Dr Schockmel’s calm manner and method of explaining very complex concepts have led him to become the “explainer of the nation”, so to speak. The infectious disease expert, who studied and researched at the universities of Oxford and Geneva, has a long and distinguished career, almost entirely dedicated to RNA viruses.
As part of the RTL yearly reviews, Frank Goetz met with Dr Schockmel to discuss other aspects of his life outside medicine, where music plays an important role.
He told RTL he was glad he had been able to make the discourse around the coronavirus pandemic more comprehensible and accessible to the public. It was important to him to speak about subjects so that listeners could understand properly, particularly in a time where misinformation is rife.
Dr Schockmel’s life might have gone very differently had he opted to study music rather than medicine; but he justified the decision as music could accompany him through life regardless, whereas medicine is a vocation and he felt called to it when he began his studies in the midst of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s - incidentally another RNA pandemic. He later entered the realm of HIV research at Oxford once he had completed his first studies.
An accomplished pianist, Dr Schockmel emphasised the importance of taking time to pursue activities which detract from the stress of the health crisis, such as going for walks.
Commenting on the Covid crisis, Dr Schockmel explained the vital importance of research in order to solve problems with technical solutions; however, research outside of Covid has generally fallen by the wayside as all resources are focused on solving the pandemic. As for what awaits us in 2022, Dr Schockmel commented that it very much depends on how the rest of the winter unfolds, if further restrictions are introduced and what sort of form they might take. Treatments are being developed all the time, he added, but the virus is here to stay and likely to remain dangerous for some time. However, Dr Schockmel concluded that if people can build up basic immunity, the situation could change for the better.
Report in Luxembourgish.
