Christ Church
St Aldate's, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 1DP
UK
The Oxford Forum for Medical Humanities presents a talk on effective altruism and the true impact of a doctor, by (medical doctor) Dr Gregory Lewis.
Doctors have a pretty solid reputation as do-gooders, and many students go into medicine for altruistic reasons. But how much good do doctors do? If you are deciding whether to become a doctor in the UK, how many lives can you expect to save over the course of your career?
Dr Gregory Lewis, a full-time doctor and ex-Cambridge medical student, will present some of his research into these very questions. This talk should be of interest to medics and non-medics alike who are serious about the impact of their career.
Date: Saturday 24 October (Week 2)
Time: 4:30pm-5:30pm
Venue: Blue Boar Lecture Theatre, Christ Church
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WHY DOCTORS DON’T DO MUCH GOOD
If you want to save lives, should you study medicine? Probably not.
The conclusion of our research is that most people skilled enough to make it in a field as challenging as medicine could have a bigger social impact through an alternative career.
The best research suggests that doctors do much less to improve the health of their patients than you might naturally expect. Health is more determined by lifestyle factors, and most of the treatments that work particularly well could be delivered with a smaller number of doctors than already work in the UK or USA.
However, medicine is high earning and highly fulfilling, and we expect there are more promising opportunities to help others through biomedical research, public health, health policy and (e.g. hospital) management.
Overall, we think going to medical school would be the best way to have a social impact only if someone felt they were a significantly better fit for medicine than the other options we recommend.
Source: 80,000 Hours https://80000hours.org/2012/08/how-many-lives-does-a-doctor-save/
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BIOGRAPHY
Dr Gregory Lewis, a full-time public health doctor training in the east of England. He studied Medicine at Cambridge, where he volunteered for Giving What We Can and 80,000 Hours, and he did his FY1 at the John Radcliffe Hospital.
He will present some of his research into these very questions. This talk should be of interest to medics and non-medics alike who are serious about the impact of their career