Now a dermatologist at the Royal United Hospitals in Bath, I
started working for the NHS in 1983, and have been a consultant
dermatologist since 1994. In 2000 I led the NHS team
that won the UK Dermatology Team of the Year award. I was
appointed as honorary professor of dermatology at Cardiff
University in 2005, advisory professor of dermatology to Jiao
Tong University, Shanghai, China in 2009 and honorary professor
at Bangor University in 2021.
As editor of the British Journal of Dermatology from 2013–2019, I led an overhaul of the journal, which rose in the international rankings under my stewardship.
Medical education has always been more than an interest for me;
I am a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Educators. Under the
Skin: A Dermatologist’s Fight to Save the NHS is my first book.
I have travelled widely, including backpacking from New
York to Rio de Janeiro in 1978, then Nairobi to Cape Town
via Kampala in 1981. I spent a three-month sabbatical from the
NHS at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town in 2005.
I enjoy live music and saw Carole King in 1972, Bob Marley and
the Wailers in 1975, The Who in 1976, David Bowie in 1977 and
1983, Miles Davies in 1981, Talking Heads in 1983 and Prince
in 1985 and 2008 (and many more). I attend Glyndebourne
Opera most years, and am a friend of the Welsh National Opera
and the Bayreuth Festival in Bavaria.
My football team, Crystal Palace, are consistent: each new season starts with hope and ends with disappointment.
My wife Sarah and I live in Bath. When not working I enjoy
gardening, reading, walking and listening to music. We have
two children, Rebecca and Ben, and a small dog called Moli.
Alex Anstey 