From where I stand: a personal story about medicine and science
Alan Gijsbers, January 2012

Author

Associate Professor Alan Gijsbers MBBS FRACP FAChAM DTM&H PGDipEpi University of Melbourne, Head of Addiction Medicine Royal Melbourne Hospital, Medical Director The Melbourne Clinic, Richmond. Former National Chairman, Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship, Australia, President ISCAST, President HealthServe Australia.

Abstract

I am a specialist physician in Addiction Medicine. I see patients who suffer from alcohol or other substance abuse problems. It takes considerable courage for them to face up to issues which often cause shame and despair. I see myself as an agent of hope, helping people move out of a sense of shame and defeat into a sense of hope, direction and purpose. 

How did I get to practise this specialty? It was a twisting journey with a number of unexpected turns. So often it felt as if I was stumbling about in the darkness, hardly knowing whether the next step was the right one. There were some strange turnings, including failures as a young registrar at specialist exams and a middle age retrenchment when the government cut back its commitment to public hospital care. But looking back I can see God’s hand leading me, sometimes more specifically during times of doubt and failure than in the times of dizzying success when the world seemed to be at my feet. I can only recall fragments of why I became what I became, and even the retelling of the story alters the details.

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