Prof Jeremy Turner is a consultant endocrinologist at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He has a particular clinical interest in calcium and metabolic bone disorders and is a convenor of the Society’s Bone and Calcium Endocrine Network.

What inspired you into endocrinology, and bone and calcium in particular?

I was fortunate enough to undertake my early postgraduate training in endocrinology at the (then) Royal Post Graduate Medical School/Hammersmith Hospital in the mid-1990s, where I worked with some inspirational colleagues in the bone and calcium field. I then went on to undertake an MRC clinical training fellowship in Raj Thakker’s lab in Oxford. The latter experience firmly cemented the place of calcium and bone endocrinology in my endocrine repertoire.

Can you tell us a little about your current work?

I have been consultant endocrinologist for the last 9 years in Norwich and was more recently promoted to honorary professor at the Norwich Medical School. I run the clinical metabolic bone/calcium service in Norwich with my great friend and colleague Professor Bill Fraser. We have established a good reputation for our clinical service and referrals come in from far and wide. We provide over 120 consultant delivered lists per annum and have succeeded in getting Norwich recognised as a Paget’s Association Centre of Excellence.

Historically, bone and calcium disorders have been somewhat “Cinderella” conditions in the wider context of endocrine services and I particularly enjoy advocating for this population of patients and developing services in this area. I am medical advisor to Hypopara UK and of course promote the charity and its work to our large population of hypoparathyroid patients. I have led the writing of a number of clinical guidelines including a post-operative hypocalcaemia avoidance and management guideline, have developed services such as a one-stop osteoporosis clinic and am currently working with colleagues in Cambridge to set up a rare bone disease network in the East of England. Naturally, the achievement I am proudest of is being appointed as a network convenor for the Bone and Calcium Endocrine Network of the Society for Endocrinology!

Over the last decade or so, what do you think have been the most useful/impactful advances in bone and calcium?

As a pure endocrinologist, the single most exciting advance has been the arrival of recombinant human parathyroid hormone (PTH) for the treatment of hypoparathyroidism. Finally, clinical endocrinologists now have a “full set” of replacement hormones to use in hormone deficiency states and this day has been a long time coming. However, no answer to this question would be complete without reference to the arrival of the many new therapies for osteoporosis and perhaps, as importantly, the expansion in understanding of treatment of osteoporosis that has occurred in recent years. This has included appreciation of risks of treatments as well as benefits, how to use the different therapies, where they fit in relative to each other, the growing use of bone markers, fracture risk calculators and so on – all of which are driving more nuanced, considered and targeted clinical approaches to treatment of osteoporosis.

What do you think are the biggest challenges faced by endocrinologists?

In my opinion, the biggest challenge faced by all endocrinologists has to be management of remorselessly growing demand. The population is expanding and ageing and at the same time more treatments are available across endocrinology. Awareness is growing amongst patients and general practitioners and thus referral rates are rising. This is a good thing, it means that our specialty is able to help more and more people for whom perhaps help was not always available in the past and also means that the place of endocrinology in clinical medicine as a whole is better recognised and appreciated. However, it is up to us to manage this demand, find new ways to see and treat as many people as possible and to modernise aspects of our practice. Not changing how we work is probably not an option!

Are there any controversies in bone and calcium endocrinology?

Of course there are many controversies but one of the greatest at the moment is probably the recent recognition of the end-of-treatment effect of anti-RANK ligand therapy whereby fracture rates may rise quite fast in some patients upon withdrawal of this therapy. This is a very pressing clinical challenge as numbers on this exciting and novel treatment are quite large, we have been using this for a period of time that means that some are already arriving at what was originally intended to be the end of treatment but now we know that simply stopping the treatment is probably not the best option for many patients. At the same time, there is a relative lack of evidence base to inform us with regard to what we should be doing next. While it is helpful that some guidance is beginning to emerge, this is largely based on expert opinion and it will be very interesting to see how this controversy unfolds over the next few years.

What do you enjoy about being an Endocrine Network convenor?

 So far it is early days but I am enjoying working with my co-convenor (Caroline Gorvin), with colleagues in the society and am looking forward to playing my own very small part in further raising the profile of bone and calcium medicine and research within endocrinology.

Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring endocrinologists?

Yes, this is perhaps the easiest question; Enjoy your endocrinology! If you are enjoying your clinical practice you will be happy and more importantly your patients will be happy, correctly diagnosed and correctly treated.

 

The Endocrine Networks are platforms for knowledge exchange and collaboration amongst basic and clinical researchers, clinical endocrinologists and endocrine nurses. The Networks enable members to discuss and find solutions to challenges within their specialist field.

To join an Endocrine Network login to the ‘My profile’ section of the Members’ Area and select ’Endocrine Networks’.