Oxford Medicine June 2012

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Oxford Medicine THE NEWSLETTER OF THE OXFORD MEDICAL ALUMNI OXFORD MEDICINE . JULY 2012

The Oxford Medical Society: 1892–2005 A brief introduction to the early years

The story of the Oxford Medical Society reflects the growth of scientific medicine in Oxford. It shows close collaboration between doctors and scientists from the University, hospitals and general practitioners in the city in developing medical professionalism and in helping doctors to perceive their role in the face of a rapid growth in scientific knowledge of relevance to medical practice.

In the beginning was the Oxford MedicoChirurgical Society with records starting in 1836.

Meeting largely in each other’s homes, the object of the society was the circulation of medical periodical publications and such other current medical literature of the day as the funds would allow. At one of the monthly meetings they had a presentation from a new member, Dr Acland, on cholera. In which he said: When cholera came to Oxford in 1832 it was found better prepared than any town in the country’.

The launch of the Oxford Medical Society 1892 While it is not clear who first put forward the proposal that there should be an Oxford Medical Society, a key role was played by Dr William Collier (1856–1935) He was the first Cambridge graduate to be appointed to the staff of the Radcliffe Infirmary and he had been on the council of the London Medical Society. He may have been the organiser of a meeting in the Physiological Department in October 1892 to take preliminary steps towards the formation of a new Society. He certainly was the sender of a letter to Sir Henry Acland about the proposed Society and asking if he would be the first President. In accepting the honour, Acland suggested meetings could be held ‘in his lifetime’ in the Pathological Museum where there were adjoining a laboratory, a microscope room and a tea room.

The inaugural meeting of the Oxford Medical Society was held on November 11th 1892 at 8.30 in the large meeting room of the Museum. A lengthy account of the proceedings was published in the Oxford Review on November 19th a copy is in the records. Sir Henry Acland presided and he

referred to a society formed some fifty years ago by the practitioners in Oxford, numbering about twenty, meeting monthly at their homes in rotation and with a small circulating library attached to it. ”There was a common feeling then as now that it was in the public interest that the medical practitioners of a district should be on terms of frequent friendly relation one to the other, quite as much for the good of the public as for their own good.”

The inaugural address was given by Sir James Paget, introduced by Dr Acland as the ‘Nestor of British Surgery’. Paget stressed that science and medicine were not in any sense incompatible or inconsistent. The scientist and practitioner needed to work together and he knew of no better means by which this could be accomplished than by societies where the men in practice would have the opportunity of constantly meeting and consulting with those whose lives were devoted to the profoundest difficulties and present mysteries of science.

In the first full year, 1892–1893 there were a total of six meetings, held usually in the University Museum with one in the Radcliffe Infirmary. The format of the Society and pattern of meetings followed decisions which had been made in 1892: there was a Council which met three times a year, usually in the home of the President, and the meetings covered Private Business (proposals for officers, finance), and Public Business, at first mainly cases and specimens as well as invited papers. The meetings were held on Fridays, starting 8.30 pm and finishing 10.30, quite late when members no doubt relied on horses for transport.

At the first ordinary meeting, held on December 9th in the Museum, after new members were elected and others proposed, there was a paper by a Dr Turrell on Thyroidectomy and its sequelae.

Acland’s Presidency did not last long. Already in his late 70s, he resigned in January 1893 on the subject of smoking at meetings, which he strongly opposed.

The seal of the Oxford Medical Society (photograph by Angela Jones)

Contents Letter from the President . .3 Osler and the Bodleian Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Military Neurosurgery at Oxford in The Second World War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 People in the News . . . . .8 Osler House Club . . . . . . . . .9 Profile of Jim Holt The UK Biobank Obituaries

. . . . .10

. . . . . . .11

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Alumni weekend

. . . . . . . .15

Forthcoming Events . . . . .16

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At the January meeting the subject was anaesthesia, in March a paper on the motor areas of the brain with a large number of lantern slides, May was entirely cases while on June 9th was the first Annual General Meeting. This included the first balance sheet, showing an income of £12.0.0 from member and associates’ subscriptions and expenditure of £11.8.8 (mostly for printing) leaving a balance of 11 shillings 4 pence.

Sir Henry Acland, Regius Professor of Medicine ( 1858 – 1894 )

For the session 1893–4, Professor Burdon Sanderson, who was appointed Regius Professor of Medicine in 1895, was President and Dr Collier was Secretary and Treasurer. There was a council of six and some 30 members’ names were noted with 25 associates.

There was a specially invited lecture in November 1894, and this was given

by Dr Samuel Wilks (consultant physician at Guy’s) which included his view on the ‘great discovery of the age in medicine’, the existence of germs as a cause of disease. He looked forward to the day when there would be a system of scientific therapeutics.

In October 1885, Sir George Humphrey, Professor of Surgery at Cambridge, spoke on some changes in medicine and surgery during the past sixty years.

He referred to the extraordinary change which had taken place in the matter of blood-letting: ‘it went suddenly and it now scarcely occurs to the practitioner as a means of treatment’.

On June 12th 1901 the question was raised about admission to membership of lady doctors. This was debated in October of that year and lost by 14 votes to six. The question came up again a few years later and again failed.

Although the records do not mention a subsequent debate and decision, the first ‘lady doctors’ to be admitted appear in the records after World War 1.

At the annual meeting in 1905, Professor Osler was elected a member. On November 10th 1905, at a complimentary dinner in his honour he gave an address on some aspects of the tuberculosis question (no record of this in the minute books). He became President in 1906 for two years.

There were no meetings during the two World Wars. In 1920 there is reference to the resuscitation of the Society when the great loss to the Society of the death of Sir William Osler was mentioned.

Meetings continued fairly regularly until 2004 and the Society closed in 2005, after creating a link to the Oxford Medical Alumni.

Dr Alex Gatherer Acknowledgement is made to Sally Hemsworth for her assistance in preparing this article Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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Letter from the President In April, members of Oxford University flew west for their biennial reunion in New York. OMA held its customary Sunday brunch at the Princeton Club, where Don Chambers spoke about the hundred years since Abraham Flexner’s influential report into medical education in North America. I responded with how I see the course at Oxford as maintaining both a presence in research at an international level — as Flexner would have approved — whilst retaining the values of a small school, in which students are personally encouraged and developed — as Osler would have approved.

The May meeting was a celebration of Oxford’s contribution to medicine on both an individual and a global level. Nick White was here on his annual visit from Thailand and gave the second Weatherall lecture, hard on the heels of his usual stint ‘on-take’ at the JRH. His subject was malaria, in particular the impact of research shared between the NDM in Oxford and his clinical unit in Thailand.

We heard about measures to control malaria and the development of interest in Artemisinin, known since ancient China. More ominous was the emergence of mosquitoes resistant to the pyrethrum derivatives with which bed-nets are impregnated. Junior doctors Ellie Petts and Janis Meek returned to relate their elective experience in Africa as final-year students, teaching birth attendants basic neonatal resuscitation skills using their diminutive mannequin, Natalie. Oxford thus contributes to medicine overseas at both a global and a more individual level.

Rory Collins spoke about the genesis and implementation of the UK Biobank project, which collects and stores information from half a million volunteers. DNA and other samples, including saliva and plasma, can be retrieved robotically from the bank, shedding future light on links between disease and bio-markers at both an individual and a population level. He showed vividly how studying such very

large numbers brings into sharp focus aspects which emerge only hazily from smaller-scale studies. On the other hand, Valerie Beral spoke about how the study of a million women has failed to decide some important aspects of the risks associated with use of oral contraceptives and HRT. Conrad Keating related some intriguing and entertaining first-hand memories from his collaboration as Richard Doll’s official biographer.

