Mike Bryson

bmj;394/aug10_6/e100446/VS1F1vs1Mike Bryson was brought up in Gateshead, where his father was a headmaster. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School and then studied at the College of Medicine in Newcastle. His early student years included rowing, playing poker, and riding a series of motorbikes. As a result, at the age of 20 he spent two months in Raigmore Hospital in Inverness with a fractured femur after a serious accident, and he dropped a year.After post-qualification jobs in Newcastle he worked in Edinburgh, Manchester, and Glasgow, where he met his wife, Anna. He trained in anaesthesia, specialising in obstetrics and learning the technique of epidural anaesthesia. His final training was in Bristol and Exeter before his appointment as consultant to Newcastle’s Princess Mary Maternity Hospital and Royal Victoria Infirmary. He ensured the availability of adequate conscious pain relief in Newcastle hospitals, and he was always ready to attend when required….