Paul McKeown Specialist in public health medicine at the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.
Personal/family: Married to Marian with two daughters, Anna and Rosemary.
What figure from the world of medicine or health do you most admire?
Rudolf Virchow, the father of cellular pathology and part-time anthropologist, sanitarian and liberal politician. He helped to move thinking away from pre-Enlightenment ideas of disease and having discovered and named many of the substances in the body associated with health and disease he went on to identify accurately the social factors that predispose to disease and the political solutions to those factors.
What other career might you have chosen?
Law or perhaps journalism.
If you could grant three wishes for the health service, what would they be?
Universal access to healthcare proportionate to need, resourcing of the health system to enable it to be properly responsive to that need and action on the relevant strategies that remain unimplemented.
What is your greatest fear?
Loss of a loved one.
Have you ever been a patient and were you a good one?
Yes. Impeccable in hospital, but a typical man at home.
When or where are you happiest?
Lounging with my family or reading in bed on a winter's night.
How do you cope with stress?
Laughing and walking. Nothing beats a deep, hot bath.
What is the trait you most admire in yourself?
My sense of humour.
What is the trait you most dislike in yourself?
My impatience.
Do you use alternative or complementary medicine or therapies?
I have been to a chiropractor for a back problem and I found it very effective.
Who or what makes you laugh?
Billy Connolly, The Office, my family, myself and life in general.
What is your motto?
One thing at a time.
What is your favourite TV or radio programme?
Something soothing on Lyric FM.
What books would you bring to a desert island?
The Complete Oxford Book of Desert Island Survival with free CD ROM.