I have always thought, and still tell prospective medical students, that the most attractive part of being a doctor is there is something in it for everyone who has a thirst for knowledge.

From the quiet thinker to the gregarious soul, detail-driven to big-picture person, staunch researcher to unabashed clinician, most of us will find a home in medicine, even if, in a sorry postscript, a fraction of doctors will become disillusioned and even leave for reasons that are all too familiar.

Knowledge in medicine has come a long way.

The HIV ward, the scene of graphically ill patients when I was training, is long closed because it’s no longer needed in most rich countries. When my young neighbour had a stroke, doctors cleverly retrieved the clot suffocating his artery, not just saving his life but also returning it to its full potential. An acquaintance just donated a kidney to a sibling, allowing two lives to continue nearly as they were before.

In my own field of oncology, there used to be very few successful therapies. Palliative care was in its infancy in the minds of many, including doctors. A societal expectation that patients deserved more say in their care was still taking shape, and doctors wielded a lot of power, both in the corridors of the hospital and the lives of patients.

Today, that whole landscape looks........

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