Profile: Frances Carter

As a music lover, the first time I walked into Frances Carter's office I was fascinated. Her room was littered with musical memorabilia, from the poster advertising Harrison Birtwistle's opera, Mask of Orpheus, which dominates the doorway, to the intriguing tin plaque commemorating the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's 1995 visit to Rio de Janeiro.

Frances has worked as a general practitioner in a large west London practice for more than 20 years. I later discovered that she has also carved out for herself a sideline in the field of performing arts medicine--an area I never knew existed. In 1987, Frances responded to an advert in a magazine looking for doctors who had an interest in the performing arts. She went on to become one of the founder members of the British Performing Arts Medicine Trust and has been actively involved in the work of the organisation ever since.

For the past 10 years she has been joint medical adviser to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the Association of Medical Advisors to British Orchestras scheme. She has also taken up a similar post with …