Surgeons’ college announces it will abandon ‘Mr’ and ‘Ms’ titles

Instead, it will refer to surgeons with non-gendered titles in marketing materials and on its website
Dr Christine Lai
Dr Christine Lai.

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons says it wants to discourage the use of ‘Mr’ for male surgeons, declaring there is no longer a place for gendered titles in medicine. 

Under a new policy announced yesterday, the college says it will refer to surgeons with non-gendered titles in its marketing materials and on its website.  

College director Dr Christine Lai says the terms create “power and status differences” between male and female surgeons, and women who are married and women who are not.  

It is also confusing to patients, she adds.