Karaoke with the Curator, October 16th 8pm

Please listen to the audio to hear Joshua Sofaer's full interview with Paul Bates, as well as the karoake. There are also images to look at. Karaoke with Pathology is not a mix I have encountered before - a lot of fun was had (lubricated by a little wine too).

Paul explained how pathology was the study of abnormal cells or tissues, and the collection evidenced abnormal conditions that present in hospital contexts. One of the best parts for him was the historical part, dating back to 1852 when the collection was started by Charles West. A plaster cast of a leg with rickets was passed round, as was one of a club foot, and a number of small perspex clear boxes with an object (pins, coins) placed over an x-ray of where it had ended up in the body.

The aim of the collection is teaching in pathology - these objects are aids. The idea behind this collection is that it is part of a picture - he hopes for people to become better doctors.

Paul Bates Biog:
After leaving school at 16 Paul worked as a Laboratory Technician in a London school for a number of years before moving to Guys hospital for a total of 7 years working in a technician in a research unit and then later in the Anatomy department where he began to acquire museum skills.
 
He joined the Royal Free Hospital in 1975. When the medical schools of UCL and Royal Fee were joined this was the beginning of a union which would ultimately save the Pathology collections on both sites.

The UCL Pathology Collection now houses various collections under it’s care including:
 
The Royal Free Hospital collection
The Bland Sutton Institute collection
The Middlesex Hospital collection
The Elizabeth Garret Anderson Hospital obstetrics collection
The Soho Women’s Hospital gynecological collection
The St. Paul’s Hospital urology collection
and The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children collection which was acquired in the early 1980s and from which the toy car was taken.
 
The total number of specimens number about 6,000.
They form part of an ongoing source for the staff and students within UCL. It is now held predominantly at the Royal Free Hospital, London.

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/pathology/