Clifford Warwick, Expert or B.Bs.D.?

In the seizure of U.S. Global Exotics hearing, a “health specialist testified …  Clifford Warwick, a reptile and public health specialist from England”.  Warwick is “one of several experts brought in” and he deserves some special attention.

Whenever I encounter someone new, I check the alphabet soup at the end of their name.  Warwick has a soup that has changed over the years and that’s pretty normal for professionals but one is always wise to find out what each group of letters means – or doesn’t mean.  The longer the soup string, the more impressed people tend to be and, all too often, they shouldn’t be and wouldn’t be if they knew what the letters indicate.  I couldn’t find a CV or even a résumé for Warwick on the internet which seems odd.  Here’s a nice description of what I had expected to find:

For Warwick, the closest I got was a mini-biography.  It is included in an “assessment” that I couldn’t date but seems to have been published in 2006 or later based upon the citations it contains.  It says Warwick was “trained in primary health care at The University of Leeds School of Medicine, specializing in zoonoses – infectious disease transmission” and “specialized area of herpetology” at pg 62-63.  Well that sounds pretty darned impressive BUT I have now spent an inordinate amount of time reading just about everything I can find about Warwick on the internet and it’s quite a bit.  I am NOT impressed.

What doesn’t that mini-biography say?  It DOESN’T say that he graduated from the University of Leeds School of Medicine.  If Warwick held a medical degree from them, one would expect to see “MBChB” after his name which would stand for Medicinae Baccalaureus, Chirugiae Baccalaureus.  This would be a 5 year dual bachelor’s degree, equivalent of an M.D. in the US.  MBChB never appears after his name.  One would expect a doctor to be registered.  I searched the UK database for “Warwick” and got 34 registrants but none had the first or middle name of Clifford or anything similar.  In fact, I see no letters after his name that would indicate a doctorate in any field.  Every indication on the web is that Warwick is based in the UK, actually in London.  It certainly doesn't appear that Warwick is a medical doctor in the UK.

Most interesting of all is the set of letters that most recently appeared after his name and those are “DipMedSci”.  This stands for Diploma in Medical Science and it is the equivalent of a high school course, what used to be called the A levels in the UK.  To us, that’s the equivalent of being an honor’s student in high school; alternately, it may indicate a vocational course in high school.  It can also be earned at the UK equivalent of community colleges.  You can review one program here and another here.  The prerequisite for the first of these is “You will need 5 GCSEs at grades A – C including Science, Maths and English. Alternatively you may have a GNVQ Intermediate with merit…”  The GCSEs are what the O and A levels are now called.  The GNVC is a vocational certificate.  “The completed BTEC National Diploma in Medical Science is equivalent to 3 GCE A levels.”  Now why would someone with 20+ years of “expertise” take such a course unless one is lacking in basic education?  Perhaps because “DipMedSci” looks impressive unless one knows it’s a piddly high school course!

One would generally have to have completed the O levels and A levels in high school prior to being admitted as a student to the MbChB program or any other university program in the UK.  I actually see little evidence that Warwick has accomplished those prerequisites when he appears to have recently taken a GCE A level course.  The GCSE is earned by taking O and A courses, accumulating points (credits) through exams in each of these courses.  Going back to the mini-biography for Warwick, it doesn’t even say he was a student at the University of Leeds at all.  I’ve seen several places on the internet where herpetologists in the EU have said they have contacted Leeds which has indicated that Warwick is NOT one of their graduates.  I have also emailed the University of Leeds and its School of Medicine and I’m guessing I’ll get the same answer.

The University of Leeds School of Medicine is comprised of 4 “Institutes” which have numerous employees in a multitude of fields.  Warwick may well have worked at one of the institutes or even been a volunteer there but I seriously doubt he attended any of the institutes as a student.

You have to understand is that the UK educational system is quite different from the US education system.  The UK has multiple ways to climb the qualifications ladder and they include much beyond formal education, including experience and vocational training.  This is so complicated that they’ve created a chart.  Now let’s look at the ladder rungs Warwick actually appears to have climbed.

Warwick has been around a while.  From 1985-1991, everything I found shows him as C. Warwick or Clifford Warwick without any alphabet soup; 1992-2000, I found a single item for “Cliff Warwick” and I’m not sure that is this Warwick.  In 2001, he shows up as Clifford Warwick, CBiol FIBiol.

In 2004, these are added to the soup:  MIBiol, EurProBiol, FRIPH, FRSH

  • MIBiol stands for the basic membership level in the Society of Biology.  The problem is that one should show the highest membership but not multiple levels.  It makes no sense to have the MIBiol and FIBiol together.  Here he uses the old “MIBiol” instead of the current version, MSB.
  • CBiol entitles one to apply forEurPro Biol.
  • EurProBiol requires 3 years at university, 3 years experience, and 2 years at university or in experience but it also appears that one can be grandfathered in.
  • FRIPH indicates Fellowship in the Royal Institute of Public Health and FRSH indicates Fellowship in the Royal Society of Public Health.  While “chartered”, these are charity organizations, independent of the government, and they have since merged (2008)  Fellowship for education to post grad level or 5 years of experience.   Again, these don’t appear to indicate much.  I wonder if it’s appropriate to use them both since the merger.  No matter, he doesn’t appear to use either of them now.  But then I wonder why.  The membership fees are nominal so does he not meet some of the other membership requirements?

