Dr Adam Fox OBE Reflects On the Impact of his Time at Robinson

Adam Fox OBE (Medicine, 1990) is a Professor of Paediatric Allergy at Guy’s & St. Thomas’ Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust/King’s College London and Founding Director of the Allergy Centre of Excellence in London’s Harley Street Medical District. 

It’s difficult to overstate the impact my time at Cambridge had on me – both personally and professionally. Whenever I am asked about the happiest time of my life, I reflexively respond that it was my 3 years at Robinson. 

Reflecting back on exactly why this was the case is a little more challenging. It would be disingenuous to suggest that I loved and embraced the academic side of my course – those close to me at the time would know this to be untrue, and the fact that I spent two long summers in college preparing to retake anatomy exams would also evidence otherwise. However, the time I spent focused on studies stimulated enough interest for me to want to return some years later and complete my doctoral thesis, which led to the academic highlight of my career: being awarded the 2012 Raymond Horton-Smith prize from the University for the year’s best doctoral thesis. Indeed, this was something that shocked me at the time as much as it would have done my undergraduate peers. 

Since moving on, I was delighted to hear that the focus of the medical sciences course has been very much overhauled since those days when somehow insect embryology found its way onto a curriculum already too full to include many vital areas of medicine. 

Of course, what really made the experience was the people – the friends, peers, college staff and faculty. As a medical student, living and working in an environment filled with others studying philosophy, engineering and history is a real privilege and one that is not enjoyed by many of those who attend medical schools that are less integrated into the wider university. I am certain that this exposure led to what became a portfolio career encompassing education, research leadership and entrepreneurship. The latter of these continues to this day to involve fellow Robinson undergraduates who remained a part of my life. I am still a strong advocate of this portfolio career model and included it in the narrative of the Fox Nasim Bursary that Mohammed Nasim (Medicine, 1990), now CEO of a telecoms firm, and I jointly endowed for future Robinson medical students and now funds electives.

Looking back, one of the real strengths of Robinson was its strong sense of community – one that stays with you and for me, continues to this day, whenever I serendipitously encounter a fellow Robinsonian. This was something I don’t think I fully appreciated at the time, but missed when I moved for my clinical studies to a large London medical school. From my visits to Robinson since, I have a clear sense that this sense of community is still in good health.