Sitting in the comfort of my room and sipping a cup of tea, I listened to Melinda Gates and others this morning – live. The TedxChange was an event organized by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and TEDx to mark the tenth anniversary of inception of the millennium development goals. Focused on the theme […]
Category: Junior doctors
Domhnall MacAuley: Don’t mention climate change
Don’t talk about climate change. Don’t even use the words. It is liable to make people stick their heads in the sand. David Pencheon, Director of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit (England), in his address at the Society for Academic Primary Care, thinks we should talk about sustainable living and emphasise the importance of sustainability, […]
Ike Anya on his first Faculty of Public Health conference
I attended my first Faculty of Public Health Annual Conference at Imperial College London last week. I’m told it used to be a 2-day event with several breakout sessions, but this was a smashing one day event with a keynote address from the new Secretary of State for Health( more of whom later), two plenary sessions […]
Anna Mead Robson: Psychiatry – a specialty for failures?
I once met a medical student who had failed his first year exams. “It’s ok,” he said, as I tried to console him. “I know I’m not very bright, but I can always be a psychiatrist after medical school.” Two years later, after I had professed an interest in psychiatry, a doctor told me: “You […]
Siddhartha Yadav on young people at Women Deliver 2010
Last week, more than 3,000 global leaders working in the field of maternal and reproductive health gathered in Washington, D.C for the Women Deliver 2010 conference. With the theme of delivering solutions for girls and women, the conference focused on sharing solutions that can help us achieve the millennium development goals on maternal and reproductive […]
Seye Abimbola on the scientific paper and commentary
I am at present conducting a systematic review and meta analysis that involves a detailed appraisal of the quality of studies. It has made me realise all over again how impoverished the narrative of the classical scientific paper really is. Indeed, as Francis Crick wrote in his 1994 book The Astonishing Hypothesis: “There is no […]
Emily Spry has a new role model
Over the past month or so, things have been changing fast at the children’s hospital, thanks to my new hero, Professor Tamra Abiodun. […]
Louise Kenny: Gateshead to Guatemala
Strangely enough, I think I may have found it a more difficult transition returning back to work in the UK, than the initial challenge of starting work in Guatemala. Working in Guatemala was shocking for a number of reasons, but as I grew to understand the system and the culture, I found myself working harder, […]
Hugh Ip: Reverse culture shock
I got out of the lift on the sixth floor of S block. I asked a nurse in Cantonese, “is this the respiratory medicine clinic?” “That’s right; you’re an overseas elective student aren’t you?” “Yes.” “Sit here and wait for the doctor.” […]
Siddhartha Yadav: My first conference as a speaker
The adrenaline rush was unbearable. I could feel my palms sweating. When I tried to clip the microphone on to my coat, my hands were trembling. Eager looking eyes of the audience were pinned on me. I took a deep breath and with my heart still pounding, I said, “Hello everyone!” […]