The future of medical education in neonatology, paediatrics and paediatric virology: An interview with Professor Alan Michael Weindling, Professor of Perinatal Medicine at the University of Liverpool.

Abstract

Professor Alan Michael Weindling, Emeritus Professor of Perinatal Medicine at the University of Liverpool in the UK, is one of the pioneers of modern neonatal care worldwide with an enormous contribution to the care of premature babies in the city of Liverpool. During the last 3 decades, his contributions focused on the development of the clinical service, the training provided and the strong research achievements at Liverpool Women's Hospital NHS Trust, one of the most widely respected centres for neonatal medicine in western Europe. According to Professor Weindling, teaching a commitment to continuing lifelong learning as well as trying to make clinical care cost-effective is really important. He highlights the value of humility, holistic scientific approach, evidence-based medicine and multidisciplinary team working to neonatal and paediatric care. Looking back to neonatology as practiced in the 1990s, he accepts that since then, the overall standard of care has improved enormously. He supports that further neonatal care research is required for the prevention and treatment of acquired brain damage as well as on looking at ways of minimising stress for families, who have a child in an intensive care unit. He could see how for most trainees a module or series of lectures in paediatric infectious diseases would be helpful as part of their training and he estimates that in the future paediatric virology may become a specialist interest for a limited number of paediatric trainees. In the context of the ‘4th Workshop on Paediatric Virology’, which will be held in Athens, Greece, on September 22nd, 2018, Professor Weindling will receive the ‘2018 Paediatric Virology Award in Neonatology and Medical Education’.