50 at 50: Dean’s Closing Blog

As our celebrations for the 50th Anniversary of Medicine at the University of Nottingham comes to a close, it’s incredible to think how much has changed since we started our 50th year towards the end of 2020. We’ve faced the many ups and downs of a global pandemic, and now we’re witness to the horror of …

50 at 50: Students for Global Health

Consider the following facts. Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai are names that have become just as recognisable as Hugh Grant and Taylor Swift. All 10 of the Guardian’s most powerful images of 2021 depict the impacts of global health crises. More than half of young people across the UK report experiencing some degree of anxiety …

50 at 50: Modern medicine: Miraculous or monstrous?

I’d like to give a personal reflection on the impact of biomedical technologies, including those pioneered in Nottingham, and then raise with you questions surrounding emerging opportunities and challenges. This year, I turn 49 years of age, just shy of the half century of the Medical School. Based on averages, I’m classed as ‘middle aged’ …

50 at 50: Myth, Medicine and the Marginalised

‘Simpler history is constructed by the victors. Someone like me figured in their stories. Life can be otherwise.’ Abdulrazak Gurnah Nobel Prize for Literature 2021 A sunny morning in May 2001, I was having breakfast in a hotel in Atlanta, attending the Digestive Diseases Week, Annual meeting of American Gastroenterology Association. Leonard Seeff, distinguished Hepatologist …

50 at 50: As the School of Medicine reaches middle age, it’s time to think about ageing

As the School of Medicine passes its 50th birthday, it’s apposite that our minds should turn to ageing.  In 1970, when the School first opened, the average life expectancy at birth in the UK was 72 years of age.  By 2020 it had reached 81 years. The increase in life expectancy is in no small …

50 at 50: Ian Hall: Reflections on 35 Years in Medicine

In 1985 I successfully applied for a medical registrar position in Nottingham.  I had decided respiratory medicine was going to be my chosen specialty, and Nottingham had a good reputation for its training programme.  I’d never been to the city before I was appointed, and intended to stay for a couple of years then move on, but apart from a …

50 at 50: Alumni 40th Year Reunion Tour at the Medical School

On Saturday 13th November, the School of Medicine was honoured to host an event for an alumni gathering. The group had got in touch and asked if it was possible to have a tour of the Medical School as they were holding a 40th Year Reunion in Nottingham. The arrangements were put in place by Julie Hall, and involved …

50 at 50: Optimising newborn care to achieve to better health for a better future

The key to good health is a good start in life. In 2010, when I was a relatively new immigrant to the UK, I read Michael Marmot’s report “Fair Society Healthy Lives”. I was delighted to see that the first objective he recommended was “give every child the best start in life”. Over a decade since, as we celebrate 50 years of Medicine in the University of Nottingham, time that I have spent training …

50 at 50: Nottingham, a centre of excellence for stroke rehabilitation research

It is almost 38 years since I first stepped inside Queen’s Medical Centre, nervous and excited about my impending interview for a job covering the medical wards as a senior occupational therapist. What incredibly good fortune to be appointed to the job. My life and career have never looked back since that day!  Under the leadership of Professors Tony Mitchell, Shah Ebrahim, Nadina Lincoln and …

50 at 50: Life Lessons From A Current Medical Student

As you approach your first day of medical school, many of you will be excitedly (or nervously) looking up videos on whether to use Anki or Quizlet, reading blog posts of people telling you you don’t need a colander, and trying to figure out whether those nightclub tickets you bought are a scam or not. Although the advice in this blog may not seem like the information you …