I received a question yesterday on 1 March 2023 from an
ex-colleague of mine when we were working at the Institute for Medical Research
in Malaysia in the 1970’2 till the mid 1990’s.
It reads:
Dr Lim, may I know why the title Professor Dr is given to a
teacher who is attached to a technical college for mammals.
Here’s my answer:
Dear Mano,
The answer your question is, this is because everyone likes to be called a
professor before he or she is forced to enter into that black hole, called
‘grave’ beneath the ground '? – jokingly
So the teacher you mentioned gave himself the title Professor and Doctor as a
consolidation title before he or she dies. I think it would be more blessed for
their souls in the next world after they have died than to be in this world
using all kinds of titles. See my explanation here:
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/2023/02/material-blessings-here-on-earth-or.html
A Professor is a university academic appointment, not some
title earned like a PhD and it is only valid
as long as the person is still a professor in the university. But once he
leaves the university or has retired, he ceased to be a professor, and he or
she is no longer a professor or eligible to be called or addresses as a
professor unless the university confers him or her title Emeritus Professor on
retirement in which case he or she is still allowed and is still eligible to be
address as Emeritus Professor. But NO, definitely NO to anyone who claims to be
a “professor” when he or she is NOT even attached to any university as this is
a very learned, academically high and exclusive appointment.
I am very aware some people calls themselves as a “professor”
when he or she is not even a graduate or attached to any very senior teaching
appointment in any university. He /she does some unrecognized teaching
or practice on his or her own and calls himself / herself a “professor” without
even wanting to reveal his / her degrees or qualification. That’s it. Full stop.
Then we also get a lot of people these
days with only a Bachelor' degree who call themselves a ‘doctor' when
academically, legally, and technically they are not eligible for this.
The title Doctor (Dr)
is bestowed only on those who actually
holds a Doctorate degree such as a PhD or a DSc
That's why in the UK all surgeons are always addressed as "Mr"
because they were traditionally barbers or barber surgeons who cut off limbs
and bodies except for physicians whom patients called as 'doctors' as a
courtesy title only, and not that they are educationally and legally eligible
for it.
In the UK male surgeons are always addressed as
"Mr" and female surgeons as "Miss” irrespective of their marital
status. Female surgeons would not call themselves as Ms, Mrs or Madam. It is
always Miss and nothing else even if they are married 10 times over, or are
already a great, great grandmother.
But for us who are much higher up in academia, we never call
or address a medical doctor as a "doctor'. We merely call them as
clinicians. That's it. In fact, the term “clinicians” would be much more
appropriate for medical doctor’s with only a basic bachelor’s degree in
medicine and surgery (MBBS).
Most of us already have MDs, Master's degrees, PhDs who
additionally are also Senior Fellows of Royal Learned Societies in Medicine or
in Science in London.
Admissions as fellowships into some of these Chartered Royal
Learned Societies are exceedingly, exceedingly difficult unless they have
higher degrees such as the higher postgraduate MD or a PhD or are Fellows of
the Royal Colleges of Physicians or Surgeons, etc, etc. plus already in very
senior positions such as Head of a medical or surgical department, or have
already published at least a hundred research papers in prestigious scientific
journals. That's it. There is no argument about this, or other way out to gain
Fellowship of these Chartered Royal Societies
Hence we normally address a medical doctor as just a
clinician, or even a nurse as a nurse clinician as in Singapore or in the
United States of America
Even that, the job description "clinician" may not
necessarily be confined for medical doctors, though generally the alternative
name for a medical doctor is a clinician. This is because medical doctors do
clinical work where they come directly with the patient. Unfortunately, other
health workers like nurses, medical assistants, paramedics do far more clinical
work than doctors. It is the nurses, not the doctor who periodically take blood
pressure of the patients, taking their body temperatures, taking readings of
ECG, setting up intravenous drips and periodically monitoring their rates of
flow. It is also the nurses who set up
the oxygen supply and give the supplementary
oxygen to their patients and monitoring their flow rates. They were actually
the ones who gives the medication and injections to the patients
while dressing their wounds ...etc, etc. These are all very busy
clinical work done by the nurses.
Doctors in hospitals normally do not do this routine clinical
work. They spend at most 30 minutes examining a patient, requesting for diagnostic
tests and prescribing the medicine, but most of their time are spent writing and clerking notes, and notes, files
of them about their patients. That’s not much of a clinical work. They are
merely writing note and clerking cases.
