obituary
In memory of Pat Judd Transcript of tribute paid to Pat Judd Kerr by Moira Nash (née Taylor) at Preston Crematorium on Monday 16th March 2015.
Tribute by Moira Nash (née Taylor)
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“Tony has asked me to say a few words about ‘Professor Judd’. That is: ‘Pat the scientist and academic’. I am honoured to do this, but feel that my allotted two to four minutes may be somewhat inadequate. Preston Crematorium may just have to wait! In order to get a feel for the enormous contribution that Pat made in her role as a scientist and academic, I would like you to imagine that standing beside me on my right is a sizable group of PhD students, post docs (the first job after a PhD), and other research workers. Having benefited from Pat’s deep scientific knowledge, sound guidance and thoughtful support, they successfully completed the research studies they were undertaking. I am proud to say that I can stand in that group. On my left is another, not inconsiderable group consisting of colleagues, both in dietetics and the university setting, who benefited from research collaborations with Pat. Collaborations which were highly successful - again a group that I am proud to say that I am a member of. Behind me in an arc, are the large group of patients who benefited from Pat’s insistence on a scientific, evidence based approach to dietetics. We must not forget that Pat practiced as a dietitian for much of her working life. Behind the patients, stretching way back, is an enormous group of student dietitians trained by Pat to take a scientific, evidence based approach. She taught students to both critically review scientific studies undertaken by others and to aspire to contribute their own research to our discipline. At a conservative estimate,
NHDmag.com May 2015 - Issue 104
there are 1,500 undergraduate students from the UK, Malaysia and South Africa. One thousand five hundred- that is a lot of students and we must not forget the students that they have and will train in the ‘Pat mould’! Finally, behind them, stretching way, way back is the rest of the profession in the UK and other countries, who have benefited from Pat’s perspective as a scientist when working with the British Dietetic Association and the Health and Care Professions Council. Pat was Scientific editor of the Journal of Human Nutrition and a key contributor to the design of a radicle new curriculum in 2000; a new curriculum that put science and research very much at the centre of the pre-registration training of dietitians. However, Pat would not leave it there. She would say, ‘So you claim I did some good as a scientist and academic? Well, where is the EVIDENCE?’ I am sure that many of you in the audience could give me your own examples of ‘evidence’. Let’s start by looking at the first of the three areas of the academic’s role - research. You only have to ‘google’ ‘Judd PA’ to see the breadth, depth and quality of Pat’s scientific publications. It is a real credit to her that her last publication was only last year. Pat has worked alongside great names, including Truswell. I believe that Pat’s strength lay in her ability to see the important question and pursue it. To give but one example, she and I were jointly supervising a PhD student, who is not sitting far from me today. The then student and I were deeply and terminally bogged down in a discussion about the detail of a study we were trying to design. I suddenly be-