The evening saw another very special occasion, when Dr Allan Chapman gave his second invited talk, on the subject ‘Oxford Medicine and the Mind’, standing within the ‘apse’ of the Duke Humfrey’s Library. Dr Sarah Thomas spoke about collaborations between the Bodleian and the Medical Sciences Division, rounding the occasion of the restoration of Osler’s Clock, which chimed appropriately before and during the talk. Alumni enjoyed strolling through the ancient library, and then dined in the Divinity Schools below.

More recently, the qualifiers from ten years ago returned to Osler House for a tea party and to St Hilda’s for their dinner. As pressures within the NHS intensify, they enjoyed meeting fellow students to remember days of training for the fray of medical life; ‘twas ever thus.

We have said ‘vale’ to Andrew Marcus in Thame with a mixture of sadness and celebration of his many achievements. In particular that he placed Oxford General Practice onto a similar footing to the James Wigg in London, as an excellent training base, and that he helped train many very accomplished GPs as a result.

We are planning a key discussion in the Sheldonian as part of the University Alumni weekend in September, at which Anthony Kenny will moderate a debate about Assisted Dying between Terence English and Richard Harries, with support from Mary Warnock and Ilora Finlay. This should be an important and memorable event, with a reception afterwards to continue the debate. I hope to see many medical alumni in Oxford then.

Peggy Frith

Olympic Torch Relay The Olympic Torch came to Oxford University on 10th July with Sir Roger Bannister carrying the torch for the first leg on the Iffley Road running track which takes his name. Sir Roger, Lord Sebastian Coe, Chancellor Lord Patten, Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Hamilton, and alumnae Dr Stephanie Cook and Nikki Emerson lit the torch at 7.01am in front of a crowd of more than 600 at Iffley Road.

Sir Roger then carried the torch to the finish line which he had crossed when he set his record-breaking time for the mile in 1954. He then handed the torch to Nicola Byrom, a DPhil student at Oxford University who set up Student Run Self Help, a volunteer organisation providing self-help groups for students with eating disorders.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Hamilton said: 'Sir Roger is the embodiment of the 'scholar-athlete', which we value so highly at Oxford University — he broke the four-minute mile here in Oxford before going on to become a distinguished neurologist.

'We are therefore delighted that he could be here today to carry the Olympic Torch on the Sir Roger Bannister Running Track and he could not have received a warmer reception from the fans who lined the route.'

Sir Roger said the weather was 'much the same as it was in 1954' when he did his famous run — mild, windy but thankfully dry.

Photo John Cairns

Sir Roger lights Olympic Torch at Iffley Road

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Osler and the Bodleian Library William Osler arrived in Oxford on 27 May, 1905, and then both matriculated and graduated MD on the same day, 13 June, in the Divinity School. The position of Regius Professor also made him a curator of the Bodleian Library and Master of the Alms-house at Ewelme, a village in Oxfordshire 14 miles south of Oxford.

In Oxford Osler did not have onerous teaching and clinical duties and he was able to spend time on his books, acquiring an extensive library of historical medical texts. His library became one of the best of its kind, and after his death it passed to McGill University, to form the nucleus of the Osler Library of the History of Medicine. His scholarship was recognized by his election as President of the Classical Association and President of the Bibliographical Society. As a bibliophile it was not surprising that he should take a great interest in the Bodleian Library and his contributions are recounted in detail in Harvey Cushing’s biography from which much of the following information is taken. They go far beyond the gift of a clock.

As Regius Professor he was ex officio a Curator, but he also served on the Standing committee and was Chairman of the subcommittee dealing with the extension of the library. Cushing recounts his most notable contributions which included amongst others: securing funding for purchase of the First Folio of Shakespeare; chairing the subcommittee for construction of the underground stack; initiating and guaranteeing funding of the Bodleian Quarterly Record and the bequest of three important manuscripts, including an illustrated Dioscorides. These contributions and others are considered in turn.

The First Folio of Shakespeare (The Turbutt Shakespeare).

In 1906 the original copy of the First Folio of Shakespeare, which came to the library in 1623 and which had been parted with after the restoration as ‘superseded’, for the princely sum of £24, was bought by public subscription from a W.G.Turbutt, Esq., of Ogston Hall, Derbyshire, for £3,000. Mr Turbutt had given the library until March 31, 1906 to match an offer of £3,000 which he had received, probably from the USA. An appeal was launched. Osler subscribed to the fund and secured larger contributions from friends. With three days to go Mr Nicholson (Bodley’s Librarian) sent a note to Osler saying: ‘Paid or promised £2,598 13s 3d.’ Osler persuaded his friend Lord Strathcona to provide the remaining £500, thereby saving the day and eliciting this note from the Librarian:

2 Canterbury Road, 29 March 1906 My dear Osler, You deserve a statue in the Bodleian quadrangle. I have wired Turbutt. I’ll take my chance of seeing you later in the day. I shall write to the papers and send a circular to the subscribers.

Yours most sincerely E.W.B.Nicholson.

The Bodleian underground stack.

In a letter of August 3, 1912 Osler wrote: I have become more and more involved in the Bodleian, and begin to understand its workings.

I am there every day, when possible. We have just completed an immense underground stack, between the Old Bodleian and the Radcliffe Camera, which will hold 1,300,000 books. This relieves the congestion, which has made the working of the library so difficult.’

The underground stack was formally opened on November 27, 1912.

The Bodley Memorial service On March 29th1913 there was a ceremony in Merton College chapel which 300 years before to the day had witnessed the public funeral of Sir Thomas Bodley. On the same day the Clarendon press published a small volume ‘Trecentale Bodleianum’. In Osler’s copy of this volume he noted: ‘March 29th, 1913.

The service at Merton was attended by about 150 people. I was the only Curator present.

Madan, Bodley’s librarian read the lesson. Dr Macray, the historian of Bodley was present, the sub-librarian, the assistants and many of the boys. I am very glad to have suggested it to the Standing Committee and helped Madan get over some of the difficulties’.

The 400th anniversary of this event will fall next year.

The Bodleian Quarterly Record.

E.W.B.Nicholson, Bodley’s Librarian, died on March 17, 1912 and his successor Falconer Madan, with whom Osler came almost daily in contact, wrote the following letter on Dec 4th: Dear Sir William, I am very much obliged for your suggestion about a Bodleian Quarterly Record, to contain Notes and News… . Now your timely suggestion may lead to a more modest but hardly less useful beginning. There is very little in evidence to show outsiders that we are alive. Can you bring this before the Standing Committee tomorrow, and make some suggestions about ways and means? I do not forget that you first suggested the Bodley Memorial service, the public opening of the Underground Bookstore, and the Exhibition of some of the Chinese books’.

Yours sincerely F.Madan.

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Osler guaranteed financial support for the BQR which was published from 1914 to 1937.

Osler and the bookworm In December 1916 Osler wrote an article for the BQR published the following year, “Osler W. Illustrations of the bookworm. Bodleian Quart. Rec. 1917 1:355–7.” This is an account of the living bookworm he had found tunneling in a copy of the ‘Histoire abregee de la Derniere Persecution de PortRoyal’. Osler had a sketch of the bookworm done by the well known artist Horace Knight of the British Museum and Mr Madan consented to have the plate reproduced in the BQR article. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 2. The newly restored Osler Clock in the Bodleian Library

Osler’s bequest of MSS to the Bodleian Library Osler left three items to Bodley, as described and numbered in ‘Bibliotheca Osleriana’, and specified as follows in a note written during his final illness:

Figure 1. Painting of the Book-Worm by Horace Knight, of the British Museum, which Osler commissioned after he found a good specimen and learned that there were no satisfactory illustrations of this menace (Osler Library, McGill University, Bibliotheca Osleriana 7242).

