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Worth’s Science Stars – Peter Freeland (Science Teacher 1961-1999)
Worth Science Stars: Where are they now?
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Carl Baptista B’93
Peter Freeland began teaching Biology at Worth in 1961… and stayed for nearly 40 years. In a previous issue of The Blue Paper he wrote that it was his priority to impart knowledge, evaluate evidence, and encourage critical thinking in his students. Peter has followed some of his former pupils’ career paths with great interest, many of whom have gone on to be notable medics or work on the front-line of medical research. Peter has tracked several of them down to catch up on their achievements since leaving Worth:
When I started teaching there was no way of knowing what happened to your former pupils after they had taken O-level and A-level exams, unless you remained in contact with them by letter or telephone. Today, keeping tabs on former pupils has become much easier. Providing you can remember their names, you will find most of them listed somewhere on the internet.
During the time I was Head of Science, teaching Biology, I was wonderfully well supported by the physicists and chemists. Typically, each would-be medic studied Physics, Chemistry and Biology at A-level. The success of former pupils reflects the success of the Science Department as a whole, not of any individual teacher. Even so, I’m astonished, humbled and blown away by what some of our former pupils achieved. They not only received handsome remuneration for their services, but almost invariably landed top jobs, as the following examples will help to illustrate:
Dr Charles Akle C’71, BSc, MB, MS, FRCS is one of the UK’s most prominent and successful surgeons, a winner of the prestigious Hallett Prize whilst training at Guy’s Hospital. He subsequently held consultations in Harley Street and became a pioneer of keyhole surgery, training many of today’s surgeons in techniques involved in the removal of tumours and polyps from the lower bowel. On retiring from active surgery, he directed his efforts into establishing immunotherapy for cancer. He can claim 75 published research papers. In 2007 Charles became the founder and Chairman of Immodulon Therapeutics, a MedTech company that aims to train the body’s own immune system into detecting and destroying cancer cells. The clinical trials of some compounds continue. Coincidentally, he found cancer patients with the hope and determination to recover, often lived longer than others. Currently, he is a Global Ambassador for the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Dr Charles Akle C’71
Dr Timothy Morris StB’76, BVetMed, PhD, FIBiol, is Professor of Laboratory Animal Welfare and Science at Nottingham University. He credits Worth’s Science Department with focusing his upbringing with all types of animals and thanks the School for its liberal approach and encouragement of open thinking and action. As a result of this, he has enjoyed a diverse career based around animals and science. After practicing as a Veterinary Surgeon for pets, horses and livestock, and gaining a PhD (cow fertility), he led the welfare oversight of animals used in scientific research. In addition to having around 40 published research papers, he has served as the chief vet for British Horseracing, an expert witness in anti-doping cases and an investigator of corruption in horseracing in Mauritius. To cap it all, Tim advises Ministers, governments and the UK Parliament on animal issues, edits a scientific journal and acts as a Trustee of the Breed Society for Sussex’s local breed of sheep, the Southdown.
Dr Matthew Jebb StB’76, MA, DPhil (Oxon), is an academic botanist and taxonomist who spent six years in Papua New Guinea where he studied and classified ant plants. In 1966 he was appointed Keeper of the Herbarium at the National Botanic Gardens Dublin, Ireland‘s answer to Kew. From 2010 he has been its Director. He claims at least 95 publications, covering the breadth of his expertise, including the Flora of Thailand and carnivorous plants belonging to the genus Nepenthes. Among his lecture topics are the native flora of Ireland, the application of Boyle’s Law to plants, and the magnificent collaboration between the architect Edwin Lutyens and the garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. He is a regular on national radio and TV, highlighting the importance and excitement of the plant world. This year he was awarded the prestigious Veitch Memorial Medal for services to horticulture by the Royal Horticultural Society. Carl Baptista B’93, BASc, was one of Worth’s first graduates in Biotechnology. Nicknamed the ‘Maggot Man’, he is the founder of Cuprina Solutions, a Singaporebased BioTech company. This company breeds thousands of blowflies and researches their uses in medicine, agriculture and waste disposal. One of their medical products is MEDIFLY, a dressing made of live, sterile blowfly larvae, which can be used on patients with chronic wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers. The maggots clean the wound by removing bacteria and devitalised tissue, thereby making it more receptive to skin closure. If all other treatments fail, better a blowfly bandage than an amputation. As Singapore, a small independent republic, relies heavily on food imports, vertical and indoor gardens are on the rise. In order to encourage the effective pollination of fruiting crops, Cuprina is developing a patented UV LED light technology, which manipulates the behaviour and movement of blowflies; guiding them to seek and find flowers, pollinate them and leave once pollination is completed.
Dr Timothy Morris StB’76
Dr Matthew Jebb StB’76
Dr Nick Kadar G’66: Gynaecological Oncologist, pioneer of keyhole surgery, Health Law Attorney. Author of more than 135 publications including The Political Rise of Donald J Trump and the translation of a book on the Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis
Dr Sebastian Fairweather G’67: Honorary Consultant Physician in Geriatric Medicine at The Radcliffe Infirmary and Fellow of Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford
Dr John de Caestecker G’71: Retired Consultant Gastroenterologist at University Hospitals of Leicester and Honorary Professor at College of Life Sciences, University of Leicester
Peter Bain R’75: Reader in Clinical Neurology at Imperial College London & Honorary Consultant in Clinical Neurology at Charing Cross & Cromwell Hospitals
Mark de Caestecker G’76: Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at Vanderbilt University, Nashville USA
Dr Richard Ranft B’77: Retired Head of the Sound Archive at The British Library, noted for wildlife recordings, especially bird song
Dr Julian Hughes R’78: Honorary Professor of Old Age Psychiatry at University of Bristol & Visiting Professor of Philosophy of Ageing at Newcastle University, served as Deputy Chair on the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.
