Leading doctors are sharing how they have been abused and called ‘senile’ for promoting mask wearing in public — sometimes by their colleagues.

Professor Trish Greenhalgh, a GP and expert in evidence-based medicine, says she has faced unprecedented abuse for her advocacy of mass masking since early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

As professor of general practice at the University of Oxford she has campaigned widely in the media for authorities to recommend masks .

She is a signatory to an open letter signed by more than 100 scientists and doctors, including Lancet editor-in-chief Dr Richard Horton.