When it comes to successful professionals, Claudia Di Bella, Associate Professor at St Vincent’s Private Hospital, is one-of-a-kind.

The orthopaedic surgeon specialises in the treatment of arthritis in the hip and knee, as well as bone and soft tissue tumours.

If that’s not enough of an indication of someone with safe hands; when Di Bella was a girl, she played water polo for the junior Italian national team.

“I started very early,” said Di Bella, “I played on a team that at the time won the European and Italian championships.

“However, there was a moment when I had to choose between medicine and sports, and I’m glad I chose medicine,” Di Bella shared during an interview on Il Globo TV.

“At medical school, I started in Sicily, in Catania. Then, during my second or third year I realised that orthopaedics was my passion.

“With my background as an athlete, I liked understanding how our body works in the context of the musculoskeletal system.”

It was at the prestigious University of Bologna that Di Bella studied orthopaedic oncology, and upon completion of her studies opted to do a PhD program which brought her to Australia for the very first time.

“I absolutely fell in love with Melbourne,” she revealed, “So, once I finished the academic path [I was on], I was able to come back here to settle.”

Di Bella decided to pursue her career at St Vincent’s Private, the centre of orthopaedic oncology in Victoria and Tasmania, and the go-to hospital for the treatment of rare cancers.

“We’re [part of] a small number of specialists in Australia as a whole … and the tertiary referral centre for Melbourne is St Vincent’s Private.”

In the operating rooms of St Vincent’s Private, Claudia Di Bella works in a team of many remarkable women.

“It’s something I’m proud of,” she shared. “My anaesthesiologist is a woman; my surgical assistant is a woman and the doctor who supervises the general medicine for all of my patients is a woman.

“We’re a multidisciplinary team with many surgeons and many other types of specialists who take care of patients.”

Di Bella is thrilled to be working at St Vincent’s Private, which is at the forefront of technology, treatment and quality of care. In an orthopaedic context specifically, it was among the first hospitals to have hip and knee replacement surgeries assisted by robotics.

“We have at our disposal technologies such as guided navigation during surgery with immediate images; 3-D printing of prosthetics and [robotic] surgical guides, all of which are technologies that improve the care we provide thanks to the precision and accuracy they offer,” she explained.

St Vincent’s Private Hospital in Fitzroy has started construction on a 12-story tower to expand the facility, both for patients and to accommodate new technologies that, according to Di Bella, will become routine.

“It will have an extraordinary impact on the type of treatments we can offer as well as a significant reduction in the number of complications,” she said.

“In addition, the expansion will allow us to increase the number of patients by more than 20,000 per year.

“Obviously, the number of operating rooms will also increase, and as a consequence so will the number of surgeries we can perform.

“[This is] very significant, especially after Covid … [where often] patients unfortunately wait a long time to undergo prosthetic surgeries. The expansion will improve the quality of our service.”

To today’s medical students, Di Bella tells them to never give up. “Medicine is a specialisation where often you yourself come second to the patient’s wellbeing,” she shared.

“There are many occasions when, for example, I don’t see my family on the weekend or when I come home really, really late, and the kids are already asleep.

“But if a patient needs something, then the patient needs something, and it [becomes my] mission. As my grandmother used to say, ‘It’s a mix between work and mission.’

“But when one decides to pursue [a career in] Medicine, one decides to do it for others, not for oneself.”

Coming back to the topic of her athletic past, Di Bella admits to having one

small regret.

“When you see your friends win the Olympic gold medal, it’s clearly a beautiful emotion and I think, who knows, but maybe if I had chosen water polo I would have been there,” she revealed.

“I missed a good opportunity, but I’m happy with my choice because Medicine is my passion.

“[I like teamwork] and my profession [involves] teamwork, which is absolutely essential, not only in the context of doctors, but also nurses, technicians and all of the hospital staff.

“Without a team, you won’t go anywhere - you can be the best surgeon in the world, but without the team you don’t even have a scalpel in your hand.

“Those experiences I had with the team taught me a lot about life, and that’s what I’m trying to teach my children.”

The little free time Di Bella has, she spends with her children. Whether it’s kicking an oval ball with her footy-mad son or constructing Lego buildings with her daughter, family time is important.

“I love Lego … for me, it’s almost meditation, one of those things on which you focus your mind, without distractions.

“It’s a way of practising mindfulness.

“The boy is much more athletic. He loves footy, which is a sport I really like too.”