Former Chief Medical Officer Sir Kenneth Calman recently celebrated 50
years in medicine. It was a period which saw the evolution of the public
health agenda from communicable diseases to diseases of lifestyle, the
change from a hospital-orientated health service to one dominated by
community-based services, and the increasing recognition of inequalities as a
major determinant of health. This paper documents selected highlights from
his career including the Aberdeen typhoid outbreak, AIDS, bovine spongiform encephalopathy,
foot and mouth disease, radioactive fallout, the invention of computerised tomography and
magnetic resonance imaging, and draws parallels between the development of the modern
understanding of public health and the theoretical background to the science 100 years earlier
