Education and debate

Health Profile: Challenging doctors: an interview with England's chief medical officer

British Medical Journal, London WC1H 9JR.

Professor Ken Calman, the chief medical officer in England, is said by many "to have a brain the size of a planet." Before taking up his present post - in 1991 - he was professor of clinical oncology in Glasgow, dean of postgraduate medicine in the west of Scotland, and chief medical officer in Scotland.

RS: Many people think that the CMO doesn't have anything like the influence that he had back in the days of, for example, Sir George Godber, who was chief medical officer from 1960 to 1973. Is this true?

KC: You must look at this historically. Each CMO has found a particular niche at a particular time. George Godber was CMO in the 1960s, a time of expansion. John Simon was CMO in the 1850s and concentrated on public health issues. George Newman in the 1920s tackled - remarkably - general education, physical education, and . . . [Full text of this article]

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Profession's ideas are ignored

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