Janet Darbyshire is Head of the MRC Clinical Trials Unit and Joint Director of the UK Clinical Research Network (UKCRN) Co-ordinating Centre. She studied medicine in Manchester, worked in chest medicine at the Brompton Hospital, researching TB and later HIV, and in this interview explains how her varied career developed.

“Serendipity has played a large part in my career”

What are the pros and cons of combining academic study with medical practice?

I think the rewards of looking after patients on a one-to-one basis are more immediate than those of running a clinical trial. But a good trial result can impact on many thousands of people and so be very satisfying in the long term. I decided to give up medical practice when I moved into HIV research, as I had no training or expertise in sexually transmitted diseases and not enough time to become fully experienced in HIV medicine. Through my work I have learned a great deal about the treatment of HIV and associated opportunistic infections. I do miss clinical medicine and had always thought I would go back.