Much of my professional decision making has been influenced by people and places. The initial inspiration behind my decision to pursue a career in ENT came after spending 2 weeks with Harold Ludman and David Albert whilst studying at Guy’s and King’s College Hospital Medical School.

My first real breakthrough came while I was working as a senior House Officer in ENT in Manchester with Richard Ramsden and Trevor Farrington, highly active clinicians and researchers, who encouraged me to apply for a registrar post at RNTNEH. This is where I was exposed to the pinnacle of ENT practice and research working with Gerald Brookes, Tony Wright, Tony Bull, Valerie Lund and David Howard and it was at this point that I decided to aspire to a professional career in an active teaching environment with a research emphasis.
With this aim, my career path took me back to Manchester as a SpR; I won a TWJ Fellowship to the Epstein Labs at UCSF where I spent 6 months undertaking laboratory inner ear research and clinical neuro-otology work with one of the leading skullbase surgeons in the world – Rob Jackler; and was in time appointed as a Consultant ENT and Skullbase Surgeon in Manchester in 1999 where I maintained and developed the busiest cochlear implant and lateral skullbase service in the UK.

In 2007, a very exciting opportunity came up to work at the UCL Ear Institute and the RNTNEH, my current position. The decision to apply for this post was difficult for professional and personal reasons but ultimately, the chance to join such a high calibre team of clinicians and scientists in a facility dedicated to ENT basic science and clinical research was too good to be passed over.