Graham Buckley BRIAN, PLEASE INSERT PHOTO FROM ANNUAL REPORT
Chairman, ASME
12 Queen Street
Edinburgh
EH2 1JE
I came to medical school in Edinburgh from England in 1963, attracted by its strong tradition in medical education. The hierarchy of hospital medicine never appealed to me and on graduation I enrolled in the first structured training scheme for General Practitioners in Scotland in 1971.
This was a time of rapid expansion in training for general practice in the UK and within 3 years I was responsible for a training scheme in Livingston, combining this with being a GP and a hospital practitioner in geriatric medicine. The need to fulfill these different roles and responsibilities led to an early interest in management and research.
During the 1980s I was the Editor of the British Journal of General Practice and completed my MD in the educational aspects of the assessment of elderly people by different professional groups.
In the 1990s, education and educational management dominated my time and it proved impractical to maintain my clinical work. From 1993 I was the Chief Executive of the Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education and from 2002 Chief Executive of NHS Education for Scotland. After stepping down from the latter position I became the Chair of the Association for the Study of Medical Education.
During this period I have also had two stints as Editor of Medical Education. These leadership roles have been challenging and rewarding, providing experience of very different organizational structures, cultures and values. Overall this has emphasized the importance of understanding cultures in context in achieving goals. For me, there is considerable overlap between education and management with trusting relationships at the heart of effective working.
For the future………… the rose garden beckons. My hero is Garibaldi – he unified Italy and then retired to his farm.