01 March

I am not sure where the first 2 months of the year have gone. It seems inconceivable that we are now in March – except that when I look at my garden the daffodils are poking their heads through and the crocuses are in bloom. I personally love Spring as the days get longer and the garden comes to life again. I always look forward to the flowering of the magnolia “tulip” trees as they symbolize Spring for me.

On a professional note I am very busy with interesting work which is satisfying. I am also looking forward to the mid-year ISPE meeting, which this year will be held in London – and that explains the banner photo for this update!

 

10 February 2017

I posted a link recently to a paper on the BBC site looking at cultural difference. I found the article fascinating and in particular how behavioural studies use generalisation from Western Educated, Industrialised, Rich and Democratic populations (or WEIRD) to apply to other cultures. For those who would like a bit more reading on the matter try the article by Henrich et al Behav Brain Sci. 2010 Jun;33(2-3):61-83.

This article started me thinking about how we communicate benefits and risks to patients and healthcare professionals and how we might be able to do it better if we incorporated more patient perspectives which would give a variety of cultural viewpoints

The photograph is from a holiday in December – I’m trying to hold on to the memories for as long as possible!