My passion for wildlife began early. I used to smuggle roadkill into the house despite my mother’s preference for flowers. This interest in the natural world started with pond-dipping then grew and evolved until I bagged a zoology degree from Plymouth. This was a perfect place for me to study because I learned to SCUBA dive there and also indulged in various other water sports. I then organised an overland trip to Nepal. That first expedition provided my first astonishing glimpses of sub-tropical wildlife which made me enthusiastic about sharing the wonders of the natural world with others. Some authors have always known they would write, but that desire has rather crept up on me. I was a late starter and it was a long time before I developed the confidence to write for others beyond family and friends. Travel gave me a particular loathing of leeches and parasites, as well as an indignation about inequality of access to health care. Ultimately this pushed me towards becoming medically qualified. My language forays have made me privy to a wealth of fascinating cultural material some of which appears in my writing particularly on Nepal. Currently I am writing some new fiction; I have drafted a novel for adults and a series of eco-adventures for 8 to 12-year-olds. These days I work as a general practitioner in East Anglia for about 30-hours a week, which is "half-time", and I am also medical director of the Cambridge-based Travel Clinics see www.travelcliniccambridge.co.uk |
| I have five books in print so far : |
 |  |  |  |  |  | | | | Essential Guide to
Travel Health | Lemurs of the Lost World | Your Child Abroad | How to Shit Around
the World
(Shitting Pretty) | A Glimpse of Eternal Snows | | | |  | | | | | |
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| Bio data |
Dr Jane Wilson BSc (hons), MSc (Oxon), BM, DCH, DCCH, DFSRH, FRSTM&H, FFTM RCPS (Glasg) “I have worked as a clinician and health advisor in remote regions for 11 years. On many trips into usually inaccessible, orthodox communities, I have been treated as an ‘honorary man’. My male hosts think I am being paid a compliment, and the celebrity treatment certainly facilitates my work: I am regarded as having an intellect almost equalling a man yet I am allowed to talk to their women even if they are kept in purdah.”
How to Shit Around the World page xiii
I practise medicine under my maiden name, but since there are so many Dr J Wilsons in the world I write under my more distinguished married name. |
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What the letters after my name mean |
| | 2009 - FFTM RCPS (Glasg) elected Fellow of the Faculty Travel Medicine, Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons, Glasgow
2003 - Elected a member of the Society of Authors
2003 - Began to serve on the British Travel Health Association publications sub-committee
2001 - Diploma Faculty of Family Planning & Reproductive Health of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists,
London; DFFP renamed DFSRH in 2007
2000 - Elected a member of the International Society of Travel Medicine
1998 - Member British Travel Health Association since its formation
1992 - DCCH Diploma in Community Child Health (RCP, RCGP & Public Health Faculty, Edinburgh)
1992 - DCH Diploma in Child Health (Royal College of Physicians, London)
1992 - Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice certificate
1987 - Joint Committee on Contraception & Family Planning certificate
1986 - Joint leader of the Crocodile Caves of Ankarana expedition
1985 - BM, not a bowel movement but a Bachelor of Medicine degree, the British qualification allowing practise
as a physician (Southampton University)
1985 - Elected Council Member, Scientific Exploration Society
1985 - Elected Fellow Royal Geographical Society
1983 - Bish Medal awarded by the Scientific Exploration Society of Great Britain
1982 - FRSTM&H: elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene
1981 - Southampton University Madagascar expedition
1979 - M.Sc. Corpus Christi College, Oxford University awarded after presenting a thesis on the control of microsporidian parasites
1979 - Awarded a Foulkes Foundation Fellowship which allowed me to study medicine as a mature student
1976 - Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship funding six months zoological research in the Himalayan region
1975 - Elected a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society
1975 - B.Sc. (hons) Plymouth; Biological Sciences (upper second) specialising in terrestrial ecology and entomology |
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| World According to…. Dr Jane |
Mountain / Desert / Ocean / Jungle... which one are you?
No doubt about it: it has to be jungle. I just love trees and all that live in them. |
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What was your first great travel experience?
Watching Attenborough’s Zoo Quest to Madagascar first got me dreaming, but it wasn’t until I was 22 that
I really started travelling – I did the dope trail, overland to Kathmandu, via a few caves and a digression to Cape Comorin. |
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What has been your favourite journey?
A month long trek with my family: from Baglung and Beni, W. Nepal, up over the 11,500ft Jalja La into towering ancient hemlock forest and on through astonishing glades of magnolias. |
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Which are your Top 5 places worldwide?
Ankarana Reserve, Madagascar; Annapurna Reserve, Nepal; Tetibatu, Lombok; Kruger National Park;
the Lima to Huancayo railway journey, Peru. |
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Recommend a special place to stay...
Crystal Springs private reserve, S Africa. |
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Which three items do you always pack?
Torch, notebook and insect repellent. |
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Which passport stamp are you proudest of?
Nepal – the first time. |
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Which passport stamp would you most like to have?
Guyana – I’d love to work there. |
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What is your guilty travel pleasure?
Bathing / swimming naked – but I’m always nervous of scaring the locals. |