I am the Professor of Renal and Transplantation Medicine at Imperial College London and Consultant Physician at the Hammersmith Hospital, as well as Treasurer of the British Transplantation Society. One of the major reasons I was attracted to transplantation medicine during my training was the sense that we could really make a difference. Living with renal failure can be pretty unpleasant. It is difficult to hold down a job or even have a normal social life on dialysis. When you have a transplant, it revolutionizes, not just your life expectancy, but, almost more importantly, your quality of life. While teaching, I really enjoy asking patients in the presence of medical students what impact their transplant has had on their lives. Several patients have said it has given me back my life, conveying the value of transplantation better than any textbook could. So getting the management of the transplant right is crucial and very satisfying. The other beauty is the opportunity to have ongoing relationships with patients for periods of years, which is not something may hospital practitioners have. I have patients whom I have known for up to two decades of their renal history. Those long-term friendships are really mutually satisfying, making for a very enjoyable and fulfilling working life.
My research interests include mechanisms of rejection in organ transplantation and dissecting the contribution of antibodies to predicting the outcome following transplantation. Given the shortage of organs, a particular interest of mine is how cultural, religious and ethnic factors impact on attitudes to organ donation.
