My Career in Science - John B West -- TOC
Living History Project:
Table of Contents for John B. West Interview
Living History Project � John B. West, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc.
00:00:46 You
interest in science when you were growing up in Adelaide [Australia] were quite
different from what you ended up pursuing. Tell me a little bit about how you
interest in science began in you high school career and how you turned
eventually to physiology.
00:02:11 You
moved on to really pursue a research career from medicine so what was the
transition there? Why did you decide to go into research rather than into
practice?
00:04:12 So
I think this actually, in some ways, the research that you carried out there
linked back to your early years in the cyclotron.
00:06:40 So
this theme of gravity, that you investigated so elegantly with the radioactive
oxygen actually spills over into much of your subsequent work in the field of
respiratory physiology and you became interested in what at the time was a very
early foray into space. Tell me a little about that.
00:08:38
Doing research in space is obviously very challenging and I think the story that
you just told shows a remarkable degree of scientific patience. You first
started to think about these experiments in the 1960s and yet the fruition of
the project did really come about till the 1990s in space lab. How were you able
to sustain you interest in the field over that long period of time?
00:11:02
Another aspect of your work that really relates to this theme of gravity has
been your work on high altitude respiratory physiology and this really dates
back to time in the 60s in London and the opportunity you had to become involved
in an expedition to the Himalayas. How did you get involved in the so called
Silver Hut expedition and were you interested in mountaineering prior to this?
00:16:43 So
it�s quite a picture to think about this group of intrepid physiologists in this
hut so high up on the mountain in the winter. Tell me a little bit about you
spent you days. You mentioned that you worked very hard but what exactly were
you doing? Were you experimenting on each other; where you collecting samples;
how did you spend you free time?
00:19:48 The
weight loss is a fascinating thing. Is that, do you think, [because] you�re
expending more calories than you could possibly take in? I know that from my own
experience from when I�ve gone to far more modest altitudes you�re sleep is very
disrupted. Did you get any insights into that or were you mostly focusing on the
respiratory cardiovascular physiology?
00:21:40 And
indeed you did go back to the mountains, as you mentioned, in the early 80s for
the Everest expedition which was really quite extraordinary. Tell me what the
major scientific accomplishments were on that expedition and how it came about.
00:25:07 I
think that the things that you described about the expedition could make it
quite daunting for anybody to take this on, especially as we�ve already talked
about an era where people demand quick results; the planning for an expedition
like that must have been quite extraordinary.
00:28:45 So
John, obviously on the Everest expedition you were able to make measurements and
do studies considerably higher than you had in the Silver Hut expedition. Did
you find different things? What types of different measurements were you able to
make in that the science had probably moved on over the intervening period?
00:32:49 So
John you came back from the Everest expedition obviously with a wealth of data
still to analyze but this was also a time when you were moving more actively
into the culmination of plans you had to conduct research in space. Tell me a
little bit about the experiments on the space lab. Did you have a bicycle
ergometer in the space lab flying around? Exactly what was done on the Spacelab
and what did you find out?
00:35:18 So
the precise types of experiments you did: the astronauts were exercising and you
were taking samples and making measurements?
00:36:45 You
work in these extreme environments have really brought you renowned in many many
countries in the world and obviously has many practical applications. I believe
you have been working with mine workers in high altitudes in Chile and I know
there have been others places where you expertise you�ve gained from those
expedition has been used. Tell me a little about those efforts.
00:42:04
Let�s switch gears here a little bit and talk about your time here in UC San
Diego because you are one of the founding faculty for what was really quite a
brave experiment in medical education; new medical school with new ways of doing
things. Tell me how you ended up at UC San Diego and some of your experiences in
the time you�ve been here.
00:44:30 I
know that, as you mentioned, you taught that first year class and many many
subsequent classes and teaching has been a important part of your career. I know
how important it is from working with you directly. You wrote many years ago a
textbook on respiratory physiology that has been used all over the world. What
inspired you to write that book?
00:47:13 One
of the professional activities that you�ve been involved with for a number of
years is to be involved with the American Physiological Society, indeed you
served as president and many other capacities. The Society is bedrock of medical
education, the discipline of physiology; there are still very many important
research questions to be answered. But in some ways people feel that physiology
maybe a poor relation to some of the newer molecular disciplines. What advice
might you have for the Council of the APS at the current time in promoting the
discipline of physiology and any other advice you�d like to give the current
leadership?
00:50:32
Another major goal of the Society is to promote the careers of young scientists.
What advice would you have to somebody who is in high school right now thinking
about science; influenced perhaps by a gifted science teacher. Would you advise
such a young person to follow in your footsteps into a research career?
00:54:03
You�ve approached most of the research through your career from a starting point
of understanding the basic principles respiratory physiology but of course the
work that you�ve done has really contributed not only to that basic
understanding but also to clinical medicine and understanding what goes wrong in
patients with respiratory diseases. Can you tell us a little bit about the
application of your work and how the field has advanced due to the discoveries
you have made?