| Description | Prof GARY MACFARLANE interview at the Sir Duncan Rice Library, University of Aberdeen on Wednesday July 12th, 2023. Interviewer Eric Crockart. Summary by Eric Crockart.
(0:00:00) GARY JOHN MACFARLANE (Gary John Macfarlane), born 26th February 1964 in Glasgow. At present he is Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Aberdeen; he is also Dean of Interdisciplinary Research and Research Impact; and he is also Honorary Consultant in Public Health (for NHS Grampian). Comes from a working class background, no medics in his family. His dad was an electrician, his mum was a telephone operator in the telephone exchanges. Went to primary school in Mount Vernon in the east end of Glasgow, did rather well, explains. Passed the exam to get into Kelvinside Academy, finished his primary years there and then did his secondary education there. At school was interested in the sciences, loved Maths. Explains how he came to do a degree in Statistics and Computing Science at Glasgow University. Was assigned to a tutorial group led by Dr Peter Boyle, a Cancer Epidemiologist at Ruchill Hospital; Gary did rather well in his statistics group, Dr Boyle asked if he would like to come and work in the summer at the cancer surveillance unit at Ruchill. Gary really enjoyed working at Ruchill, explains; invited back the following summer, this time paid. While Gary was working through his undergraduate studies, Peter Boyle then moved to the Harvard School of Public Health, and invited Gary to come to Boston and work there, a marvellous experience. Began to think he would quite like to be an epidemiologist. Was advised that in the long run it would be better for him to have a medical degree. Turned down chance to do a PhD in Boston, came back to Glasgow to do a medical degree. (0:06:30) Explains what he was doing for Peter Boyle during his undergraduate years; working in the field of Cancer research. Gives example relating to dramatic increase in Mouth Cancer in Scotland at that time. Explains that for a medical degree he applied to Southampton and Dundee; Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. First place to offer him an interview was Aberdeen, recalls coming to the Polwarth Building, got offer of a place. But financial considerations led to him choosing Glasgow, where he could also work part time as a statistician, explains. Loved being a medical student, but found it different to doing a degree in Statistics, explains, quite hard work for him. (0:11:04) Recalls first encountering patients on a visit to dialysis unit at Ruchill Hospital, fellow student fainted. Advantage of being a mature student, found it relatively easy to communicate with patients, explains. Still not entirely wedded to Epidemiology, but did have it at the back of his mind, explains. Remembers Dr Robinson at the Southern General Hospital, older physician from whom you could learn things that were not necessarily in the textbook; Prof David Galloway, a surgeon at Gartnavel Hospital. Prof Harry Burns, then a surgeon in Glasgow, worked with him on projects, Prof Burns asking questions about surgical outcomes being different in east and west of Glasgow, explains. Gary graduated as a doctor in Medicine and Surgery in 1990, went to do House Officer jobs, had by this time decided he wanted to be an Epidemiologist, explains; took medical rotation job at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, then surgical job at Gartnavel. (0:17:03) Describes how he came to go to Italy in 1991. Had kept in touch with Peter Boyle, who had become Director of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan; invited Gary to go there to be an Epidemiologist. Describes how he was also at this time doing a PhD at Bristol University. While still an undergraduate was called to see the Dean (of Medicine at Glasgow University), thinks it was Prof Brian Genette, who refused to let him do his PhD there; explains how he came to do it at Bristol, and how he managed that. Talks in detail about his research interests; almost exclusively to do with cancer; oral cancer; oesophageal cancer; pancreatic cancer; stomach cancer. Explains about Age Period Cohort modelling. (0:22:10) Talks about his attraction to the specialty of Epidemiology. If you want to make a big difference, then Epidemiology and Public Health is the way to do that; explains. Transition from clinical work to Epidemiology was quite hard, explains. Talks about his first managerial job, as Deputy Director in 1994 of the European Institute of Oncology in Milan. Then describes in 1995 going to the University of Manchester to carry out Arthritis research, and why; Milan institute did not do their own research, had a co-ordinating role. Decided he would quite like to do his own studies; also did not see himself staying in Milan long-term; describes how he got the Manchester job. (0:27:14) Talks about becoming Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Manchester in 1999; a big change, because shortly after also became Head of Department. Describes issues he had to deal with, in a department of 300 people. Talks in detail about this being when he had to juggle between the managerial role and doing his own research; took to delegation. Describes why he moved to the University of Aberdeen in 2005; issue of bringing up his family, did not really like Manchester. Position had come up as Dean of Research at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) in Inverness, applied and was interviewed; but on the board at UHI was Phil Hannaford, who was at Aberdeen, and whom he knew. Spoke to him, and Phil said if he wanted to move, why not come to Aberdeen? Thinks that Mike Greaves was Head of the School of Medicine at that point; he and Phil made Gary an offer and he came to Aberdeen to be Professor of Epidemiology. (0:33:48) Describes what he was joining at that time; he was the second Professor of Epidemiology, first professor had been Julian Little, whom he knew. Prof Little had left about 2003 or 2004, his Senior Lecturer Linda Sharp had also left; remnants of a unit with no academic staff left, explains. So essentially Gary started things off from scratch. Explains why that did not bother him. At that point he is also an Honorary Consultant in Public Health for NHS