About me 
Overview
In the past I've worked in small and large companies, university research, and the civil service (for ten years, by the end heading a team of 35 staff).
I have a degree in Natural Sciences and a PhD in physiology and computer modelling.
I'm now an author and freelance writer and editor in Cardiff, UK.
Areas of knowledge
Specialist knowledge:
healthcare
non-communicable diseases (such as heart disease and cancer)
nutrition and exercise
nuclear power
IT
physics and physiology
Government,
the civil service and public services
Strong background in:
environment/ecology
other sciences (especially chemistry,
biochemistry, cell biology, psychology and geology)
statistics
economics
management
music and the arts
Current work
I am a freelance editor and writer working from home in Cardiff, Wales, which I have been doing for many years now.
In that time, I have edited well over a million words; around half of this has been technical or scientific, and the rest in plain English for a general readership.
Alongside my freelance work, I have written fiction and non-fiction, including
How to Live to 110, a guide that explains the science
behind modern diseases and presents straightforward, science-based
steps to avoid these. I
co-wrote this with my father, a retired Professor of Medicine. It
was published by Metro in 2012. More info...
A crime
thriller set in a ski
resort, which I shall publish shortly as an e-book.
Several scripts, sketches and other
shorter works, mostly comedy.
Significant previous posts
My work previous work includes, in reverse order:
Ten years as a civil servant. Main posts included
Head
of a 35-strong team that I built up from scratch. This
provided support to the Health Minister and department, with a wide
remit that covered providing the public with information,
correspondence (many thousands of letters a year), responding to the
press, key speeches, oversight of new legislation, etc.
Oversight
of the controversial merger of hospital trusts in Wales, and
support to trust chief executives after this.
Head
of a financial management team supporting Welsh hospital
trusts.
Secretary
(in effect, project manager) of a Government committee that
investigated the environmental impact of the
Sea Empress oil spill off the Welsh coast. The committee
commissioned £2 million of studies, published a 140-page report for
the public (which I edited) and held an international conference.
Four years in IT with the oil company BP Exploration, including
Programming, data analysis,
design
Internal
IT consultancy and
user support
Quality
management
Project
management
Facilitator
to business process reengineering
Five years with Edinburgh University, providing IT (and some statistical) support to medical projects, as well as carrying out my own research
Modelling
the body's response to hypoxia during exercise studies
Dynamic
lung and heart imaging during isotope scans
I gained a PhD, and wrote and contributed papers for publication.
Degrees
BA(hons) Natural Sciences, Cambridge University:
advanced physics,
mathematics, geology,
cell biology and
psychology
PhD, Department of Medicine, University of Edinburgh:
physiology and
computer modelling
Interests
Writing, dancing, playing the piano, swimming, skiing, travelling
