User:Preacherdoc

This user is a physician.

I'm a practising anaesthetist/ anesthesiologist and a Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists. I also have an Honours degree in anatomical science.

My professional interests are obstetric anaesthesia, comparative vertebrate anatomy, the history of medicine and medical education. I have contributed to two popular anaesthetic handbooks, and occasionally write about other things. Sometimes people even read it. Medical students within earshot are liable to be taught useful things without mercy until they faint from dehydration.

I am a founder member of the ineffectual Society for the Simplification of Ludicrous Drug Names (drotrecogin, abciximab, and ximelagatran are our greatest threats, with an honourable mention for zafirlukast), as well as an enthusiastic subscriber to the Royal College of Pedants, where the sign on the booth reads "I am he through whom enquiry may be made".

I never drink cheap whisky, being especially fond of the Islay malts. I play the guitar with extraordinary clumsiness. I drive a 2-seater convertible sports car and believe this makes me appear both cool and unconventional. I read voraciously, although I am not clever enough to understand many of the works of Umberto Eco with the exception of The Name of the Rose. I try to maintain interests and friends outwith the field of medicine. I am a believer in the Gaia hypothesis. I am unduly fond of Battenburg cake. My favourite film is The Fifth Element.

I adore classic computer games, and have great nostalgia for the BBC Micro and Amiga.

Elephants are my second-favourite mammals. Tuataras are, without doubt, the most interesting reptiles in existence.

I originally come from Scotland, and have worked in New Zealand and France. I have two children, from whom I learn a lot.

My username comes from the character Preacher in the excellent game The Chaos Engine. I don't look like him (although I occasionally dress like him), and I am only a little bit perverse. God is, however, unequivocally on my side. Really.

The articles I have a particular fondness for are these:

Skull and associated individual bones and other structures