How David Hatch became a professor of pediatric anesthesia

Abstract

This is an account of an interview with David John Hatch who was one of the first Professors of Pediatric Anesthesia in the world. He began his anesthesia career as a medical student administering chloroform and ended it 40 years later as a Consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital where he developed and led a world renowned research team measuring and assessing lung function in infants and children. These productive years earned him his chair at the Institute of Child Health in London (part of University College London) funded by Portex (currently, a branch of Smiths Medical). His academic achievements include over 110 journal publications, two textbooks and having many honors and awards. Yet he does not think of himself as an academic. In his words "I wanted to be a hard working clinician with an interest in research, and not just academic".

Keywords: education; general anesthesia; history; inhaled agents < drugs.