Welcome
to the official website of Dr. Robert Buckman
DR.
ROBERT BUCKMAN lives in Toronto, Canada, where he is
a medical oncologist at the Princess Margaret Hospital, and Professor
in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto.
He
qualified as a physician from Cambridge University in 1972, and
completed his training in medical oncology at The Royal Marsden
Hospital in London including laboratory research leading to a
Ph.D. He emigrated to Toronto in 1985.
He
has written many articles on various aspects of medicine and oncology,
concentrating in the last fifteen years on doctor-patient communication
and breaking bad news. He designed and teaches an undergraduate
course in breaking bad news which was given the University of
Toronto Aikins Teaching Award in 1989.
For
the last twenty years he has also had a second career in communication
and broadcasting, presenting television science-and-medicine programmes
in Britain and then Canada. His series Magic or Medicine? won
him a Gemini award (the Canadian TV Industry equivalent of an
Emmy. His latest series Human Wildlife was broadcast on the Discovery
Channel and won two awards at the Chicago Television festival
in 2003.
He
has written fourteen books including I Don’t
Know What To Say - How To Help And Support Someone Who Is Dying
(1988) a guide for friends and family, Magic
or Medicine? an investigation into complementary
medicine and How To Break Bad News a
medical textbook for physicians and healthcare professionals and
What You Really Need To Know About Cancer,
a comprehensive guide for patients and their families, which has
been published in Britain, Canada, the United States (in collaboration
with the M.D.Anderson Cancer Center).
Together
with Dr Walter Baile, head of Psychiatry at the M.D.Anderson Cancer
Center, he completed two sets of CD-ROMs (one in general medicine,
one in cancer care) for healthcare professionals giving a comprehensive
practical guide to communication skills – in particular
a protocol for breaking bad news. The same group later produced
a video On Being An Oncologist about the personal burdens and
rewards of being a cancer physician, presented by the film actor
William Hurt and the star of Wit Megan Cole. They are currently
preparing a series of workshops on communication for the American
Society of Clinical Oncology.
In
1994 he was made Canadian Humanist of the year, and in 2003 received
the Fleming medal of the Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement
of Science. He is an adjunct Professor at the M.D.Anderson Cancer
Center, University of Texas.
He
is married to a gorgeous and tolerant Canadian physician who believed
him when he said he had an immense personal fortune and a serious
heart condition. He is currently trying to acquire either one
or the other.
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