Interview: Dr Graham Beastall CBE

Xchange newsletter – May 2009

Congratulations to Dr Graham Beastall who has just retired from what he refers to as his ‘day job’ as clinical lead for the multi-site Department of Clinical Biochemistry in the North Glasgow Division of NHS Greater Glasgow. However, it looks like he will be busier than ever with other commitments – President of the IFCC and professional adviser to the Department of Health for a start! Here we talk to Graham about the changing world of clinical chemistry.

Graham gained a BSc and PhD from the University of Liverpool in the late 1960s and moved to Glasgow as a university lecturer in 1972. He joined the NHS specialising in biochemical endocrinology in 1976 at a time of rapid expansion in clinical chemistry practice.

The timing was perfect for me. Clinical chemistry was at a very exciting stage with the recent introduction of immunoassay for measuring blood hormone levels. Every discipline has its heyday. Recently, it has been genetics but back then it was definitely clinical chemistry. As a result, there were dramatic improvements for patients and, over a ten year period, workload probably multiplied five fold.

What influenced your initial decision to study biochemistry?
Well, like many kids, I took a sensible approach to choosing my school subjects. I opted for biology over maths because the biology teacher didn’t set homework! However, I was always interested in chemistry applied to biology and favoured science over medicine because it is less predictable.

What are the challenges for today’s clinical chemistry?
The current challenge is to optimise testing and to build an evidence-based approach into protocols.

An ongoing trend that is difficult to cope with is global healthcare’s demand for value for money. The challenge here is to balance patient care with cost effectiveness while continuing to support the R&D work for the future.

It is also important that we highlight the importance of laboratories to healthcare management and to the community. Often, laboratories are unseen and their contributions to patient care go unrecognised. That’s why I was happy to get involved in the Labs Are Vital initiative and become Chair of its Executive Committee.

And the advantages?
Automation and miniaturisation are making it easier to get results more quickly and to a higher standard from smaller sample volumes.

And behind all of the developments made, is an improved clinical understanding. We’re learning to use data more accurately to ensure we are looking at the whole picture.

What does the next decade have in store for laboratory medicine?
There will be a developing molecular diagnostics scene across all disciplines which will lead to the discovery of genetic markers for more and more conditions. Together with advances in imaging technology, I think we will see a whole new approach enabling quicker, simpler and more accurate diagnoses.

And then of course we will see a growing acceptance of personalised medicine over the next 10-20 years. I imagine that at some point in the future, we will be testing babies and providing a full risk analysis. A scary thought!

In terms of patient care, the stem cell revolution is a very exciting development and will hopefully lead to the potential treatment of many disorders.

It seems to me that at the moment, science and technology are moving ahead of our understanding and our ability to use them. This raises ethical as well as scientific questions. It will be interesting to see how things progress and how society responds.

Would you do it again?
Absolutely. I love the world of clinical chemistry and would recommend it to anyone. Although, if I had my time again, I might study medicine first … because medics get paid more!

So, will you now have time on your hands?
My job with the IFCC is a huge one and takes a lot of time. However, it gives me the opportunity to travel and meet people around the world which I love. It’s particularly interesting to be involved in assisting the advancement of laboratory medicine in developing countries. And I have other work as well. And if I ever finish all that, my wife has a long list of jobs for me to do!

Graham Beastall

• Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists (FRCPath) – the highest professional postgraduate qualification in laboratory medicine in the UK.
• Registered clinical scientist with the Health Professions Council
• Chartered Scientist (CSi) with the UK Science Council
• European Specialist in Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EurClinChem)
• Co-author of more than 170 peer-reviewed original publications
• Past chair & President of the Association for Clinical Biochemistry
• The first non-medical Vice President of the RCPath
• Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE - for services to medical science