ABSTRACT
Aside from producing their Annual Reports, many of the Chief Medical Officer (CMOs) published books or papers during and after their time in office. Looking back over this body of work, sometimes written in reflective terms on the challenges for the future, sometimes tightly focused on intractable contemporary problems, sometimes searching the past to draw inspiration from the public health titans of yesteryear. The post of CMO has perfectly fitted the old adage 'a job is what you make it'. The job description has always been pretty broad and general. It offered the individual the chance to create opportunities within boundaries that are not clearly drawn. The CMOs have been active too, in the international health arena, with many of them playing leading roles in the development of policies. The warning signs were perhaps already there in another smaller crisis in 1988 when politics once again marginalised public health.
