[1] A general practitioner until his retirement in 2002, Gillon edited the Journal of Medical Ethics from 1980 to 2002, and from 1995 to 1999 was professor at Imperial.

[5] He resisted the school's encouragement to be confirmed in the Church of England and his father's efforts to have a Jewish Bar Mitzvah.

[6] While he was rejected for a house (hospital training) post in paediatrics he was offered one in geriatrics, something he attributed to his prize-winning essay where he had argued for legalisation of physician assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia, a position he now repudiates.

Following a number of "house jobs" he achieved membership of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and began working as a general practitioner.

Gillon subsequently enrolled on the philosophy undergraduate degree at Birkbeck College, London, on a part-time basis and graduated in 1979.