Rhubarb December 2025

In terms of challenging, its often not the expedition itself that makes it challenging, but more the circumstances. I have been the senior medical advisor for the British Exploring Society for a decade now and am continually in awe of the young people I work with and the leaders who give their time and expertise on these trips. Many of these young explorers have spent most of their lives in multiple care homes without access to the outdoors or strong life mentors. Watching them overcome adversity and grow during the expedition is hugely inspiring for me. Coaching them through their journey in pre-departure training, on an expedition and the ‘what next’ of post expedition is both rewarding and challenging so these trips are always highly memorable. (BES are often looking for mentors and social leaders to support these young people if this appeals to anyone reading this!) Most people tend to ask me about my expedition medicine career, as it seems sexy and, when you say ‘expedition medic’ you picture someone hanging off a rope with an ice axe in one hand and a stethoscope in the other. However, in my view it’s the expeditions that are the easy part of my job: I’m usually working in beautiful places with like-minded people carrying out a shared and common goal. The global health and humanitarian work I do is something I’ve really been passionate about since medical school and beyond – it’s what drives me and makes me tick. Although you wouldn’t necessarily think of this as an expedition, you’re often in really challenging environments, hot, dirty, dusty and you can be witnessing huge societal inequities. In the comfort of our Oxfordshire bubble, we love living vicariously through the

natural world alive for us. Sir David is a font of all knowledge, kind, humble and funny. I learn a huge amount when travelling with this team and love having a peek into another profession. From the migration of wildebeest to the jungle of Costa Rica, my most memorable moment with Sir David has to be in Chernobyl. An unlikely destination I know! We were staying in a cross between a 70s army barracks and Russian prison, everything was uncomfortable from the itchy blankets to the beige food. In true Sir David style he continually made jokes about this and kept good humour. One evening when a cameraman fell through the springs in his bed we all went to try and rebuild the bed. Sir David joined us after hearing the kerfuffle, shortly followed by the sound technician and the drone pilot who both proceeded to produce bottles of red wine. The evening descended into hilarity with us all perched on upturned plywood boxes listening to David regaling us with hilarious stories of the many shoots he’s been on. There were no cameras, no recordings, no phones – just us. It was a very special evening.

BEYOND TEDDIES

The most memorable certainly has to be flying in a hot air balloon over the Alps with the wonderful Sir David Attenborough. Filming in Chernobyl.

Humanitarian work: Team Talk : using sport to break down social and gender barriers.

Instagram feed of the ice-axe-wielding medic, but less so through the one of a doctor holding a malnourished child. What I’m trying to say is, I personally find the humanitarian work more far challenging, and therefore memorable, than summiting any peak.

With all that said, sleeping in a tent and needing a pee in the night at -30 degrees does come with its own set of challenges!

You’ve worked with Sir David Attenborough on major documentary series.What’s it like being part of productions that bring the planet’s wildest places to global audiences? I’ve been extremely fortunate to be part of the Planet Earth and Blue Planet series for over a decade and have gained real insight into the immensely hard work these teams put in to bring the

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