In the 1960s, working as a research fellow with neurologist John Walton, he studied the genetics and clinical features of the diseases of muscles, particularly relating to the identification of female carriers of DMD.

[4][5] He gained admission to study natural sciences at King's College, University of Cambridge, but shortly after starting, switched to medicine.

After being gifted the first edition of a A History of British Birds by his grandmother on his twentieth birthday, he became interested in the naturalist and wood engraver Thomas Bewick.

[5][7] Subsequently, he worked under neurologist John Aldren Turner before moving to Newcastle to take up the post of Medical Research Council research fellow to John Walton, later Lord Walton of Detchant, with whom he studied the genetics and clinical features of muscular dystrophies, particularly relating to the identification of female carriers of the X-linked recessive gene responsible for the most severe form of the disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

By measuring the muscle enzyme creatine kinase in blood samples, and taking into account various indicators such as other genetic markers and family history, he worked out the likelihood that a woman might be carrying the gene for DMD.

[6] In 1997 he attended the public enquiry on the expansion of military use of the Otterburn Moors in the Cheviot Hills, and his comments led to mitigation of the impact of the army's manoeuvres upon wildlife in Northumberland.