Cordon bleu chef turned occupational health physician

Mary Sherry left school at 16 because she didn't want to do any exams but has had a successful career in catering and medicine. So what happened? Ruth Burnett and Monica Desai find out

Mary Sherry came into medicine late, after a stint of secretarial work and a successful career in cordon bleu cookery. She has catered for the likes of Edward Heath and Michael Heseltine, among others. So why cordon bleu cooking?

"I disliked school and found no inspiration to work while I was there. So I left early and wanted nothing more to do with academia." However, she loved cooking and had thought about doing a cordon bleu course at some stage in her life.

During the course, four of her year were asked to cater for a large government function, and similar opportunities meant that her career in catering took off easily. During this time, she catered for a large range of clients including politicians, artists and businessmen, and the ceremony for the Young Businessman of the Year.

It was only when she was offered a lucrative position in the catering industry that she realised she did not want to continue along this path but wanted to study medicine instead.

"The combination of science and caring had always appealed to me, but previously I had not been able to face the studying required," she admits. She decided to go back to school to sit her A levels but had to continue catering in the evenings and holidays to support herself.

It was a difficult decision to make and one that was met with much surprise and some opposition by family and friends. Although her parents had been very supportive when she decided to leave school early, they were unsure about the sense of leaving a successful career to go back to being a student. However, once Mary had made the decision, her family and friends were extremely supportive.

It was tough returning to education and sitting her A levels, especially as she had been out of education for about 10 years. But things became easier after she got through the first year, and she was accepted at the Royal Free Hospital medical school in London. While she was there, she gained a BSc, first class honours in Biochemistry--pretty impressive for someone who'd shunned education the first time round. From then on it was plain sailing--she loved medicine and never looked back once.

She recalls: "During my registrar post in radiology and nuclear medicine, I realised that I wanted to specialise in occupational medicine." She was offered a post at United Biscuits, who were happy to train her fully. This involved spending one day a week at the Institute of Occupational Health in Birmingham. Going into a food company to do her occupational health training was not directly connected to her previous career, but it did hold particular interest, especially aspects of food safety.

Most of us associate occupational health with hepatitis B vaccinations and needlestick injuries but Mary's description of her work does not fit in with this preconception. She has worked for the House of Commons, Cosworth Racing, Fulham Football Club, Harrods, and the police, among others.

So what does occupational health actually involve? Mary explains: "A lot of risk management. Often it involves assessing any health problems that could impair the employee's ability to work, such as deafness, multiple sclerosis and musculoskeletal disorders, and ensuring any changes that need to be made in the work place are implemented." She continues: "Sometimes an employee becomes unable to perform their current role within a company, and it is the job of the occupational physician to assess if adaptations to the current role are needed or whether it is necessary to retrain the employee to perform another role. This is often more preferable to early retirement on the grounds of ill health as it is beneficial to employees, enabling them to remain in a productive job and sociable environment."

Occupational health requires detailed knowledge of a wide variety of topics--rheumatology, hygiene, microbiology, rehabilitation, epidemiology, statistics, safety, and respiratory medicine. Mary advises that if you want to have a career in occupational medicine you must have a flexible mind and be prepared to switch your train of thought from minute to minute.

So what are the best points about her job? Mary works as an independent physician in occupational health and safety, so has a degree of control over where and when she works. She loves the variety of her work--one minute she might be dealing with footballers and the next with members of parliament. The flexibility means there is also still time to pursue her other interests, most notably her cooking (much to her family's relief and delight).

She admits, however, that her job has several disadvantages compared with hospital medicine. She misses the hospital environment and constant interaction with medical colleagues, although there is always the opportunity to take part in committees, to teach, and to do sessions in hospitals.

Also, general practitioners often do not see independent occupational health physicians as being impartial so it takes some effort to prove that the recommendations made by the occupational health physician are not biased by the interests of the company but are independently assessed. "Companies can place pressure on you to follow their line of thinking, but it is essential to maintain an independent line of thinking," Mary explains.

Mary would thoroughly recommend occupational medicine as a career. How many other professions would include being at the state opening of Parliament, travelling in a high speed police response unit, and being involved in the presigning medical of the first Fulham football player signed for over £2 million?

So how does she compare working as an occupational health physician to working as a cordon bleu chef? She replies: "Although the hours can be equally long in both, the stress levels are higher in medicine because you are dealing with people's lives. However, occupational medicine is more satisfying and fulfilling as a career."

Ruth Burnett, second year clinical student, Imperial College of London Medical School
Email: ruth.burnett@ic.ac.uk

Monica Desai, second year clinical student, Imperial College of London Medical School
Email: monica.desai@.ic.ac.uk


studentBMJ 2002;10:303-352 September ISSN 0966-6494