The Department has provided a splendid environment in which to study the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, and in particular how the behaviour of the blood vessels in the lungs impacts on these systems.
I graduated in Engineering Science in the University of Oxford in 1974. An interest in materials science led me to research the thermodynamic properties and molecular structure of the connective tissue protein elastin for a DPhil with Gerry McCrum in 1977. We demonstrated for the first time that this major component of skin, arteries, and ligaments displayed ‘entropy elasticity’, analogous to natural rubber, a type of behaviour that contrasts with the ‘internal energy elasticity' of most structural materials.
In 1982 I qualified in Medicine and began to develop Anaesthesia as my specialist clinical interest. There was a lively interest in Oxford in developing artificial lungs for cardiopulmonary bypass in surgery; I worked with Keith Sykes and Brian Bellhouse on the design and application of an artificial lung for the long term support of patients in Intensive Care who have severe respiratory failure. Our efforts contributed to the current evidence-based use of this ‘extracorporeal respiratory support’ in certain patient groups, such as in premature newborn babies. In this technique, an artificial lung beside the patient’s bed supports respiratory gas exchange much as a dialysis machine is used to support renal function. Theoretical analysis of gas exchange in these artificial lungs and in a wide range of equipment used by anaesthetists was the basis for my text Anaesthetic & Extracorporeal Gas Transfer (OUP, 1989) and the degree of DM