Breaking the Mould; BBC Chief Medical Officer Claire Fernandes

In this episode, Dr Will Duffin speaks to BBC Chief Medical Officer Claire Fernandes, about breaking the mould in her career, what it’s like transitioning away from the NHS into private sector work. How this broadens your skillsets and horizons. How she developed an interest in occupational health and how this has opened doors for her. We talk about what her role at the BBC is like, the challenges, what it’s like being the only doctor in an organisation of 22,000 employees, working across a huge variety of different platforms and departments and how she’s constantly learning and always needs to come up with creative solutions to novel problems.

We talk about her role in covid-mitigation for the filming of BBC productions. What part she has played in enabling the cast of some of our favourite crew to continue filming safely without masks or social distancing on set. We explore the tension between advocating for the health and wellbeing of cast and crew whilst minimising barriers to a production meeting its commercial objectives. Clare talks about the role that travel and taking time out of medicine has had in helping her gain clarity on her own career and why she believes you should take as many ‘F’ years as you need (F3, F4 and beyond!)…. She shares her own tips on how you could ‘jailbreak’ your own career and explore an unconventional career path. The importance of developing professional networks… Why she believes it’s important to ditch a scarcity mindset and collaborate with others and be generous with your time.

If you;re thinking about breaking the mould, watch this session and see how you can add variety and value to your career.

More about Clare:

Clare Fernandes qualified from University College London with multiple university and national academic and non-academic prizes.

She has gone on to obtain numerous postgraduate prizes, notably the Faculty of Occupational Medicine’s Mobbs Fellowship and the Medical Women’s Federation International Fellowship.

She wrote the book ‘Questions and Answers for the Diploma in Occupational Medicine’, which has previously been nominated for a BMJ Book Award.

Clare is currently an occupational health physician in Central London and is the Society of Occupational Medicine CESR Trainee Representative.

YOu can find Clare on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clare-fernandes-4685b3176