Osler’s clock at the Bodleian.

The gift of a clock to the Bodleian Library by Sir William Osler in October 1912 is recorded in the second volume of Cushing’s biography as follows: ‘Active as was his mind, he appreciated repose, and particularly the restful quiet of a library. It was about this time that he selected and sent to the Bodleian a beautiful English mantel clock to replace Dr Rawlinson’s which had worn itself out after 160 years of usefulness. It strikes a soft, unhurried chime appropriate in character for a silentium; and may it measure as many hours as did its predecessor. Under it is the inscription…

V. c. Gulielmo Osler Baronetto Medicinae apud Oxonienses Professori regio Hoc Horologium Grato animo acceptum refert Bibliotheca Bodleiana a.d. VIII. Id. Oct. A.S. MCMXII’ Exactly a century later the clock remains in place. To mark the centenary it has been conserved and refurbished at West Dean College with a contribution from the Osler Club of London and the rejuvenated clock was unveiled by Sarah Thomas, Bodley’s Librarian, on May 12th 2012.

To Bodley— The illustrated Arabic Dioscorides, AD 1239 — which will comfort the heart of Dr Cowley — one I believe of the three illustrated MSS of this author in Arabic. (no.346).

The Sir John Harington MS of the Regimen of Salerno, his well known translation. (no.7623).

Andrew Boorde — whom I love and to whom full justice has never been done in the profession — the MS of his Peregrination of England. (no.7525).

The records in Bibliotheca Osleriana give more details:

• 346. MS in Arabic, on oriental paper: illustrated: written in 1239 AD, v +211 leaves. The third Makala of Dioscorides, in Arabic translation made (?in Spain) by Stephanus ibn Masail; copied at Baghdad. MSS of the Arabic version are rare.

Inserted: Letters from Dr A Cowley, of the Bodleian and from J.H.Bill of the I.C.S. through whom this MS was procured from Persia; a card from Sir Clifford Allbutt and notes by Sir W.Osler.

• 7623. In English, on paper: written early in the 17th century. In old vellum binding. Sir John Harington’s translation of the Regimen Sanitatis of Salerno; anonymous and without title; 70 ten-line stanzas. Probably a contemporary copy; written in a neat hand in red and black on paper ruled in red.

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• 7525. In English and Latin on paper: written about the middle of the 16th century. By Laurence Nowell: in contemporary vellum binding. i. ‘The peregrination of Doctor Andrew Boarde. All in the handwriting of Laurence Nowell, as was noted by Thomas Hearne who printed the piece from this unique MS in his ed. of Benedictus Abbas, Oxford 1735. Hearne’s MS copy for the press is in MS Rawlinson B 247. In the Bodleian library. ii. Lists of signatories to Anglo-Saxon royal charters.

Conclusions: fond memories As always with Osler the magic lay in his personality. Although his practical and material contributions were important he was remembered above all for his inspirational presence. Cushing records the following recollections of those who experienced it: P 43.

‘Indeed, scarcely a day passed when the Tower of the Five orders dominating the Old Schools quadrangle did not see him pop in at the unpretentious entrance to the library, to skip two steps at a time up the winding and worn flight of stairs to Duke Humfrey’s Library, where there was a cheerful greeting to all, from Nicholson the Librarian to the boy lowest on the pay list.

This was what is chiefly remembered, and so when one asks of Bodley officials what he did for the library they look about and say: ‘Why, he gave the new clock and guaranteed the cost of the “B.Q.R.”, but the chief reason for our grateful and affectionate feeling for him is of a more general kind.’

P 44.

Falconer Madan, Nicholson’s successor as Bodley’s librarian, wrote:

‘It was not merely that he was always cheery and breezy. As an ex officio Curator he might have performed his duties perfunctorily, and as a medical specialist he might have taken little interest in medical matters. But he was always enthusiastic about anything that could be done for the good of the library or to increase its efficiency. If he bought a remarkable book he would bring it to us to see. If any of the staff were ill he would go and visit them. He was frequently in the library, interested in all its details, always ready to sympathise in one’s difficulties, full of encouragement for our efforts and very jealous for the prestige of the place. We miss him, not because he promoted this or that piece of work, but because of his living influence, which helped and stimulated us all.’

Dr Mark Gardiner Osler Club of London

MILITARY NEUROSURGERY AT OXFORD IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR In the First World War there were a handful of surgeons who were interested in the treatment of head wounds, amongst whom was W. W. Wagstaffe from Oxford. With very limited equipment and under very difficult conditions, remarkably they managed to reduce the mortality down to around 50%.

Lord Nuffield, Cairns and Barnsley outside St Hughs

Over the last century the proportion of head injuries occurring in war has remained remarkably constant at about 10% of the total wounded and approximately half of these are penetrating injuries. Without treatment, these do not usually survive. Death occurs from meningitis due to the combination of contamination of the brain track with foreign material and a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak, or later development of a brain abscess.

In between the world wars Professor Hugh Cairns, a neurosurgeon, and the first Nuffield Professor of Surgery at Oxford, was appointed as Consultant Surgeon to the Director General of the Army Medical Services (later he became Brigadier Sir Hugh). With great foresight Cairns decided to set up a specialist military hospital for head injuries at Oxford at the outbreak of war in 1939. He persuaded the staff at St. Hughes’ College to vacate the buildings and established a hospital with an operating theatre, x-ray and other investigatory facilities along with wards staffed by specialist surgical and nursing personnel. Temporary wards were also built on the lawn in front of the main buildings so that at its height there were 300 beds in use and the hospital treated 13,000 patients between February 1940 and September 1945. The initial casualty outcomes were not as good as hoped. Cairns attributed this to the fact that there was such a great delay between the time of wounding and arrival at Oxford that irreversible brain damage had occurred. He felt that the casualties had to be treated much earlier and to this end established mobile neurosurgical units (MNSUs) which were deployed to the various theatres of war. They consisted of a

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Above: Jack Small operating NW Europe under the watchful eye of Field Marshall Montgomery and Brigadier Porritt

neurosurgeon, a neurologist, an anaesthetist together with specialist nursing sisters and orderlies. Lord Nuffield was a great help in sourcing the specialist steel required for the instrumentation. The first team was deployed to France but was sadly captured at Dunkirk. However, the later teams did valiant service treating many thousands of patients in North Africa, Italy, Burma and finally Normandy. Initially the benefit of the teams was not appreciated until it was shown that in North Africa the results of treatment by the neurosurgical unit were substantially better than those casualties that were treated in general surgical units.

Key Personnel — (L to R)Commanding Officer (Roche), Ritchie-Russel, Matron (Miss Ruddoch), unknown, Cairns

At the end of the war, the mortality for the penetrating head injuries had been reduced to the remarkable figure of 5% and those with only scalp and skull wounds to <1%. These figures have not been improved in more recent conflicts and remain at this figure to this day. Cairns put these results down to the segregation of head injuries, air evacuation and treatment with specialist personnel using neurosurgical equipment.

Casualties without neurological signs were regularly returned to active duty without leaving the operational area. Cairns insisted that the brain track must be meticulously excised (debrided) and the dura and scalp closed in watertight layers. This was the key to prevention of infection.

