In this article, Director of the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, epidemiologist Norman Kreitman describes his steps from a general medical student to his eventual specilization in suicide studies. Kreitman is well known for his aid in the development of a scale on which suicidal behaviours can be assessed by the interventionist, as well as revolutionizing epidemiological studies (the study of pathologies related to social statistics), as key in studying social suicidal tendencies.