivalingam in Hoochie Mama Cafe in Newtown.Credit: Janie Barrett

She still has the poise of a dancer, though – it is evident as she sits down opposite me for lunch.

“When I walk into an operating room, I feel like I’m dancing, actually,” she tells me. “Surgery is also about coordinated body movement, done to produce a result. So it’s exactly the same parts of your brain that are working.”

“I feel complete satisfaction, and that’s why I think surgery just works for me.”

Shivalingam talks to me over a snatched hour (she is very busy) through snatched mouthfuls of Moroccan chicken salad at the Hoochie Mamma Cafe in Newtown.

Brindha Shivalingam (left) is a neurosurgeon whose first love was dance.

We are meeting here because it’s close to the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, where she is head of neurosurgery.

Once we settle into an outdoor table and order our virtuous salads, plus a juice for Shivalingam, I ask her about her childhood in Colombo.

QOSHE - This top neurosurgeon learnt everything she could about the human brain. Then she had a stroke - Jacqueline Maley
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This top neurosurgeon learnt everything she could about the human brain. Then she had a stroke

99 1
01.03.2024

Dr Brindha Shivalingam nearly became a dancer instead of a neurosurgeon, but fate – in the form of geopolitics – intervened.

The Sri Lankan civil war disrupted her training in classical Indian dance. Instead, the 52-year-old former refugee channelled the skills she learnt dancing into the delicate concentration required for brain........

© The Sydney Morning Herald


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