The gold standard for the treatment of military head injuries was laid down at Oxford during this period. It is interesting that the Americans used similar organisation for their neurosurgical teams in the Vietnam War. The author can also report that tradition has continued with the same Cairnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neurosurgical instruments stamped with the broad arrow being used in the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

No 6 MNSU before departure to Normandy (Officer Commanding Jack Small centre)

Peter Stanworth OBE, Neurosurgeon

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People in the News Six medical researchers at Oxford University were elected as Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences in May 2012 Tipu Aziz Professor of Neurosurgery in the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, focussing on the alleviation of movement disorders and pain. His group carries out investigations into the neural signatures of pain and movement disorders, including deep brain stimulation, brain imaging and clinical neurophysiology. Professor Aziz has a long standing interest in primate models of movement disorders and was central to establishing surgical targets to alleviate Parkinson's Disease. He has also helped establish functional neurosurgery in many centres abroad and holds professorships in Porto and Aarhus.

Professor Rury Holman, Director of the Diabetes Trials Unit, divides his time between clinical care of patients, teaching and his many research interests. He has designed and run many multicentre studies that focus primarily on prevention, appropriate treatment and cardiovascular risk reduction in type 2 diabetes, and is one of the most cited authors in diabetes.

Professor Stephen MacMahon, Director for the George Institute for Global Health worldwide, executive director of the new George Centre for Healthcare Innovation at Oxford and James Martin Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Oxford . He is an authority on the causes, prevention and treatment of common cardiovascular diseases, and has a special interest in the management of chronic and complex conditions in resource-poor settings, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.

Gero Miesenböck is Waynflete Professor of Physiology in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics. Professor Miesenböck is the principal architect of the emerging field of 'optogenetics', which develops genetic strategies for observing and controlling the function of brain circuits with light. He uses these optical approaches to read and change the minds of fruit flies to understand how the brain controls behaviour. His current research focuses on the structure and dynamics of the brain circuits involved in sensory processing, memory and action selection. Gero Miesenböck has been awarded the InBev-Baillet Latour Health Prize 2012 for 'pioneering optogenetic approaches to manipulate neuronal activity and to control animal behaviour.' The prize recognizes outstanding scientific achievements in biomedical research and/or their practical applications for human health and to encourage the laureate in the pursuit of his/her career.

Anant Parekh is Professor of Physiology in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics. His work has shaped our understanding of the role of calcium ion channels in cell function.

Calcium channels play an essential role in the body, controlling processes as diverse as heartbeat, neurotransmission, metabolism and gene expression. Professor Parekh's discoveries are highly relevant to the understanding of and treatment of allergies including asthma.

Professor Chris Ponting is deputy director of the MRC Functional Genomics Unit in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics. In a research career spanning 25 years, he has made contributions across protein science, evolutionary biology, genetics and genomics. He discovered many important protein domain families; provided leadership in international genome-sequencing projects, including those for human and mouse; and his studies have helped force the extent and importance of noncoding DNA in the human genome to be reconsidered.

Professorship of Pathology — Sir William Dunn School Matthew Freeman, BA Oxf, PhD Imp Lond, Head, Division of Cell Biology, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, has been appointed to the Professorship of Pathology in the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology with effect from 1 January 2013. Dr Freeman will be a fellow of Lincoln.

Professorship of Primary Care Health Sciences Richard McManus, BSc Imp Lond, MB BS St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, MSc PhD Birm, Senior Clinical Researcher, Department of Primary Care Health Sciences; General Practitioner, Greenridge Surgery, Birmingham; and Honorary Consultant in Primary Care, South Birmingham Primary Care Trust, has been appointed to the Professorship of Primary Care Health Sciences in the Department of Primary Care Health Sciences with effect from 1 April 2012. Professor McManus will be a fellow of Green Templeton.

Dr Katharine Pike was appointed as Clinical Lecturer in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at the University of Southampton in 2011.

Dr Harinderjit (Richie) Gill, along with colleagues from NDORMS and other collaborators have won the Hip Society's 2012 Otto Aufranc Award. This is for innovative research in either clinical or basic science that encompasses important advances in the management of hip disorders. Their paper, The Interpretation of Metal Ion Levels in Unilateral and Bilateral Hip Resurfacing (Catherine Van Der Straeten, George Grammatopoulos, Harinderjit S. Gill, Alessandro Calistri, Patricia Campbell and Koen A. De Smet).

1992 Jennifer Rusby was given leave to supplicate DM on 5 July 2012 “An anatomical study of the skin, nipple and areola of the breast.

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1996 Emma de Souza was given leave to supplicate DM on 15 March 2012 “The use of novel xenografting methods to reveal differential gene expression between breast cancer primary and metastatic sites”.

1997 Andrew Solomon was given leave to supplicate DM on 23 February 2012 “The role of IGF-1 in the anabolic effects of androgens on skeletal muscle”.

The 2012 Meakins McClaran Prize The 2012 Meakins McClaran Prize for the best outstanding overall performance of a student graduating BM BCh (Oxon) has been awarded to Dr Catherine Taylor, Green Templeton College.

Professor Tony Hope Retires Tony Hope, the founder and first director of the Ethox Centre retired at the end of March 2012. After a degree in philosophy and physiology, and PhD in basic neuroscience, Tony studied medicine at Oxford and specialised in psychiatry. For many years he carried out research on the behavioural changes associated with Alzheimer's disease for which he was awarded the research prize and medal by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. During this time, with Murray Longmore, he wrote the first, and subsequently three, editions of the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine, known as the 'cheese and onion' by a generation of British medical students. For the past twenty years his main interests have been in medical ethics. Together with Theo Schofield and Catherine Hood he

developed the first course on communication skills at Oxford medical School, and with Bill Fulford the first medical ethics course. With an initial grant from the Martin Wills Trust and the help of Caroline Miles, he founded the Ethox Centre in 1998. His own ethics research has combined empirical and philosophical methods across a range of issues in medical ethics and particularly in psychiatric ethics and resource allocation. He brought his interests in Alzheimer's disease and ethics together when he chaired the Nuffield Council on Bioethics working party on ethical issues in dementia (w ww.nuffieldbioethics.org/dementia).

Dr Marian Knight from the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at Oxford has been awarded a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) professorship, the Government has announced. She is one of only eight researchers to receive this award, which recognises the UK’s most promising leaders in medical health research. Her research into the pathogenesis of preeclampsia led to the award of a DPhil in 1998 and she moved into public health, becoming a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health in 2006.

She is also an Honorary Consultant in Public Health with Oxfordshire PCT. She set up and has led the UK Obstetric Surveillance System (UKOSS) since its inception in 2005 and is the Chief Investigator for a new national programme of study into near-miss maternal morbidity, funded by the National Institute for Health Research. She also leads the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons Congenital Anomalies Surveillance System (BAPS-CASS), conducting studies relating to the care of infants requiring early surgery.

OSLER HOUSE CLUB The Oxford Medical Students’ Society Walking in the footsteps of giants…

William Osler House remains at the forefront of the lives of Oxford medical students and it is my privilege to lead Osler House over the next twelve months. Before I begin I first wish to pay tribute to my predecessor, Arvind Singhal, whom has been a tremendous President in a challenging economic climate at 3. Under Arvind’s leadership, Osler House has really become a focal point for Oxford clinical students. With in excess of 30 sports clubs and societies, Osler House has something on offer for everybody even if our regular bops are not for the faint-hearted!

As a member of Magdalen College and now President of Osler House, I feel as though I am truly walking in the footsteps of one of Osler House’s and very much Oxford’s giants, Regius Professor Sir John Bell. His name appears on several of the oars in the Nuffield Games Room and to me symbolises what being a clinical student at Oxford is all about. That a man who was a Rhodes scholar and who has gone on to achieve so many great things yet still found time to row competitively for his medical society during his clinical years should be an inspiration to the current generation of students.

