Profile: A knightly pursuit

Sir David Weatherall became interested in research after his national service in Singapore. Upasana Tayal finds out where his career has taken him since then

"I haven't done any great research at all," claims Professor Sir David Weatherall, emeritus regius professor of medicine at the University of Oxford. Because of his research on the structure, function, and products of human globin genes, antenatal testing, and genetic counselling are now possible for genetic anaemias, such as thalassemia.

David founded the Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford to research molecular and cell biology with direct application to the study of human disease. On David's retirement as director in 2000, the institute was renamed the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. However, his arrival at Oxford was a low key affair.

"I'd never even heard of it," he says of his first appointment as Nuffield chair of medicine. Given only 24 hours to accept the post, he then heard nothing from the university. One year on, his secretary duly looked into the matter, only to be told: "It was announced in the Times. What more does he want?"

Getting into research

For those of us who have made the transition to clinical medicine, the preclinical world seems a distant memory. But David has managed to bring molecular biology to the bedside.

"From a research point of view, there is a strong feeling in the US that it's impossible to mix the two. The concept of a physician-scientist has gone. But you look at the evolution of clinical science and the great days of bedside teaching epitomised at the Hammersmith [Hospital, London], or Shelia Sherlock' s great work on liver disease and developing the liver biopsy; she was learning on day to day clinical practice."

However, the past 30 years have seen research shift towards molecular and cellular based work. "The problem now is that research is technically very demanding. For young people to do it properly they have to make a break from clinical work for 2-3 years to get properly trained," says David.

He recognises the difficulties that face research doctors in the United Kingdom. "The problem is that there are lots of obstacles in the way. One is the rigidity of the Royal College training programmes, making it difficult for youngsters to get in and out of training to do research. We're so obsessed with qualifications in this country. The second issue is that by and large our universities are underfunded so academic departments are much smaller. With the clinical load increasing all the time, lots of clinical academics are finding it difficult to keep up."

Going into an environment of professional researchers may be an intimidating prospect. But David thinks that medically qualified researchers are unique: "Medicine can be taught critically. Basic science can only take you so far. You should be educated to a state of mind and believe in evidence and pathophysiology. But then you get to a stage where you have got to act on the basis of kindness. Medicine will always remain an art form."

David was a late convert to research. While in the army in Singapore on national service, an experience looking after a child with a genetic anaemia made him realise that "research must be exciting." He admits that until then he had never considered it: "In my day the word research was never mentioned. Watson and Crick published their DNA paper in 1953; I had never heard it mentioned."

Liverpool and his inspirations

Half way through our interview, a researcher bounds over and the two men exchange excitable mutterings over some game; I learn that David has not only fostered an institute of academic excellence but one that houses an ever growing population of Liverpool supporters--a football allegiance held since his days as a student and head of the haematology department at Liverpool University.

Future goals in the developing world

David says his best days are when he spends half his time on clinical work and half on research. However, with seniority comes administration, writing papers, and research grants.

Evidently, retirement is a misnomer for David. In the past few years he produced a landmark report for the World Health Organization--Genomics and World Health--analysing the impact of genomics on developing countries.

His goal is to transfer the technologies of clinical genetics to developing countries, at the moment in inherited anaemias. Although the overall problem of the disparity between the West and the developing world is "not for little people like us but governments and NGOs [non-governmental organisations]," David believes that academics and researchers have a role to play: "The governments of the West have to appreciate much more problems of developing countries, such as the business of getting generic drugs into countries with endless American objections to anything that interferes with commerce. It is good that people like [Bill] Gates are putting money into malaria and AIDS vaccines, but there is no guarantee of a vaccine working. Lots of people think with decent public health measures we could control malaria anyway. A big problem in developing countries is that money doesn't go to the right places, it is a slow process. We can do an awful lot by forming links with developing countries."

Tips from the top

David offers advice for aspiring clinician-scientists: "The best people and the people who've done well [at the Institute] are the people who've done house jobs, membership, some clinical training, then come back into labs for three years. It gives them a clinical background. Quite a few have then gone back into clinical medicine. Some want to stay in the lab. By then they've had training, enough grounding to start a research group on a small footing, and can compete with PhD students. There are still a number who are willing to make the effort to do both. If people are going to do both, they've got to focus their clinical expertise in a narrow field."