Sir John Badenoch, who was a consultant physician and lecturer at the University of Oxford, begins the interview by talking of a medical family background, education at Rugby School, the start of pre-clinical studies in Oxford in 1938, and the award of a Rockefeller student fellowship in 1941, which enabled him to complete his studies at Cornell University with the award of MD. He then speaks of his return to Oxford in 1943, and after passing the final medical examinations of Oxford University, the start of his career in academic medicine in Leslie Witts' department.In the interview he recalls Leslie Witts, who was the Nuffield Professor of Clinical Medicine, Alexander Gibson and Sir Arthur Hurst. He talks of service in the RAMC and, following the death of his father, a short period in charge of his father's general practice in London. In 1949 he returned to Oxford as a research assistant in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, and in 1954 he became director of clinical studies, a position he held for eleven years. There follows a discussion of some of the problems he encountered during this period of growth and development for the Oxford Clinical School, including opposition from Robert Macintosh, the Nuffield Professor of Anaesthetics, who believed that the Nuffield benefaction should be used solely for postgraduate affairs.The discussion then moves to Sir John's research interest in gastroenterology, in particular nutritional anaemias and bone diseases caused by malabsorption from the gut, and he mentions that he was the first person to perform a biopsy by mouth of the mucosal lining of the small intestine. He goes on to speak of his interest in teaching medical students, and then of his involvment in planning the new John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and setting up the new Clinical School in Cambridge.In the final part of the interview Sir John talks about his association with the Royal College of Physicians. He was elected a Fellow of the College in 1959, and in 1960 he was the Goulstonian Lecturer and in 1977 the Lumleian Lecturer. He held various offices of the College, and as the Hans Sloane Fellow from 1985 to 1991 was responsible for arranging hospital training for overseas doctors. The interview concludes with a discussion of the contribution the medical profession in the UK can make to training doctors from other countries, ensuring the training given reflects the needs of a particular country.
Medical education at Oxford; Leslie Witts; Sir Arthur Hurst; Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Oxford; Oxford Clinical School; Robert Macintosh; gastroenterology; Royal College of Physicians; Hans Sloane Fellowship.
Gastroenterology,
vid-007, MSVA_013
Permanent link to this resource: https://doi.org/10.24384/000145
Badenoch, JohnWolstenholme, Gordon
Learning Resources
Original artefact: 1986 RADAR resource: 2017
Oxford, UK
© Oxford Brookes University; The Royal College of Physicians Published by Oxford Brookes UniversityAll rights reserved.