We are all fortunate to have been able to spend time at Oxford and in Osler House and I was reminded of this just last month at the final bop of the academic year. To see 30 or so men and women just two months’ shy of going to work for the first time as a doctor huddled

around in a circle at 3am belting out Robbie Williams’ Angels really did leave us with lumps in our throats. I was reminded of how fortunate we are also when on DGH placement in Swindon. I happened to come across a junior doctor who had qualified in Oxford and as soon as he saw my distinctive orange badge (which all Oxford students wear in addition to their Trust ID badges), he came over to me and asked how I was enjoying Swindon and whether I felt our group needed any teaching. Examples such as these are not hard to find.

It is the camaraderie that comes with being a clinical student at Oxford from which I have no doubt that we all benefit and for which we should be truly grateful. Osler House has a part to play in this and in all that we as a committee do this year, we will try to ensure that the clinical school community remains as close-knit as it is today.

I wish to thank all of those members past and present who have contributed so much to Osler House and to extend a warm invitation to any old members to return to Oxford and to have a look around the new Osler House Club. I hope you will be as proud to have been associated with the institution as we are proud to be a part of it today.

William H. Seligman, President, Osler House Club william.seligman@magd.ox.ac.uk or oslerhouse@gmail.com

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Profile: Jim Holt — Director of Clinical Studies from 1970 I first came to Oxford in 1963 to succeed Chris Paine as SHO to L J Witts, the first Nuffield Professor of Medicine, on the NDM together with John Badenoch, Sidney Truelove, Sheila Callender and Donald Acheson as consultants. I had qualified in St Andrews, did my clinical years in Dundee, married Sheila who read zoology, and left for Canada on the Empress of Canada to take up an internship at the Kingston General Hospital, home to the clinical school of Queens University. I ended up under Malcolm Brown who had been a Rhodes at Balliol just before the war and stayed on to do research in the NDM under Witts. It was Brown who fixed my entry to the NDM after 4 years away. My position as SHO led to the registrarship (Dennis Gath had decided to switch to psychiatry), and so I became Paul Beeson’s first registrar. This led to the lectureship when Jim Malpas returned to Barts, and the post of Medical Tutor after Francis Caird went to Glasgow. Then in 1970 I was asked by Beeson to take over as Director of Clinical Studies after Michael Dunnill ( I think others had said no ), and in 1974 I was appointed to take over from Teddy Buzzard and so joined Peter Sleight‘s firm with Donald Lane.

Jim Holt and David Weatherall

The Radcliffe Infirmary was a pretty small community. Lunch was in a shared dining room, juniors and consultants, so that in no time one knew closely not only those in medicine, but surgeons, neurosurgeons, obstetricians, pathologists, the head almoner and so on. Cases were discussed, unofficial advice gained, and friendships made across the specialities. People knew each other!

The clinical school in 1970 was small too. About two thirds of the intake came from the Dunn School and after George Pickering had persuaded Cambridge medical tutors of the merits of The Radcliffe, about a third came from there with a few who had done honours degrees from London, St Andrews and elsewhere. The quality was high, as so many highly successful careers testify, and about this time a number of the Oxford tutors who had rather talked down The Radcliffe began to persuade their best to apply so that entry to the clinical school began to be quite competitive. But we remained small enough for the DCS to know all the students pretty well with just the occasional need for a firm hand (e.g. Bulstrode who in the early morning of one April 1st spotted that by switching just one sign in a newly introduced solution to the perennial Oxford traffic problem, he could make all the traffic rotate in a perpetual circle — watched by a few perplexed policemen!)

Tyngewick played an important part in the life of the school. Needless to say I figured — usually with my head on one side (“all his brains are on the right”) looking at ECGs a few inches away from my nose (myopia which is now rectified by contemporary eye surgery), joking about student safety as I put a few students in the back of my large car to do outpatients in Moreton in Marsh. The Christmas pantomime though was much improved when women were introduced so that one could take one’s children without too much embarrassment! Morale was high, aided by Osler House bar where one repaired, students and staff, after the working day before supper, and, dare I say it, a hotline to the Royal Oak across the road. Christmas was fun too. Consultants carved the ward turkey, and our children served the food and the beer to the men. Donald Lane’s family brought their instruments and played carols. One Christmas our Labrador, Charlotte, was invited onto the ward after she had been rescued from warfarin poisoning by the vitamin K, “borrowed” from the newly established coronary care unit with the complicity of Sister Lower.

There were challenges as DCS. My first was to reverse a shortening of the clinical course under pressure from the GMC which was deemed unworkable. Surgeons in particular rebelled on the grounds that it threatened the ethos of the firm structure. Tim Till I remember as a particularly helpful voice of wisdom at this time. Another challenge was the growing clinical school. Many in the colleges at that time were reluctant to see this and the advice given to rectify this, not just for the clinical students but for more senior people without any college attachment, was to create a fresh foundation. Just at this time the Radcliffe Observatory became available because the Nuffield Institute for Medical Research was moving up to the new John Radcliffe hospital site in Headington, (now the Weatherall Institute). Richard Doll, as Regius Professor, conceived the idea of a new graduate college based on the Observatory. The crucial step was taken one morning at 13 Norham Gardens, then the residence of the Regius Professor, when Doll had invited Cecil Green to see what was in his mind. John Ledingham presented the case for the senior people, and I for the students, over a mockup of what might be done on the site prepared by the University Surveyor, Lancaster. After not a lot of discussion, Green turned to his wife Ida and asked “Shall we do it?” and she replied “Yes, let’s” — or words to that effect. Building began quickly but trouble was afoot. First the students saw their beloved Osler House about to be converted into a building site and a skillful rebellion was launched by the then

Jim Holt greeting Alumna

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President of Osler House, one Alastair Buchan, who gained considerable influential support on the understandable grounds that no one wanted a medical ghetto. Doll never intended that this should happen once the immediate problem in the school was resolved and that diversification was the ultimate aim, as has come to pass. But one consequence of the fuss was that many in the University and colleges woke up to the fact that they had a significant clinical school amongst them and a noticeably helpful attitude began to prevail.

I remember a telephone call from John Stein at Magdalen to do with a young Canadian Rhodes Scholar called John Bell, a good oarsman, who wanted to stay for his clinical years rather than return to Canada. Was there a place? There wasn’t, the list was closed … but we found one …

It is now nearly 50 years since I came to Oxford and it has been a huge privilege to have been a very tiny part in the development of what is now one of the best and most significant medical schools in the country, and probably in the world.

UK Biobank opened in March 2012 for research into the causes of disease, having amassed one of the most detailed large-scale health resources ever The giant resource provides a snapshot of the health and lifestyles of the nation, with more than 1,000 separate pieces of information already available for half a million Britons. This information will grow further as the volunteers' health is followed over many years and stored samples are analysed.

'This is without doubt a very exciting day for medical research, not just in the UK but around the world,' said Professor Sir Rory Collins UK Biobank’s principal investigator. 'We are grateful to participants for their trust and support so far. But they have not joined the project to see it remain idle; we all want to see the resource used extensively to bring about benefits to health and wellbeing.'

UK Biobank is expected to advance research into the causes, prevention and treatment of a large number of chronic, painful and lifethreatening illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, dementia, depression, arthritis, and eye, bone and muscle disorders. The scale of the project means that among the 500,000 volunteers there were 26,000 people with diabetes, 50,000 with joint disorders, 41,000 teetotallers and 11,000 heart attack patients. This should allow new findings on why some people develop particular diseases in mid-tolater life and others do not, paving the way for new treatment and preventive strategies.

