After residency posts he was called up for
National Service and was promoted captain in the
Royal Army Medical Corps serving in Egypt from 1954 to 1956. Having decided on a career in surgery he obtained the fellowships of the
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh winning the gold medal as the best candidate in the examination. He went on to take the fellowship of the
Royal College of Surgeons of England. After surgical training posts at the
Western Infirmary, Glasgow he took the degree of
ChM in 1959. He was awarded a scholarship for surgical research at the
Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, returning to a lecturer post in Glasgow in 1960. Here he worked under Professor
Sir Charles Illingworth, joining the academic departmental programme of research into gastrointestinal physiology, studying in particular
gastric acid secretion and large bowel motility. He was appointed senior lecturer then reader in surgery at the
University of Leeds with Professor
John Goligher and was awarded the degree of
MD in 1962. He became professor of surgery at the
University of Sheffield in 1964. Here he continued to develop research into surgery for
peptic ulcer disease, large bowel motility,
internal and
external anal sphincter physiology and
colorectal surgery. In 1979 he left clinical practice for an administrative post with his appointment as Provost of the
University of Wales College of Medicine in Cardiff (subsequently the Cardiff University School of Medicine). He was appointed a member of the
General Medical Council serving as Chairman of its Professional Conduct Committee. == Honours and awards ==