Grampian, describes what that involved. Explains about another position he holds, as Honorary Professor, MRC (Medical Research Council) Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit at the University of Southampton. Describes first thing he did as Professor of Epidemiology at Aberdeen was appoint his Deputy and Senior Lecturer; very important position, appointed Gareth Jones who had been his PhD student at Manchester; Gareth still here eighteen years later and is now Professor of Epidemiology as well. (0:39:07) Describes what the Epidemiology Group in Aberdeen does; overall area is Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Health; decided when he came to Aberdeen that they had to focus on things that were common, explains why; arthritis and musculoskeletal disorders, particularly chronic pain, are what they focus on, explains, including about randomised control trials; having understood what treatments work, addressing how you organise services to give these effective interventions to people. We do much more than Epidemiology now, explains in detail, starting with when he first came to Aberdeen. Founded the Aberdeen Pain Research Collaboration, explains; went to the Health Services Research Unit (HSRU), then run by Adrian Grant, helpful; Gary trying to establish critical mass, people in Aberdeen very open and willing to work together on new endeavours. Met interesting people, Adrian Grant; Bob Elliot, Director of the Health Economic Research Unit; Marion Campbell, a statistician who went on to become Director of HSRU, now his boss; quite an exciting time, explains. (0:44:11) Thinks Aberdeen has been successful in creating critical mass, and punching above their weight in Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Health research. Explains his appointment as Deputy Director of the Institute of Applied Health Sciences (IAHS) from 2007-11 and 2016-18; Aberdeen quite a small university, relatively small group of senior people, believes you have to take your turn doing the managerial tasks. Paul Hannaford was the first Director, asked Gary to be Deputy Director, explains. Adrian Grant said it was a waste of time having a research strategy at a university like Aberdeen, explains; but believes you have to have a flexible strategy. Explains how much research he was able to do on coming to Aberdeen; thing he enjoys most is having the ideas; loves grant applications; explains why he works so well with Gareth Jones. (0:48:52) Explains about in 2018 becoming the Dean of Research and Knowledge Exchange (Life Sciences and Medicine). Prior to him in these roles had been Adrian Grant, Neil Gow and Marion Campbell. Explains that not long after becoming Dean there was a new Principal who decided to reorganise, so suddenly Gary found himself as Dean for Interdisciplinary Research and Research Impact; biggest change was he was no longer Dean for the School of Medicine, but had this role across the whole of the university. Explains what he does, in context of Aberdeen’s 2040 Strategy; focus on areas round Energy Transition, Health and Wellbeing, Social Inclusion. Part of his role is to help people demonstrate research impact, explains in detail. (0:53:15) Gives example from his own research into Musculoskeletal Health; had position at Southampton but now that centre has come to Aberdeen, and he is now the Director of the MRC/Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work. Explains about research they are doing to help people with Musculoskeletal issues stay at work if they wish to; has suddenly become a high priority for the Government. Also explains importance of Research Culture; refers to Wellcome Trust survey about what researchers think about the environment they work in, and how he as Dean has been involved with that in Aberdeen. Gary has also been leading a review around research centres at Aberdeen, explains this will mean a smaller number of larger research centres. Also looking at how you make research sustainable, he was tasked with chairing the university’s committee on sustainable travel, explains; established a report with guiding principles and recommendations for staff. (0:59:16) Explains more about becoming Director of the MRC/Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work in 2021. Explains both he and Aberdeen were members of the Centre when it was based in Southampton, Director then left to go to Australia, Gary was asked to take over, explains it is being directed from Aberdeen, but Aberdeen just one of several institutions involved. Explains Versus Arthritis was formerly Arthritis Research UK, talks about importance of what they do, and importance of engaging with such organisations. Explains how he manages to keep research going while leading as a manager and leading on policy; thinks he is quite efficient with time, explains. Talks about Research Excellence Framework and having to submit evidence of the impact of your work; submitted one the last time about Chronic Pain; pain research and pain services were in the past Cinderella services, explains focus was on inflammation not pain; found you could be treated for inflammation but the pain was still there; patients had a bigger voice, said it was the pain that was important to them. So one of the things their research has done is to bring the issue of pain services higher up the agenda, explains. Also getting patients access to services that work, explains, including about psychological approaches to pain management being very important. Pace of change in the NHS can be very slow, gives example of remotely delivered services. Have to have more economically active people in the UK, need to support people to work if they wish to do so. (1:07:16) Explains about how near we are to understanding Musculoskeletal disorders in a way that would lead to their prevention. Know a lot about how to prevent disability, explains. For injury and chronic pain, thinks we know most of what we need to know; he believes it is more about implementing what we know rather than developing new drugs. Comments on current state of the NHS, not good; need to think about what services the NHS provides and who provides them, current model not sustainable. Talks about importance of keeping his GMC registration up to date. (ENDS 1:11:04)
|