UK Biobank is expected to gain in value for health research, as results of tests on donated samples of blood, urine and saliva are added.

Changes in participants’ health over time will also be recorded using data from electronic records from general practices, hospital statistics, and cancer and death registers. Participants in their forties, fifties and sixties were recruited from Scotland, England and Wales over four years from 2006–2010.

Measures were taken of volunteers' height, weight, body fat, hand grip strength, bone density, lung function and blood pressure, along with information about medical histories and lifestyles. Memory, diet, early life factors and psychosocial events (such as how often people see family and friends) were also recorded. The last 100,000 participants also had hearing, fitness and eye tests. This alone has created the biggest eye study ever. Later this year, UK Biobank will ask some participants to wear an activity monitor for one week, and it has had almost 400,000 responses to an online follow-up diet questionnaire.

An online Data Showcase will allow scientists and the public to see a summary of the information collected so far. Scientists from the UK and overseas will be able to use the resource irrespective of whether they are from academia, industry, charity or are government-funded, subject to checks that the research is health-related and in the public interest.

Go to ww w.ukbiobank.ac.uk for more information.

Only information that does not identify participants will be provided to researchers. Careful checks on applications to use the resource will be carried out by the UK Biobank team, and the independent UK Biobank Ethics & Governance Council also has oversight of the system.

UK Biobank is funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, Department of Health, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the British Heart Foundation.

Professor Rory Collins, (Professor of Epidemiology, Principal Investigator and CEO of the British Biobank)

Professional Networking Event to be held at the Oxford & Cambridge Club, London Annual meeting on 10th October 2012 which focuses on the aspects of medicine beyond the bedside. This year we will be looking at ‘Bench to Bedside — getting new drugs out.’ There will be plenty of chance to discuss the topic after short presentations by our alumni.

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Obituaries ANDREW MARKUS Dr Andrew Markus passed away peacefully at home with his family on Saturday 7 April after a short illness. He will be greatly missed by his many colleagues and friends. Andrew became a fellow of the former Green College at its formation in 1979, was involved in teaching students in the University medical school and also in the pastoral care of students reading subjects other than medicine. He served on various committees of Green College and during his final illness he received many personal accolades from grateful students.

He was born in Budapest into a Jewish family. His father was codirector of a firm of structural engineers involved in large scale projects such as bridges across the Danube. The family came to the UK in 1939 through contacts with the MP for Glossop in Derbyshire. There, together with his uncle, they built up an engineering firm, Ferrostatics.

After a spell at boarding school, Andrew attended Manchester Grammar School and in 1948 won a War Memorial Scholarship to University College Oxford. From there he won a scholarship to University College Hospital in London and became a member of the London College of Physicians.

He spent three years doing his national service at RAF Hospital, Wroughton, having already married Pat, who had been a contemporary at Oxford (St Anne’s).

Andrew decided to go into general practice and came to Thame. He

was always interested and involved in the training of doctors and throughout his life focused on this at several levels. He was involved with Osler House in many ways but particularly through his many benefactions to Osler House for various projects. His practice took medical students, initially from University College Hospital but later exclusively from Oxford.

At the initiation of the Royal College of General Practitioners, he entered into its development with enthusiasm becoming chair of the oral part of the exam. In 1994 he received the prestigious Delancy and De La Hanty Foundation award for essentially being judged the best family practitioner in the country.

With Colin Murray Parkes he wrote Psychological Problems in General Practice for the Oxford University Press and was co-editor of Coping with Loss.

He was much involved in the campaign against the closure of the Thame Cottage Hospital, getting himself elected to Thame Town Council and remained on this for over twenty years, being Mayor for some of the time. He was also a governor of Lord Williams’s School in Thame.

Andrew was very proud of his five children, three of whom were educated at Oxbridge. Amongst his life-long pleasures were music, particularly opera, and he was chair of the Oxford branch of the Friends of the Welsh National Opera for some seventeen years. He was a keen and accomplished photographer winning several competitions both locally and nationally.

IAN COLIN STUART NORMAND (1928—2011) Colin Normand was born in India in 1928 and, aged 5, he returned to England to St Hugh’s prep school with his older brother, Alan. After this they saw their parents only once a year and, during the five years of war, not at all. He won a Scholarship to Winchester College in 1941 and was then awarded a scholarship to Balliol College to read physiology in 1946, subsequently qualifying at St Mary’s Hospital, in 1952. His sporting prowess was considerable, especially in football, captaining his Oxford and London college teams, and in skiing, winning a blue —– just missing a medal in the 1949 British national skiing championship.

During basic paediatric training before his overseas service he first met his future wife, Dr Jean Smellie, but it was not until after National Service in the RAMC in the Far East, when he had returned to London working at UCH, that they met again and married soon after. Together they produced and published much original work on children with urinary tract infection and vesico-uretic reflux. Both of them became eminent and much respected paediatricians, and Colin carried out ground breaking work on fetal lung physiology with Professor Lionel Strang.

Colin was appointed Foundation Professor of Child Health at Southampton University in 1971. Under his guidance the paediatric department was a harmonious and stimulating place to work. He built a well-balanced and respected unit and at the same time was a brilliant clinician. Over the years he became active in almost every

aspect of university administration, and served on many committees and boards in Southampton, regionally and nationally. He was also an examiner and adviser to numerous bodies. He was Deputy Dean to the Faculty of Medicine from 1977 to 1980 and then became Dean of Medicine from 1990 to 1993, during which time he oversaw the incorporation of the schools of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and nursing into the faculty of medicine and worked hard to increase the collaboration between the university and the NHS. During a year as fellow at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore he had worked with Mary Ellen Avery on lung surfactant and during his time at Southampton he continued this work with Professor Tony Postle.

At work he was always approachable, always willing to listen, and he inspired great affection in colleagues, and patients and their parents. He was loved and admired throughout a wide circle of family and friends of all generations. In later life, he continued to ski in his elegant style into his 70s, even after a hip replacement, but other more active sports gradually gave way to rackets and golf, and he loved nothing more than golf and time spent on family holidays in Scotland. He enjoyed art, music, and opera and was able to indulge this appreciation through the musical foundations of both Winchester College and Winchester Cathedral.

Colin died peacefully at his home in Winchester on 19th January 2011, survived by his wife, three children and seven grandchildren.

One grandson predeceased him aged 9.

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OLIVER MURRAY WRONG (1925–2012) Pioneering nephrologist. Born on Feb 7 1925, in Oxford, UK, he died on Feb 24, 2012, in London, UK, aged 87 years.

Oliver Wrong spent a lifetime applying his considerable intellect to an exploration of one of the fundamentals of human physiology: the changing composition of our body fluids, and their consequences for health. In the course of this endeavour his insatiable curiosity led him to study the colon of the camel, and even to invite his own family to swallow sampling devices that allowed him to glean insights into the chemistry of the human intestine. He was still in an early phase of his career when a 1959 Quarterly Journal of Medicine paper on "The excretion of acid in renal disease" marked him out as a man to be watched. "There are specific conditions in which the only kidney defect is that it fails to excrete acid well", says Steve Scheinman, professor of medicine and pharmacology at New York's Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, who first met Wrong in the early 1990s. "As children these individuals don't grow, their nutrition is poor, and their bones become brittle. These are all consequences of the buildup of acid." Wrong's paper described a test to measure the kidney's ability to excrete acid. The test, which relies on administering ammonium chloride and monitoring the removal of the resultant hydrochloric acid, is still in use. The offspring of an Oxford-based family of intellectuals, Wrong studied at the city's Radcliffe Infirmary.

