Professor Dame Lesley Regan, obstetrician and gynaecologist

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2023

⏱️ 38 minutes

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Summary

Professor Dame Lesley Regan is the Government’s first Women’s Health Ambassador for England. She is one of the main drivers behind the upcoming Women’s Health Strategy which aims to tackle the gender health gap and improve services for women. As a former president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists – only the second woman to hold that post in its 94-year history – she shone a light on historically taboo subjects from period problems and contraception to the menopause. Lesley was born in London in 1956. When she was seven she told her father that she wanted to be a doctor and although the sciences weren’t her strongest subjects at school, she won a place at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School in London in 1975. In 1991 she was appointed a senior lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St Mary’s Hospital in London and consultant at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. The following year she set up the Recurrent Miscarriage Clinic at St Mary’s which is the largest miscarriage referral service in the world. In 2020 she was appointed a DBE for services to women’s healthcare. DISC ONE: Mr Bojangles – Nina Simone DISC TWO: Symphony No. 5 in C Sharp. Composed by Mahler and performed by Berliner Philharmoniker DISC THREE: Agnus Dei. Composed by Bach and performed by Iestyn Davies, (counter-tenor), The English Consort, conducted by Harry Bicket DISC FOUR: I Cried for You - Katie Melua DISC FIVE: Norma: Act I, Scene 1: Casta diva (Norma/Coro) Composed by Vincenzo Bellini and performed by Maria Callas (soprano), The Teatro Alla Scala Orchestra, conducted by Tullio Serafin DISC SIX: The Best – Tina Turner DISC SEVEN: Metamorpheme – Shakespeare and the Bible DISC EIGHT: Clarinet Concerto In A, K. 622 - II. Adagio. Composed by Mozart and performed by Karl Leister (clarinet) and Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Herbert Von Karajan BOOK CHOICE: The Works of George Eliot LUXURY ITEM: Marmite on toast CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: The Best – Tina Turner Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Transcript

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0:35.8	Hello I'm Lauren Levern and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast.
0:39.8	Every week I ask my guest to choose the Eight Tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island.
0:48.0	And for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast.
0:52.0	I hope you enjoy listening. The My castaway this week is Professor Dame Leslie Reagan. She has championed the cause of obstetrics and
1:21.7	gynecology for over 40 years and last year she became the first
1:25.3	women's health ambassador for England. As a former president of the Royal College of
1:29.7	Obstetricians and gynecologists only the second woman to hold the post in its 94-year history,
1:35.2	she shone a light on historically taboo subjects from period problems to contraception.
1:40.9	Women make up over half the population, but she argues are often underserved by the medical profession.
1:47.0	She has spent her life's work attempting to change things.
1:50.0	Her frustration at the lack of scientific research into the causes of pregnancy loss led her to set up the recurrent miscarriage clinic at St Mary's Hospital in 1991, which is now the largest miscarriage referral centre in the world.
2:03.5	Along the way she diagnosed herself with incurable optimism
2:07.3	which she says often comes in handy.
2:09.6	She decided to become a doctor when she was just a little girl and despite struggling in maths and science made it to medical school.
	...

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