Bob Wachter, a leading US clinical researcher and leader of “hospitalist” fame, came over here on a sabbatical last year and mentioned in passing his personal roll-call of influential figures […]
Guest writers
Kieran Walsh: Free medical education would deliver savings in the long term
“Even in comparatively poor countries we find scientific knowledge and trained intellects regarded as sound public investments, and the popular voice applauding a liberal application of public money to secure […]
Desmond O’Neill: Nowhere to hide
The large gilded hall of the Musikverein in Vienna is instantly recognisable to most people from the annual New Year’s concert dedicated to the Strauss family and their contemporaries. In […]
Jega Aravinthan on the Mental Health (Discrimination) Bill
“Those that the gods would destroy they first make mad” is a quotation misattributed to Eupirides and is a historical example of the negative connotations and stigma experienced by individuals […]
Sarah Woolnough: The importance of patient data for research
In the UK, one of our most valuable resources in the fight against cancer is our pool of patient data. Records of the nation’s health stretch back decades. And these […]
John Ashton on witnessing the Hillsborough disaster
You don’t expect to set off for a major football match on a beautiful spring morning with your young sons and nephew and emerge 12 hours later like a survivor […]
Rhys Davies: A sign from God or Schneider?
I am currently on my psychiatry rotation. Psychiatry is one of those peculiar specialties that tends to polarise medical students. Some dismiss it as merely asking, “And how does that […]
Athene Donald: “Science: it’s a girl thing” is not a cure
The EU scored an own goal a few weeks back when it launched its new website “Science: It’s a Girl Thing,” a site aimed at getting more teenage girls to […]
Tony Saunders: Stroke survivor
One afternoon, 12 years ago, I was doing some gentle exercises in the local gym. I was adjusting the rowing machine when, suddenly, my vision blurred and I fell sideways […]
Desmond O’Neill: Combating gerontological illiteracy
St Gallen is a fascinating small city in the north-eastern corner of Switzerland. Famed for its fabulous rococo monastic library (including the earliest extant manuscript of the Nibelung legend), the […]