Military service in the Royal Army Medical Corps took him to the Far East. He continued his training in Toronto and at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Here he met and worked with the American physician Alexander Leaf whose own interests in the regulation of body fluids and the renal excretion of salt and water served to confirm these topics as the focus of Wrong's future career.

1954 found him back in the UK as a tutor in medicine at Manchester Royal Infirmary, the setting for the work embodied in the celebrated 1959 paper. Further career moves took him to London's University College Hospital (UCH), to the medical school in at Hammersmith Hospital, to Dundee University as professor of medicine, and finally, in 1972, back to UCH as director of medicine.

It was during his first stint at UCH that he encountered one of his great mentors, Charles Dent, professor of human metabolism. Dent had described and studied two boys with an unusual disorder characterised by rickets in association with hypercalciuria. Intrigued, Oliver identified more families and patients with this condition, which turned out to be caused by an inherited disorder in the proximal renal tubules. He continued the study long after his mentor's death; and when in 1994 he reported in detail on the disorder he named it Dent's disease. "We should actually call it Dent Wrong disease", says Professor Raj Thakker of Oxford's Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine. After all, he points out, Wrong invested even more in its investigation than Dent himself.

This fascination with the disease continued beyond Wrong's retirement and up until his death, by which time his intellectual territory had broadened to include not only the traditional physiological techniques of his earlier years, but newer studies including molecular genetics. He approached Thakker, asking if he could identify the genetic basis of the disorder. The first paper came out in about 1993 when we'd localised it on the X-chromosome", says Thakker. "Then my group worked on it to define what the genetic abnormality actually was." The discovery of the gene for Dent's disease opened up new vistas in nephrology, says Scheinman. "Oliver was always quite modest about his understanding of molecular biology, but in fact he was quite savvy." He was able to cope with this new discipline. it was remarkable the way he'd latch on to things and question them", adds Thakker. "Some of his best papers were after he was retired, because he was free of all other constraints. Moving into a new branch of medicine was, to him, second nature."

Scheinman recalls a day spent travelling with Wrong to collect specimens from some long-standing patients with Dent's disease in their own homes. "There was a respect and affection between him and his patients in both directions", he says. Thakker describes Wrong as a "true renaissance biologist". From birds eggs to mushrooms to seashells, in talking to children as well as adults, he'd looked at the world he lived in, learned about it, and could communicate what he found. Wrong leaves a wife, Marilda, and two daughters, Jessica and Michela.

The Lancet, Volume 379, Issue 9831, Page 2046, 2 June 2012 Geoff Watts

With sadness…

Pete r Andersen b. 1939, matric. Magdalen 1962, q. 1966, d. 3 September 2011 aged 73. Former head of the student health service University College, London, and senior GP partner died after a fall and a cerebral haemorrhage. Peter was born in India, his medical studies were first at University College London and then Oxford University Medical School. After full registration he spent a few years as a medical journalist and editor with Hospital Medicine and Update. He then returned to clinical practice, training as a GP and joining the UCL student health service practice in 1976, where he stayed for the rest of his professional career.

William Ty rrell Barrett (Chiz) b. 1928, matric. Magdalen 1942, q.

1948, d. 11th April 2012 aged 87. Retired Oxford General Practitioner. Beloved husband of Maggie, proud father of Charles,

James, Jill and Kate and doting grandfather of nine.

Christopher William Bartley M.A., D.M., M.D. F.R.C.P. b. 1911 d.

20th June, 2012, at the age of 91. Hon Consulting Physician, St. Thomas' Hospital, Formerly Consultant Physician Lambeth Hospital and the Bolingbroke Hospital. Christopher Bartley joined the staff at Lambeth Hospital in the late 1950's and was a senior member of staff there for many years. On his retirement he began researching into the history of the treatment of the sick of Lambeth from the establishment of the Poor Law system in the 18th century, to the Workhouse infirmary and the modern hospital. Dr Bartley worked directly from archival sources held in record offices & archives including the Lambeth Board of Guardians. He wrote 'Lambeth Poor Law and Workhouse Infirmary, 1552–1878 — a study in the evolution of the National Health Service'.

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John Burke b. 1922, q. 1951, Harvard Medical School, died on 2 November 2011 from pancreatic cancer. Visiting professor and scholar at Balliol College 1990–91.

John Gask b. March 1915, matric. Trinity 1933, q. 1939, d. 7th February 2012 aged 96.

John Campbell MacDonald matric.1960 q. 1967, d. 21 February 2012 aged 70, after a struggle with cancer. A retired cardiologist, he was a strong and good friend of the Cardiac Inherited Disease Group in New Zealand, helping to investigate families with inherited heart disease, and families with a victim of sudden death at a young age. Even as a senior physician he was interested in and stimulated by the new developments in this field. His very British and very dry sense of humour will be sorely missed. CIDG members offer sincere sympathy to John's family, friends and close colleagues in Palmerston North.

Stephen McGow an b. 1965; matric. Magdalen 1984, q. 1990. Died March 2011, aged 46 after a fall. Former consultant in general adult psychiatry at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr McGowan won a scholarship from school in Newcastle to read medicine at Magdalen and entered the Oxford senior house officer scheme in psychiatry, followed by a Medical Research Council clinical training fellowship in neuroimaging in schizophrenia at the cyclotron unit at the Hammersmith Hospital, London, as a member of Paul Grasby’s team. He completed his training by joining the Bethlem and Maudsley senior registrar rotation. Stephen was lucky to survive a nearly fatal skiing accident in the Alps, from which he made a full recovery. In 2003 he was appointed as a consultant psychiatrist in Lambeth, where he held a combined inpatient and community post in the adult service. Stephen was much appreciated by his patients, students, and trainees; his colleagues remember his great sense of humour and enjoyment of life as well as his commitment to work and willingness to give time to others.

Matthias Paneth, (universally known as MP), b. 30th April 1921, matric. Christ Church 1940; d. 1 September 2011, aged 90, after a brief illness. Former cardio thoracic surgeon. He was born in Amsterdam where his father, a doctor, was on a course in tropical medicine. The family then departed to Sumatra where Paneth senior was Medical Officer to a Dutch rubber plantation. MP was sent to Gordonstoun School, and then went up to Christ Church, to read Medicine.. On completion of his undergraduate training he served short stints as a houseman and senior house officer at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, the Royal Cancer Hospital and the Hammersmith Hospital. On moving to the Brompton Hospital he was house surgeon to Lord Russell Brock and Oswald Tubbs. For almost 30 years he strode the corridors and wards of the Brompton as an intellectual and professional giant. Matthias Paneth leaves behind his wife Shirley, daughters Claire and Sarah and two grandsons. In addition, countless numbers of cardiothoracic surgeons who were trained by him over the years owe a great debt of gratitude and consider it a privilege to have known him.

reader in physiology St George’s Medical School, London, drowned while swimming in the sea in Croatia. Paul was one of the original academic staff, appointed in 1976, to the newly built medical school of St George’s. He was a respiratory physiologist whose research centred on mucus secretion from the airways. He developed avian and mammalian models to study this and introduced his techniques to many research students. He was on the editorial board of the Journal of Physiology from 1974 to 1978. He was an excellent lecturer, and being a man of patience and kindness, always had time to help those who asked. He was a good listener and a loyal friend. He leaves a wife, Susan, and four children (Giles, Alice, Adam, and Hannah) by his first wife, Hazel.

Cyril Geoffrey Arthur Thomas b. 1924, matric. Balliol 1942, q.

