Richard Moxon

Recollecting Oxford Medicine: Oral Histories

Derek Hockaday interviews Richard Moxon, Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics and former Chairman of Paediatrics, 21 July 2016. Topics discussed include: (00:00:12) coming to Oxford from Johns Hopkins University; (00:02:23) balance of clinical, teaching and research work in the United States, as head role in Division of Paediatric Infectious Diseases; (00:04:17) meeting and interview for position in Oxford; (00:05:56) the inception of the Institute of Molecular Medicine; (00:07:13) reaction to Oxford hospitals compared to Johns Hopkins; (00:10:55) difference between Oxford and Johns Hopkins in terms of clinical care; (00.14:49) differences in nursing and physiotherapy between Oxford and Johns Hopkins, (00.15:51) centralisation of paediatrics and making a case for children's hospital in Oxford; (00.19:44) teaching clinical medicine students in Oxford; (00.20:56) general practice and child health care, paediatric teaching; (00.24:24) research in incidents of Haemophilus Influenzae type B; (00.28:48) vaccinology research unit and staff; (00:32:26) continuing bench work after interest in epidemiology and summary of the first seven years working in Oxford; (00:35:26) David Weatherall; (00:36:21) laboratory space before the Institute of Molecular Medicine; (00.36:49) basic research work in the United States continued in Oxford with the vaccine, leading to the Oxford Vaccine Group; (00:39:29) moving on to research in meningococcus, deep involvement in whole genome sequencing; (00.41:27) the Stroud strain of meningococcus and complete sequence of the strain, 1997-2000; (00:42:55) process of producing a vaccine; (00:44:54) significance of sabbatical, repetitive DNA in bacterial genomes; (00:46:45) changing interactions with the NHS post sabbatical; (00:49:39) fund for the Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine; (00:51:01) travelling to represent the Oxford paediatric department, writing articles; (00:51:55) retirement; (00:58:08) working in Siena and other tasks during retirement; (00:57:35) thoughts on research as a head of department compared to approach of George Pickering; (01:02:00) final thoughts on Oxford. The following sections of audio are redacted: 00:05:20-00:05:30; 00:50:31-00:50:39 and 01:05:16-01:05:58.