Dr John Murphy: Retired Specialist Psychiatrist & Honorary Lecturer at St George’s University of London
Dr Simon Atkinson B’81: Consultant Pancreaticobiliary Surgeon at St Thomas's Hospital
Dr Peter Juo B’90
Dr Nick van Terheyden C’82: Having gained years of experience as Chief Medical Officer for various blue-chip names, now on the board of MedicAlert, the emergency service, and a leader in digital healthcare provision in the US
Paul Collini StB’91: Lecturer in Infectious Diseases at University of Sheffield
Dr Peter Juo B’90: Associate Professor of Developmental, Molecular & Chemical Biology at Tuft’s University, Boston USA
Dr Alastair Ferraro G’91: PhD in Immunology, Renal Consultant at Nottingham University Hospital
Dr Livio de Mascio R’93: Clinical Director of Orthopaedics & Plastic Surgery at Royal London & Barts NHS Trust
Dr Matthew Knight MBE C’98: Consultant Respiratory Physician. Honoured for services to the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s gratifying that over a period of 40 years, former Worth pupils have published more than 1,500 scientific research papers. There are, of course, pros and cons of teaching in the same school for 38 years; but it would have been difficult to find another where pupils got a better deal, or even one half as good. Thank you boys, for keeping me entertained. It was great fun. I’m so pleased that many of you fulfilled and even surpassed the hopes and dreams of adolescence. May all Worthians, past, present and future, be remembered for their love of people, animals and plants.
Peter Freeland, BSc, MPhil, DipEd, CBiol, FIBiol, Special Member of the Association for Science Education (ASE), Member of Worcester College, Oxford, Worth Science Teacher 1961 to 1999.
The next generation
Peter Freeland’s legacy of teaching excellence in Science at Worth has continued into the 21st Century with younger alumni making great strides in their science-related careers. In keeping with the Worth School and Benedictine value of ‘Stewardship – Leaving it better than you found it’ here are just a few who are starting to make a difference to the world in their own unique ways:
Edward James StB’02 studied Veterinary Medicine at Bristol University, going on to the Royal Veterinary College as a Junior Clinical Training Scholar in Small Animal Medicine & Surgery. He also has a First-Class Honours degree in Biomedical Engineering, a Doctorate in Medical Imaging and awarded several prizes throughout his academic career, including the Robert Speller Prize for the best paper by a PhD student in the Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Department at UCL. Having been part of the experimental R&D teams at CoMind and Gowerlabs, building pioneering non-invasive brainmonitoring equipment using biomedical optics, he has most recently been part of the Computational Optics Group at UCL, where he has been working on microscopic techniques for extremely deep tissue imaging.
Craig Jones StB’07 took A levels in Maths and Music in addition to the 3 sciences and studied Medicine at Manchester University. He is now a Urologist with an interest in urological cancers, currently undertaking a postgraduate MD in advanced prostate cancer at The Christie Hospital in Manchester. He was recently awarded the Keith Yeates Medal, awarded to the top candidates for outstanding performance in the FRCS (Urol) exam.
Tom Taverner R’07, who featured in last year’s issue of the magazine under ‘Meet the Bionic Man’, studied Physiotherapy at Sheffield Hallam University. After four years at The Royal Free Hospital he went to work with Rex Bionics and then became Clinical Director of Marsi Bionics in Spain, helping to develop lower limb exoskeletons for rehabilitation. Now back in the UK he and a partner have founded their own neurological rehabilitation business, Vim Health, based in Brighton. Daniel Grace F'05 studied Medicine at King College London and has subsequently held a range of medical roles, as a hospital doctor a GP, working with NHS 111 to support their COVID response, as a clinical tutor for several medical schools and more recently as a travel health doctor for Nomad travel and an examiner for the General Medical Council. He enjoys practicing medicine outside its traditional constraints – in the tea plantations of Kenya, the wilderness of the Canadian Yukon and the deserts of Jordan. Since 2020 he has been the Medical Director of Virtual Doctors who are using a smartphone app to connect isolated health centres in rural Zambia with UK volunteer doctors for support. Most recently he has been out working with World Extreme Medicine as a doctor in Fiji supporting the CBS production of the hit US TV series Survivor.
Sophie Nash StM’11 studied Biology at Queen Mary University of London and then a Master’s in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She went on to work for Public Health England as an HIV/ STI Surveillance & Prevention Scientist, and since August 2021 has been Principal Scientist working on COVID-19 Epidemiology.
Annabelle Jones StC’16 studied Biomedical Science (Anatomy) at Cardiff University and now works in healthcare & pharmaceutical market research. She was awarded the Best of Business Intelligence Best Newcomer Award this year in a competition run by the British Healthcare Business Intelligence Association.
Daniel Grace F'05
Craig Jones at his FRCS graduation at the Royal College of Surgeons of England Anabelle Jones with her Best Newcomer Award
