An interview with Professor Tim Oliver
An unquenchable thirst Professor Tim Oliver spoke to BLC about his career, his family, dysgraphia and taking too much on “I have often been accused of being a dilettante,” says Tim Oliver, Emeritus Professor in Medical Oncology at Barts and The London, retired consultant oncologist and alumnus of The London. “I have a wide range of interests and since I retired from my NHS work, they seem to be growing rather than shrinking.” He has numerous projects on the go, including developing a palm held handwriting machine for doctors; raising support for a British Olympian for 2012; conducting research to determine the link between exercise, Vitamin D and cancer; and campaigning for sustainable electricity-generation in East London using its water canals; not to mention continuing to treat many of his patients. Not surprisingly he is a busy man. Tim Oliver grew up in Norfolk. Both his father (Tom Oliver, who also qualified at The London in 1936) and his grandfather were general practitioners. “I never envisaged doing medicine; I always wanted to do something different from them.” So, when asked how he came to study medicine at Cambridge and The London, Tim modestly replies, “Carpe Diem and a series of chances.” “I was a mediocre student at school,” he explains. “I had atrocious, illegible handwriting and that was one of my biggest problems. But, at A-Level, we had a new chemistry teacher who had worked in industry and I suddenly woke up. He just made it so interesting and I became top of the class; it didn’t require any written work and I just understood it. At the time Cambridge couldn’t offer me a place to study chemical engineering but fewer people wanted to be a doctor. As I had a medical background they asked if I would do medicine. Having done work experience in a big pharma-chemical plant, I accepted
that medicine might be a way of expanding my interest and said yes.” Achieving what he describes as “nothing very startling” at St John’s, Tim was really only interested in anatomy. “I loved dissecting. I could spend hours working on little nerves and things.” Having completed his pre-clinical at Cambridge, Tim chose The London, following in his father’s footsteps, for his clinical training. It was not until then that something really clicked. “I just loved it there.” On qualifying in 1966 Tim became a house physician in general medicine and cardiology under Wallace Brigden, amongst others. His mentorship of Tim was clearly extremely valuable. After a year’s general practice, Tim began groundbreaking work with Hilliard Festenstein on renal transplantation as part of an MRC Junior Research Fellowship in the newly formed Transplantation Immunology Unit at The London, for which Brigden had recommended him. His “quirky” mind gave him a unique insight and understanding of the complex newly emerging area of HLA tissue grouping and the implications for renal graft rejection. For a period in the 1970s the team at The London led the field in matching kidneys for HLA in the UK and Europe. While working in this pioneering unit at The Royal London, Tim explains, “I became aware that kidney patients were developing cancer because of the drugs used to suppress the immune system. It was then that Tim developed his interest in cancer. “Barts had just reported the results of the first trial vaccinating leukaemia patients and were expanding their team. I became involved in laboratory and clinical work and eventually became a consultant.” Devastatingly Tim’s mentor and boss,
16 | Barts and The London Chronicle | Autumn / Winter 2009
Gordon Hamilton Fairley, was killed by an IRA bomb. This meant the end of Tim’s employment at Barts too. Forced to look elsewhere for work, Tim says, “Fortunately John Blandy, Jim Malpas and Harold Hope-Stone rescued me. New research suggested that chemotherapy might benefit urological cancers.” Working in this area was a perfect fit for Tim. “I fell on my feet again. It was all just by chance. We helped to establish Medical Oncology at the Institute of Urology in 1977.” Tim became the first person in the UK to specialise in the medical management of urological malignancy. He ran a major service for treatment of these tumours, while undertaking a programme of clinical research in testicular cancer. During that time testicular cancer had become curable. “I suppose I made some contribution to the progress; I learnt how to use the drugs quicker than most people and was able to simplify the treatment so more patients benefitted.” In 1984 the Institute of Urology moved to The London. Tim has travelled extensively throughout his career, attending conferences and sharing expertise with peers from his field. In 1986 he first presented controversial data on minimal chemotherapy treatment of seminoma to a conference in Jerusalem, which ultimately led to the replacement of radiotherapy for this tumour. After the conference Tim enjoyed a family holiday in the Sinai Desert. “We climbed throughout the night to avoid the heat, so as to arrive to see the sunrise from the top of Mount Sinai. To this day my fondest memory of this trip was finding an almond tree bearing fruit. We added them to our breakfast at the top.” Following the merger of Barts and The Royal London, the funding for research worsened during the recession of the 1990s. Tim’s work was severely affected. It was then that the charity Orchid, which aims to save the lives of men who have testicular, prostate and penile cancers
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