How has your career progressed?

After a somewhat rocky start – everyone was away in the summer and I had a very boring month reading papers - I took over coordinating clinical trails in tuberculosis in East African and studies of tuberculosis epidemiology in Africa and the UK. I have also worked on collaborative trials in asthma and other respiratory diseases and subsequently moved to working on HIV infection.

The biggest challenge came when the Director of the MRC TCDU retired. The Unit closed and we were left to find our feet in an increasingly competitive world of research grants from which MRC Unit funding had previously protected us. I then led the small remaining team of MRC external scientific staff and at the same time studied for an MSc in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

With the onset of the HIV epidemic and development of the first drugs the team moved into HIV clinical trials and epidemiological studies. We became the MRC HIV Clinical Trials Centre (MRC HIVCTC) and subsequently in 1994 moved to University College London, to be closer to academic and clinical groups working in HIV medicine. In 1998 the MRC Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) was established under my direction by the merger of the MRC HIVCTC with the MRC Cancer Trials Office from Cambridge. Its remit has been to extend into other areas where important clinical questions need to be answered, but with no track record of trials or with difficult methodological challenges.

Most recently I have become Joint Director of the UK Clinical Research Network (UKCRN) Coordinating Centre, with Professor Peter Selby of the University of Leeds. The UKCRN has been set up to strengthen clinical research in the UK, building on the success of the National Cancer Research Network which is also coordinated jointly by the University of Leeds and the MRC CTU.

What are the most enjoyable and challenging aspects of your work and life?

Without a doubt the most enjoyable aspect of my work is designing and setting up new trials and then – even better- seeing a result which will improve clinical care. The most challenging is making this happen. Clinical trials involve many people and can be expensive to run, so getting agreement from the many parties involved and securing the funding to do it can be complicated. Many of our studies are national or international so I spend quite a bit of time travelling and my natural ability to sleep anywhere at any time has been invaluable. The rest of my life is also very important although does not get the time it needs these days. Family, friends, food, wine – and my pony – are all essential to switching off and re-charging batteries. I’m typing this in our house (retirement plan) in Brittany.

If a young person asked you about life and work as a medical researcher what would you say?

Go for it! The opportunities for flexible training and better opportunities through the work stream on academic medical careers from the Department of Health and the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) - are greater than for many years and the frustrations of working in the NHS, from the complaints that I hear from many colleagues, are no less.