Page 3 - Rash Talk Magazine - Issue - One

Meet the Founder

BDNG Editor Rob Mair interviews the Original

Rash Talk® Founder, Dr Rupert Mason

®
“It’s very exciting to see Rash Talk return.
I’m delighted to be a part of it, and

I’m happy to help in any way I can.”

The original Rash Talk® launched in 1987, casting wellbeing columns. So that’s really
a wry and humorous eye over the world of an indication of the legacy.
dermatology. The magazine aimed to provide a And that’s really flattering. We certainly enjoyed it! It’s
light-hearted read for dermatologists, with as nice to think that there’s a bit of a legacy there.
much emphasis on the staff room as the clinic.
It certainly struck a chord with the audience, As largely a one-man band, was it a
running for 25 years. Fondly-remembered, often stressful project?
irreverent but always compelling – those are the Writing to a deadline and facing blank pages when the next
traits the new Rash Talk® will be hoping to emulate, edition is coming up – that was stressful. But you get in the
habit of it. You’re constantly thinking of material. Everything
whether that’s in podcast, webinar or print form. I read that was vaguely medical, I would make a mental
Here, Dr Rupert Mason talks through its history. note of. And there was always the possibility of rehashing
past articles or ideas. Everyone has their favourite themes,
When Rash Talk® was initially or something you enjoy having a little moan about.
launched, it was designed to be light- What were some of your favourite
hearted and used for promotion and themes and moans?
marketing – but for it to run for 25 It’s not so much a favourite theme, but in terms of

years, there must have been more rehashing stuff, early in my career, I submitted a story to
to it to make it so successful? the GP journal Pulse for their writer of the year competition,
I’d love to say that it was all carefully planned, but really, and it’s the only thing I ever won. The story was purely
fictional; it was about a patient, and I was the doctor,
it was a way of getting our name out there. I’d written a lot and I’d given the male patient female hormones for some
in the past, so I came up with some ideas – which quickly nonsense reason – hay fever or something. So, the patient
snowballed – and we went to print. We suddenly had lots would take them and found that he lost his libido. And of
of little columns. course, I was having an affair with his wife. It was of its time
We used to have a spoof question and answer on the back – it’s not the sort of thing I think we’d see in Rash Talk® now
page, which was reasonably controversial. I used to do – but I’d rehashed and retold the story a few times.
interviews with prominent dermatologists – the occasional
professor at Cambridge or Oxford – and not delve too Publishing has changed a lot, so where
much in into their CVs, but into their domestic life and why do you see Rash Talk® fitting in terms of
they went into dermatology. It was human-interest led, and
I think it was popular because there was nothing like it. today’s world?
It is very exciting to see Rash Talk® return. I’m delighted
The human-interest side is important, to be a part of it, and I’m happy to help in any way
and I think that’s reflected in our I can. It’s a whole new era when you think of podcasts
and webinars. It means things can be entertaining and
approach in Dermatological Nursing, informative, and you can do things now that just wouldn’t
especially in the BDNG Meets and have been possible 25 years ago.

Hear the full interview at rashtalk.co.uk 3