Thirteen years ago Richard Harrison was earning a lot of money as a systems analyst in London.

It wasn’t enough. He quit his job with one of the world’s pharmaceutical giants and bought a ticket for South Korea.

His plan was to spend a year there helping people less fortunate than himself. He stayed for ten.

It was a momentous decision that introduced the Brit to his Bermudian wife Chima, and a new career in public health.

The 40-year-old now works with Atlantic Caregiving, helping residents here improve their wellbeing.

“We try to work on the causes rather than the symptoms,” Mr Harrison said. “High blood pressure, sugar, is at an epidemic level in Bermuda. It’s really down to diet. The level of obesity has exploded across the planet and it comes down to lifestyle — the food we eat and our interests.

“It’s not true that because your mother had diabetes you will. If one family member is obese, others are likely to become obese — but only because you’re all eating the same food.

“There’s this idea that our genes determine our health destiny. It’s not true. It’s merely waiting for our lifestyle to trigger it.”

It’s a message Mr Harrison is passionate about; a lesson that he learnt during his time in Asia.

He initially taught in Daejeon and Seoul with Shamyook Language School while there.

Mr Harrison hoped the job with the non-profit organisation would “ease his conscience” after the huge salary he’d commanded back in the United Kingdom. He never expected the experience would send him back to school.

“Professors from the US came to train people such as myself who had come to Korea to volunteer as language teachers,” he said.

“They were all, to a large degree, academics and medical professionals who were passionate about the efficacy of lifestyle medicine to overcome chronic diseases. I realised if I really wanted to help people I needed to be professionally trained in the science of epidemiology.

“Learning to speak English merely allows you to command a larger salary but when you understand health and wellness, you can ‘live’ longer.”

Mr Harrison enrolled in the Graduate School of Health Science and Welfare at Sahmyook University. He received a master’s degree in public health in 2011.

By then he had met and married his wife, who was also teaching in Korea. They decided to return to England with their two children but stopped off in Malaysia to work in a wellness clinic that focused on chronic diseases.

They then set up a wellness centre in Bredhurst Kent.

“We were educating people in health and wellness focusing on holistic approach,” Mr Harrison said. “We taught all the basic aspects of health — diet, nutrition and mental health, which impacts inner peace which causes us to be anxious. We really saw some amazing results.”

It was at that point that Mr Harrison was called to Zimbabwe to conduct “an intense wellness training programme” with medical professionals there.

The trip was “an amazing success” as was the work they were doing in Kent.

But then Bermuda called. Mr Harrison said the reason they decided to move here was complicated.

“This is not a simple answer, but this is related to why I would give up my job in 2003 to be a volunteer English teacher in South East Asia,” he said. “It was at this point my wife realised we could really train people in health and wellness anywhere in the world if we so desired, and in some ways it would be easiest to continue in England.

“However in terms of the most productive periods of our lives, where we have acquired the most knowledge and done the most effective work, we have never been surrounded by congenial conditions or even an environment with which we are most familiar. Bermuda presented a challenge with its national health statistics and, as my wife’s country of birth, a location we had surprisingly never visited.

“We accepted the challenge and with the amazing results of some of the wellness programmes run this year, we are sure we made the right decision.”