Rob Buckman

  Robert (Rob) Buckman (born August 22, 1948 in London) is a British-Canadian doctor of medicine, comedian and author, and since 1999 has been president of the Humanist Association of Canada. He first appeared in a Cambridge University Footlights Revue in 1969, and went on to present several television and radio programmes about medicine, as well as appearing on comedy programmes such as Just a Minute. He is also the author of many popular books on medicine.

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Broadcasting and comedy

Buckman graduated in medicine from Cambridge University in 1972, and continued his medical training at the Royal Marsden Hospital and University College Hospital, London, becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.

Buckman was a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4 during the 1970s and 1980s, both on panel shows, and fronting one-off programmes on scientific topics. He contributed scripts to the Richard Gordon-adapted sitcom Doctor on the Go, and also acted in the spin-off Pink Medicine Show. He also was one of the performers and writers of the first The Secret Policeman's Ball fundraiser in 1979, alongside Billy Connolly, John Cleese and Eleanor Bron.

Rob Buckman was more distinguished as a popular science presenter and appeared on the programme Don't Ask Me in the 1970s. He continued this career in Canada where he has contributed to TV Ontario programmes such as Your Health and the CTV medical show Balance. His television series Magic or Medicine? investigated alternative medicine and won a Gemini award, while Human Wildlife covered microbes in the domestic environment.

Writings in popular medicine

Besides tie-ins to his TV series, Buckman has authored several books of medical humour, such as Out of Practice (1978), Jogging from Memory: or letters to Sigmund Freud (1980), and The Buckman Treatment; or a doctor's tour in North America (1989). More recently, as Robert Buckman, he contributed as author or co-author to a series of What You Really Need to Know About... books on common medical conditions, including cancer, asthma, high blood pressure, HRT, (all 1999), diabetes, stroke, and irritable bowel syndrome (2000).

Later career

Buckman emigrated to Toronto, Canada in 1985. In 1994 Buckman was named Canada’s Humanist of the Year. He was a signer of Humanist Manifesto 2000. Since 1999, he has been President of the Humanist Association of Canada, and is also currently Chair of the Advisory Board on Bioethics of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. His main popular work in humanism is Can We Be Good Without God? Biology, Behaviour and the Need to Believe.

As at 2005, Buckman is practising medical oncology at the Princess Margaret Hospital (Toronto). He is a Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and also holds an adjunct professorship at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. He specialises in breast cancer and teaching communication skills in oncology.

In 2006 he began writing a weekly column in the Globe and Mail.

Selected publications

• Out of Practice, illustrations by Bill Tidy. Deutsch. 1978.
• Medicine Balls Too
• Jogging from Memory. Pan. 1980.
• Not dead yet: the unauthorized autobiography of Dr. Robert Buckman, complete with a map, many photographs & irritating footnotes. Doublesday. 1990.
• How To Break Bad News: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals. Papermac. 1992.
• Magic or Medicine? An investigation of Healing and Healers (with Karl Sabbagh). Macmillan. 1993.
• Human Wildlife: The Life That Lives on Us
• What You Really Need to Know About Cancer:A Guide for Patients and their Families. Pan paperback. 1997.
• What You Really Need to Know About Living With Depression
• Who can ever understand? : talking about your cancer with John Elsegood. 1995.
• Cancer is a Word, Not a Sentence
• Can we be Good Without God?

• University of Toronto biography

• Dr. Robert Buckman: Oncologist - Professor - Public Speaker