Consultant neuroradiologist Ian Turnbull tells Adrian O’Dowd why he was determined to remain involved in training doctors despite retiring
Retirement does not mean a doctor has to stop loving medicine or wanting to be involved in training the next generation of clinicians, says Ian Turnbull.
Edinburgh born Turnbull was a consultant neuroradiologist at North Manchester General Hospital for 19 years and then at Salford Royal Hospital until his retirement in 2008. Since then, until very recently, he was an honorary consultant neuroradiologist to Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in a teaching role for fourth year medical students at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, Wales, and a teaching lead at Glan Clwyd Hospital.
Turnbull has never lost his enthusiasm for medicine. “To this day …
Donald Menzies, an occupational health consultant, tells Adrian O’Dowd why respect and understanding for fellow clinicians and their work pressures is central to his work
During times of intense work pressure, understanding just how hard practising medicine can be is vital to the work of Donald Menzies. As a consultant in occupational medicine at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, he believes that occupational health is an under-rated specialty that more doctors should consider as a career choice.
Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who was a GP and an inspiration, Menzies went into medicine after briefly considering an alternative career. “My first instinct was to be a vet,” he says. “I got a place in the Edinburgh veterinary school.”
After a stint in a general medical job with …
Cardiologist and researcher Gregory Lip tells Adrian O’Dowd how a having humble approach to mentoring helps to bring out the best in people
For someone with a prolific catalogue of published research that has been used for international guidelines, Gregory Lip is a surprisingly modest man.
Lip, who is Price-Evans chair of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Liverpool, modestly shrugs off suggestions of how good a role model and mentor he is for the many people he has helped over the years.
He comes from a family of doctors father and siblings and chose cardiology as a specialty because of how it ties in with so many other aspects of healthcare. “Cardiovascular medicine is very …
Psychiatry trainee Amar Hujan tells Adrian O’Dowd why something as simple as playing pool is an ideal way to decompress after work
As a fairly common hobby, playing pool may be overlooked as a way to deal with work related stress, says first year core psychiatry trainee Amar Hujan.
But it’s easy to pick up, doesn’t require years of practice, and allows participants to dip in and out at will, he says.
During the pandemic Hujan had to deal with intense work situations. “I remember one of the worst nights,” he says. “Lots of staff were off because of sickness or isolation rules.
“I didn’t get any kind of break throughout the whole night and didn’t get anything to eat. At the end of that …
Consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon Usman Ahmed tells Adrian O’Dowd about his dedication to supporting younger doctors
Empowering younger doctors is central to why consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon Usman Ahmed has become a role model to so many of his trainees.
Ahmed, who is a surgeon at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, mentors people officially and unofficially, as he explains, “If people email me, I’ll help them.”
This straightforward response is typical of the man who believes that medicine is a profession in which people need support, especially now. “Medicine is hard and from what we hear about equality and diversity inclusion, opportunities are often more forthcoming for some than they are for others,” he says. “It’s getting harder with …