In conversation with our alumni: Dr D Ray Freebury

Ray started his medical career at what was then the Welsh National School of Medicine from which he graduated in 1958, after which he has had a very interesting and varied career.

Following retirement, Ray was asked by his daughter Megan Freebury Karnis to become a psychiatric consultant and counsellor at the ONE Fertility clinic, where she is reproductive endocrinologist and medical director.

He has now been doing this for almost nine years and has found his psychoanalytic experience invaluable in counselling young women struggling with infertility.

Why did you choose Cardiff to begin your career?

"The reason I chose Cardiff is not a romantic one. The London hospitals that accepted me did not accept Welsh Biology which would mean I would have a year’s delay while I took Oxford Botany and Zoology. Luckily the Welsh National School of Medicine was able to offer me acceptance a year earlier, so I came to Cardiff."

What was unusual about the start to your training?

"In 1956 I made myself a rarity by marrying in the midst of my medical training. I lost my education grant from Newport Town Council because of it. I contacted the Daily Mirror hoping some publicity might lead them to change their minds. However the byline for the article was 'Ray and Diane beat ban on romance', probably having a negative impact."

How did your career progress after you graduated?

"For my first house job I was dispatched to the Caerphilly District Miners Hospital.

"I took an obstetric position for my second house job which led to a D(Obst) RCOG. A senior house physician post followed at St Mary’s Hospital Portsmouth where I had ambitions to study internal medicine. These were dashed when I was conscripted for national service. In order for my pregnant wife and daughter to be posted along with me, I took a three year short service commission and was posted to a fleet repair ship, land-based in Malta."

And it seems that your travels continued as part of your commission with the Forces?

"Yes, my Obstetric diploma led to an appointment to the family planning clinic in Sliema. A four month posting to the aircraft carrier HMS Centaur saw me in the Persian Gulf warding off the first Iraqi threat to Kuwait in 1961. The three years ended with the acquisition of friends for life and a bursary which provided the fare for me to take my family to Canada and a family practice job in Schreiber, a small town on the North shore of Lake Superior and more snow than I had ever seen in my life."

From your start in Cardiff, your career continued in Canada?

"Over the years my psychoanalytic experience and practice expanded. I have been president of both the Toronto and Canadian Psychoanalytic Societies and Director of both training institutes. For both societies I chaired committees to plan and institute Ethical guidelines and the means for implementing them. I was the first Ethics Chair for the Canadian Society."

What do you miss about Cardiff?

"I maintain my emotional contact with my homeland by singing with the Toronto Welsh Male Voice Choir, singing 25% of our repertoire in Welsh, with concerts almost monthly."

Ray’s five words describing Cardiff School of Medicine: "A life experience to cherish".

This is a shortened version of the full article that features in edition 28 of ReMEDy.

Read the full article