An international health guru

How did you become involved in international and global health?

I became a committed Christian while studying for my A levels with a view to becoming a geologist. Such was my conviction at the time that I should do something to improve the health of people in poorer areas of the world that I changed my subjects mid-course to gain entry to medical school instead. The time I spent in Bhutan, initially as medical superintendent of Gida Kom Hospital near the capital, Thimphu, and then as designer of Mongar District Hospital, in the east of the country, was at the beginning of that country's development plan. It convinced me that training paramedical workers and educating local leaders in matters of health was an effective way of improving basic health of the majority of people.

My wife and I returned to the United Kingdom in 1976 for the sake of a stable education for our children, but it was my intention eventually to return to full time work in a developing country. However, cancer that affected my immune system precluded me from taking a frontline clinical post, and …