Hence, nurses or nurse clinician, and other healthcare
workers are more clinicians than the doctor. The word 'clinician' merely
describes the nature of the work they do most of the time It is not a
profession, but just a job description such as any person who drives a car is
called a motorist, a person who rides a bicycle, a cyclist, a person who plays
the violin, a violinist, a person who plays the piano, a pianist, a person who
tends to his garden, a gardener, an expert in nutrition, a nutritionist, a
chemist who analyses a compound, an analytical chemist, someone who looks
through a microscope, a microscopist, someone who sings, a singer...and so on
and on, and on.
For instance, I like to look at the galaxies through a
telescope. You may call me an astronomer if you wish. After all I still
did my postdoctoral in astronomy from the University of Oxford, whether or not
I looked through a telescope. You may also call me an Evolutionary Biologist,
or a Forensic Toxicologist. I studied these too after my PhD at the University
of Cambridge and also worked as one at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of
Technology).
So, the job description is based on what we do. A doctor or
anyone who does clinical work is just a clinician, not necessarily confined to
a doctor although normally people associate a clinician as a medical doctor. That is what they are eligible for – a clinician.
But now we get dentists, pharmacists, drug sales people,
nurses, bomohs, soothsayers, witch hunters, traditional healers,
fortune tellers and all kinds of Dick Tom and Harry who also like to be
addressed as "doctors"
If you are a Malay surgeon working in a government hospital here in
Malaysia he will get angry if you address him as Encik
instead of Mr, because surgeons working in a government hospital are always
addressed as Mr. But the word for Mr. in Malay language is Encik. But no, they
want to be addressed as Mr, not Encik? Maybe they want to distinguish
themselves from all other Enciks? What a name and fantasy?
But once a Mr. surgeon who works in a government hospital
goes into private practice naturally he suddenly calls himself as a Dr surgeon
for obvious commercial reasons. If he calls himself a Mister in private
practice, he will not get any patient, unlike in a government hospital he gets
paid, whether he was called a Dr or a Mr.
The origin of the word ‘doctor’ in ancient times actually means
a Teacher, a Sage, a very wise and Learned
Person. He is regarded as a Philosopher. Hence the name Doctor of Philosophy
(PhD).
But these days everyone with only a Bachelor’s degree wishes
to be called a 'doctor' when academically, legally, and technically they are
not eligible for this, except those who actually holds a Doctorate degree such
as a PhD or a DSc. A DSc is almost impossible to get unless you are a Nobel
Prize Laureate in Science or in Medicine.
But now we also get dentists, pharmacists, paramedics,
medical technologists, nurses and pharmaceutical representatives with a
bachelor’s degree or only a diploma or certificate who also call themselves as
“doctors”. So do bomohs, witch hunters, traditional healers, and all
kinds of Dick Tom and Harry who also like to be addressed as
"doctors"
That's why I always tell them to write out very clearly all their
university degrees behind their names instead of putting all those vain
titles before their names for which they are not eligible
when they only have a basic Bachelor’s degree or only a diploma.
If they spell out their academic qualifications behind their names, we will
immediately know who they are. We can instantly tell their educational status.
So, why hide their educational qualifications but write 'doctor' before their
names without wanting to reveal their degree credentials after their names?
I was taught by many Jewish professors when I did my postgraduate and research
in British universities. One of my many very eminent professors was this Jewish
professor by the name John Yudkin at the University of London.
He was a very famous, celebrated and a highly qualified
physician, a biologist, a chemist, a nutritionist, a physiologist. He received
all his medical and Doctorate degrees from the University of Cambridge.
He was the Chair in all these professions at the University of London
when I was studying under him.
In one of his books on NUTRITION, he merely wrote his name
as:
John Yudkin
MA, MD, PhD, FRCP, FRIC, FIBiol.
But just look at the strings of elite degrees behind his name, without even
writing his title as Professor Dr John Yudkin, Chair of Nutrition, University
of London in front. He was so humble. That was why earned so much respect
from the academia, the British society, and around the world especially on his
work on sugar and heart disease.
A lot of my other very eminent professors at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT), at Reading, Oxford and at Cambridge Universities
were also very humble. The greater they were, the humbler they were. In fact,
the humbler they are, the greater respect they earn from society.
What a rat race for the rest, and others for names and titles when we are
zoologically and scientifically classified as animals under these categories:
Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Chordata, Class: Mammalia, Order:
Primates, Suborder: Haplorhini, Infraorder: Simiiformes, Family: Hominidae,
Subfamily: Homininae, Tribe: Hominini, Genes: Homo, and Type Species: Homo
sapiens (humans)
I am afraid I am unable to answer your question why that
teacher you mentioned called himself a Professor and Doctor if he is not?
You may need to ask him yourself.
LJB
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