Tuesday 8 November 2022

Michael O'Brien



It is now 10 years since I contributed a blog for our 50th. reunion in 2012. So here is an update for our 60th. reunion. When I retired from the NHS in 2003 as was then compulsory, now considered ageist, I was also Consultant Neurologist to the Civil Aviation Authority who showed no signs of wanting me to retire, so I have continued in this position. They supplied me with a laptop which gives me access to their databases so that I could work from home during the lockdowns and I have only been in to Gatwick twice in the last 30 months. I report on the fitness to fly for all pilots who have had a neurological problem, but this is only about six a month, so not very demanding. The range of conditions is amazing and much more interesting than a routine NHS clinic and has led to seven publications. I continued to teach at the National Hospital for Neurology at Queen Square until the lockdowns and also continue to teach medical students at Kings College London, by Zoom during the lockdowns, now back to face to face. I also teach on the MSc Neurosciences course and the Aviation Medical course at KCL

I have continued to travel extensively, mostly to South Asia, though this has been on hold for the last three years. I am about to complete a book on Hindu Mythology, the subject of many lectures in the UK and abroad. The 6th.edition of ‘Aids to the examination of the peripheral nervous system’ a booklet I inherited from Dr McArdle in 1976, has just been published by Elsevier and I am nearing completion of a book on the neurological examination to be published by Oxford University Press. I had a most enjoyable year as President of the Medical Society of London in 2015-16. I have continued as Chairman of the Medical Artists Education Trust and as a Director of the D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, a position I inherited from Bob Knight when he died so unexpectedly in 2005. I remained Chairman of the Friends of Guy’s Hospital, inherited from Omar Shaheen, until I could hand over to Michael Gleeson in 2016.

I look forward to seeing you all at the reunion

 

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