Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
I am from Aberdeen and it was at Aberdeen University where I gained an honours degree in Developmental Biology. I then went on to do a PhD, researching Spina Bifida at the same University before moving to London to join a research team at Charing Cross Hospital Medical School researching into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. I moved to the Anatomy Department at the same medical school in 1984 and began teaching anatomy and embryology to the medical students and surgical anatomy to the trainee surgeons, achieving Readership in Anatomy in 1994. I joined BSMS at the beginning of 2003, writing the anatomy and embryology curriculum and setting up the dissecting room. I was also Head of the Division of Clinical and Investigative Science and Director of Research at BSMS. I retired from BSMS in 2008 and was awarded Emeritus Professor of Anatomy in 2010. I fully intended to retire but was asked to take on Director of Research at the Blond McIndoe Research Foundation in East Grinstead on a part-time basis, my remit there being to increase the research output and grant income of the centre. While there I also lectured anatomy to the trainee plastic surgeons at the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead.
Why did you choose your field of specialty?
I chose my field of Developmental Biology as I was fascinated by the development of the embryonic and fetal body. Research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy complemented this and I was involved in research into muscle stem cells at an early stage of stem cell research.