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Is ScotGEM The Punk Rock of Medical Degrees?

The creators of ScotGEM Stories, Callum and Joe, are ex-students of my Kennoway group and have experienced first-hand my love of music. Each ‘case of the week’ quiz is preceded by a piece of music with a (sometimes tenuous) link to that topic.
They were also aware – because I told them – that I had been a singer in a punk band. This is my standard ‘one interesting fact about you’ answer in our ‘meet your Generalist Clinical Mentor’ session (some might say the only interesting fact about me).

I had mentioned at one point that it was my love of music (and punk specifically) that had indirectly led to me becoming a doctor. I also think it has influenced the type of doctor, and now educator, that I have become. They have asked me to write a piece to try and explain all of this – which has really got me thinking.
My first encounter with punk was in late 1976. I’d just turned thirteen and a band called the Sex Pistols made national news after swearing live on evening TV. I was, of course, intrigued.

The outraged headline on Thursday 2nd December 1976…

To understand the impact, you have to understand what 1970s Britain was like. It was pretty grey and grim at times, with mass unemployment, workers strikes, power cuts, unchecked racism, anti-gay violence and the rise of the far-right National Front. Obedience, deference and conformity were expected in every walk of life.
Punk rock was always about more than the music (which tended to be loud, angry and fast). It was about questioning authority and societal norms. It encouraged diversity and self-belief. Although it was at its peak for only a year or two it was like a hurricane that blew away the cobwebs of post-war Britain.
For me, a shy teenager from a mining village in Dumfriesshire, who’d only recently arrived in the big city (Edinburgh) it was transformational. I found a new confidence, dressing up in outrageous clothes, jumping up and down like crazy at gigs and eventually even singing in a band (although it never got further than my garage). I became active in Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League.


It ultimately gave me the confidence to apply to medical school and more importantly, to stick with it, when much of the time I felt like a fish out of water. In the absence of any medical role models, I found inspiration in people like Johnny Rotten, Joe Strummer, and Poly Styrene, whose philosophy was – get out there and do it, you’re as good (or better) than anyone else!
My one regret about medical school was I got so immersed in studying that I gave up reading for fun for a whole five years. Thankfully I had a flatmate who loved music as much as I did, and blasting out music in the evenings was an important stress reliever (probably less so for our neighbours), and reminded me there was a world outside of medicine.
As a GP in Derby, the music stayed with me and I had some of my best times going to gigs with like-minded friends. I always took it as a compliment when people said “you’re not a typical doctor”, and when the chance came to join a band again I jumped at it. For a glorious few years I led a double life of GP by day and punk singer by night. I managed to separate the two roles fairly successfully but gradually I was being recognised more at gigs, and in surgery. It made for some interesting conversations.

The band split and not long after, I moved back to Scotland, ultimately ending up back in Edinburgh. Two years ago I got the opportunity to join ScotGEM as a GCM (Generalist Clinical Mentor).
I’ve relished the opportunity to bring some ‘punk rock philosophy’ into my teaching. My students will know my ‘bigger picture’ reflections cover not just music, but poetry, literature, ballet, and Hollywood movies, to name but a few. Interest in teaching humanities in medical schools is growing. I firmly believe it helps students and doctors remain grounded in seeing patients as people not diseases, giving them a deeper awareness of the human condition – and there really is a song for every emotion (and every medical condition).

So, here are some parts of my punk rock philosophy I hope my students might pick up on:

• Always have a life outside medicine
• Find your own inspirations and find inspiration in unusual places
• Be yourself and believe in yourself
• Celebrate diversity
• Make your voice heard, question everything (within reason, and definitely not your GCM…!)
• Change things for the better.


Is ScotGEM the Punk Rock of Medical Degrees? With its diversity of student intake and educators, its ground-breaking and innovative teaching methods and its commitment to produce doctors who are ‘agents of change’ – it just might be.

Dr Andrew Brown is a GP and ScotGEM Generalist Clinical Mentor (GCM) as well as the Regional GCM for Fife, based in Kennoway.