In late 2005, the MIBiol disappears and PGDipPHC(Med) appears.  This designation is found in several places on the web, sometimes with “(Med)” and sometimes without.  This stands for a Postgraduate Diploma in Primary Health Care and is earned through a one year program like the one at Dunedin School of Medicine in new Zealand.  It can even be earned through “Distance Learning”.  In 2007, PGDipPHC is replaced by the much lower designation of DipMedSci, discussed above.  WHAT?  I have to seriously wonder if he was ever entitled to the PGDipPHC as there have not been any designations after his name that actually indicate a graduation, a college degree in ANYTHING.

If Warwick did indeed use the PGDipPHC when he was not entitled to do so, then I have to wonder if he’s entitled to any of his alphabet soup designations; whether he bothered to get a DipMedSci or just tacked those on.

You see, there’s really no “law” about what one can put in one’s alphabet soup.  More formally, the soup is called post-nominal letters and there’s a set of rules that go with them.  In the US, the most important ones, the most advanced degrees and designations go first and then one lists lesser ones.  One can pick and choose or list them all.  While there is not “law” about them, they are one’s representation of oneself.  If they are not accurate, one’s veracity should be seriously questioned.  In the UK, the convention is the reverse order and I suspect they are a bit more serious about the misuse of post-nominal letters.  Warwick appears to follow neither convention; simply picking and choosing what he wants and adding them on for impression’s sake.

In 2006, the media refers to Warwick as a “bird flu expert” and even “Dr.”; he refers to himself as “Consultant Biologist and Medical Scientist”.  The basis for his expertise in "bird flu" escapes me.  So far, I've seen his works in herpatology but perhaps, despite my numerous hours, I've managed to miss his publications in avian matters.  I suspect it was those media reports that lead to some questioning and resulted in his dropping the use of PGDipPHC.  Consultant Biologist and Medical Scientist infer a great deal but mean nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  These are mere self promotion and puffing by Warwick.  The term “Medical Scientist” is used in other countries rather broadly and inclusively.  See the Medical Scientists Association of Victoria for an example.

Do you notice the use of New Zealand (PGDipPHC) and Australian (Medical Scientist used broadly) terminology?  Is that to intentionally cloud things?  I think it is indeed.

Interestingly, what appears to be Warwick’s current website, shows him as “MIBiolI EurProBiol CBiol FIBiol” but perhaps it is outdated.  Of course, that raises questions of its own.  Most recently, Warwick appears to have signed an on-line petition as “DipMedSci FIBiol”.  That signature is less than 6 months old and tends to confirm that he certainly isn’t entitled to PGDipPHC, else he’d use it instead.

But I can’t let that “DipMedSci” go without one more note.  As I said above, it appears to be the equivalent of a high school community college course; perhaps the equivalent of 3 credit hours in a US college.  But, oh, Diploma in Medical Science infers much in the US.  In recent years, a number of colleges in the US have developed “Medical Scientist Training Programs”.  These are M.D./Ph.D., DO/Ph.D., and similar programs.  They require 4 years of undergraduate education, 5+ years of graduate education, the writing of a major thesis (small book), and other requirements.  Make no mistake; there is no comparison whatsoever between the nominal UK DipMedSci and these new US programs but I suspect that comparison is indeed what Warwick wishes to infer with the UK DipMedSci designation after his name – whether he’s earned that designation or not.

It certainly seems that Warwick’s alphabet soup indicates no more than an employement history of 10 years or less in some form of biology position.  Woop De Doo!

Well, perhaps his contributions to the scientists have been extraordinary which would likely show in publications.  Publish or perish, as they say.  I’ve already taken a sneak peek.  So far, I’m not impressed with Warwick’s publications or other accomplishments.  By the end of part 2, I expect I’ll be most likely to award Warwick an honorary degree of B.BS.D.  That’s a Doctor of Bluff and BullShit.

I sure wish someone would anonymously send me Warwick's CV or résumé.  I'd love the opportunity to review them and see what does and doesn't check out upon verification but I need specifics to do that.  Well, I've seen that Warwick Internets a bit so maybe he'll come on over and "set me straight" himself.  I hear at least one of his associates is inclined to quickly threaten lawsuits when Warwick's "creds" are questioned.  Ooh, I can't wait!!

Why on earth did Animal Control of Arlington, TX, bring in this guy from the UK?  From what I've seen so far, it surely seems we have far more qualified individuals on this side of the pond and even right here in Texas.  Could it be as simple as his long and faithful relationship with PETA?

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