EDITORIAL |
Why I became an occupational physician ...
Like many British occupational physicians, I discovered the specialty quite late in my career. Moreover, the route by which I got there hinged on a series of happy coincidences.When I started my university education in Cambridge as a mathematician, I was interested in pursuing an academic career. It soon became clear that I did not have the ability to be a mathematical researcher, but a series of lectures on Markov methods, which included modelling the spread of infectious diseases, gave me the idea of trying to apply my mathematical skills in biological sciences. When I consulted my supervisor, he suggested that I switch to medicine. Not having done any biology since ‘O levels’ I had not appreciated that this was an option, but it seemed like a good idea, and having checked that the anatomy dissecting room was tolerable, I took the chance. My transfer to Oxford for my clinical undergraduate training exposed me to the epidemiologists there, in particular Martin Vessey with whom I spent my elective. From that time I was set on a career in epidemiology.
My first house job was in Southampton where I had the good fortune to work with two more epidemiologists, Donald Acheson and David Barker, both also physicians. Their advice was that I should undertake clinical training in internal medicine and get the MRCP before moving on to epidemiological research. Fortune again favoured me when I worked as a registrar for Michael Langman, another clinician with a strong interest in epidemiology, at the City Hospital in Nottingham. It was Michael who drew my attention to a post advertised in the newly established MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit in Southampton. My intention had been to undertake a PhD in Nottingham in gastroenterology, but the opportunity was too good to miss, and I returned to Southampton to work under the guidance of Donald Acheson. For 3 months, I explored the possibility of working on an epidemiological study of breast cancer in young women or of melanoma, but finally we agreed that occupational risks of cancer would be the best bet.
At this stage, I was still unaware of occupational medicine as a clinical specialty, but my eyes were opened a couple of years later when I was asked to contribute to a presentation at an SOM meeting in London. From then I never looked back. Given my developing research interests and my clinical background in internal medicine, it was the natural choice for specialist training. With support and guidance from Oscar Lavanchy, Ivan Johnson and David Leitch, I arranged attachments with British Gas and HSE and completed the MFOM.
It is a choice that I have never regretted, but I am conscious of the luck that took me there. The irony is that had I been a better mathematician, I might have ended up doing similar research but without the added stimulus and variety of clinical work, and for a significantly lower salary.
Southampton
Email: dnc{at}mrc.soton.ac.uk
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