1948, MA, FRCP, FRCPath, d. 17 January 2012 aged 87. Former consultant microbiologist, Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals .Cyril Thomas became a medical student at Balliol College in 1942. Most of the students were there for only a few months before being drafted into the armed forces, and the remainder were mainly engaged in secret wartime activities. His own career at Oxford included exploring the roofs of Oxford with Tom Bourdillon (who, according to plan, should have been the first man to conquer Mount Everest), to making up a four man Balliol crew to take a full sized Oxford punt through the Carfax drain. He qualified in 1948, the first year of the NHS. In 1949, he married Dr Barbara Porritt, their best man was fellow student, Oliver Smithies, who shared the Nobel prize for medicine in 2007 for his work on genetics. He retired in 1988 and devoted most of his time to his three main interests: medical education, travel by train, and his pet tortoises. In 2003 he was delighted to see his initials “CGAT” on the new (2003) £2 coin, celebrating the discovery of the structure of the double helix of DNA 50 years earlier. He leaves his beloved wife Barbara, a retired anaesthetist (whom he always called “Porritt”); a son and daughter; and four grandchildren. His other daughter, Elizabeth, predeceased him.

Derek Randal Richard b. 1924, matric. Worcester 1943, q. BM BCh 1949, died 3rd January 2012, aged 88.

Antony John Wing b. 2nd May 1933, m. Lincoln and St. Thomas’s Hospital Medical School q. BM BCh 1958 d. 13 January 2012. In his final undergraduate year he had the good fortune to be an eye witness in May 1954 when Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile in Oxford. A gifted sportsman at both cricket and rugby, he was captain of rugby, winning the Hospitals Cup. In 1964 he was posted to RAF Halton for six months, it was at Halton that Tony began his lifelong commitment to nephrology. His Oxford DM thesis was based on work done in the dialysis unit on calcium fluxes in order to determine the most appropriate concentration of dialysate calcium. He devoted the next 24 years to developing and maintaining the renal unit at Lambeth and St. Thomas’s Hospitals. He gave prolonged and innovative service to the ERAEDTA Regi stry from 1974 to 1986, Chairman from 1976 to 1983.

For ten years he was a key figure internationally providing reliable and incisive analysis of regular dialysis and transplantation throughout Europe. Throughout his career as an academic nephrologist, Tony remained above all a clinician. In 1994, towards the end of his career, he was invited to move to St George’s Hospital Tooting, only a few miles south of St Thomas’s, to spearhead the development of a new academic renal unit; this he achieved with great skill and hard work. He retired in 1997.

Tony was a charming and thoughtful man, who had about him a real and winning humility.

Paul Sebastian Richardson b. 1942, matric. New College 1962, q.

BM BCH 1968, DM 1974, d. 11 October 2011, aged 69. Former

M artine Geoffrey Malcolm Venables b. 1922, m. Magdalen 1941, q BM BCh 1948, d. 2012 General Practitioner, Belper, Derbyshire.

Thomas Wentw orth Price b. 1912, matric Keble 1939, q. BM BCh 1945, d. 12 April 2012 aged 92.

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Alumni Weekend 14 – 16 September 2012 The Oxford Medical Alumni – Osler Discussion "End of Life: Should Physician-Assisted Dying be Legalised?"

Saturday 15 September 2012 This year in a change to the usual pattern, as part of the University Alumni Weekend, Bishop Harries of Pentregarth, Baroness Ilora Finlay, Baroness Mary Warnock and Sir Terence English, will discuss the complex issues surrounding this matter. Their discussion will be moderated by Sir Anthony Kenny.

OMA has a limited number of tickets for the discussion which also include the Osler 2012 drinks reception where you will be able to continue the discussion with the speakers.

Booking NOW open

The Commission on Assisted Dying, chaired by the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, said “the choice to end their own lives could be safely offered to some people with terminal illnesses, provided stringent safeguards were observed.” Opponents of reform argue that the Crown Prosecution Service policy goes far enough. They claim that “There isn’t a route to ‘safely’ offer a choice of assisted dying to people, whatever the criteria.”

The OMA Osler discussion is the centrepiece of the 2012 Alumni Weekend and will take place in the Sheldonian Theatre.

Tickets for this discussion will also entitle you to attend the OMA drinks reception afterwards when you are able to continue the discussion with the speakers.

(Please note that a ticket for this event does not entitle you to attend any of the other activities in the Alumni Weekend programme. You must book separately to do this through the Alumni Weekend website www.alumni.ox.ac.uk) How to book To attend only the OMA Osler Discussion book online by Friday 31 August at www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/oma We recommend you book early, as OMA designated tickets are limited to 150 To attend other parts of the Alumni Weekend you must book at www.alumniweekend.ox.ac.uk by Friday 31 August.

You will receive a booking confirmation as soon as your registration has been processed and final event details will be sent in early September.

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2012 Reunions Contacting OMA Address: Oxford Medical Alumni Medical Sciences Office John Radcliffe Hospital Oxford OX3 9DU Email: jayne.todd@medsci.ox.ac.uk Website: www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/oma Enquiries: 01865 221690 Fax: 01865 750750

Friday 14th September 2012 40th Anniversary Reunion for those who qualified BM BCh in 1972 This will comprise a visit to Osler House in the afternoon. For those who recall their time at the ‘old’ Osler House this will be an opportunity to see the new building on the site of the John Radcliffe Hospital, and to hear about developments in Oxford medicine. In the evening there will be a 40th Anniversary Reunion in college. Personal invitations were sent by post and email in June. Book online at www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/oma

Friday 14th September 2012 25th Anniversary Reunion for those who qualified BM BCh in 1987 There will be a reunion dinner to be held in college to mark the 25th anniversary for those who qualified BM BCh in 1987.

Personal invitations were sent by post and email in June.

Book online at www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/oma

Further information about the Oxford Medical Alumni – Osler Discussion inside the back page

Alumni Weekend 14 – 16 September 2012 Oxford Medical Alumni — Osler Discussion 2012 End of Life: Should Physician-Assisted Dying be Legalised?

A moderated discussion between • Sir Terence English with Baroness Mary Warnock FOR • Baron Harries of Pentregarth with Baroness Ilora Finlay AGAINST Moderated by Sir Anthony Kenny. Saturday 15th September 2012 at 4.15pm in the Sheldonian Theatre

2013 REUNIONS – advance notification Saturday 13th April 2013 Qualifiers of 1988 A Reunion for those who qualified BM BCh 25 years ago will take place as part of the Oxford Medical Alumni Annual Meeting. Partners are most welcome. Invitations will be sent by email and post to those for whom we have contact details.

Saturday 25th May 2013 Qualifiers of 2003 A Reunion and Family Tea Party for those who qualified BM BCh 10 years ago.

More information on OMA events can be found at www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/oma/events

—k— Information on Oxford University alumni events can be found at www.alumni.ox.ac.uk

The tea party will take place at Osler House in the afternoon. There will be a formal dinner in Oxford in the evening.

Partners and children are most welcome. Invitations will be sent by email to those for whom we have contact details.

Saturday 5th July 2013 Qualifiers of 2011 A Reunion for those who qualified BM BCh 2 years ago which will comprise a BBQ and bop will take place at Osler House. Invitations will be sent by email to those for whom we have contact details.

Saturday 21st September 2013 Qualifiers of 1973 A Reunion for those who qualified BM BCh 40 or more years ago will take place during the annual University Alumni Weekend in September 2013. Partners and guests are most welcome.

Further information about OMA Events and Reunions can be found at w w w.m e d sci.o x .ac.uk /om a/e v e nt s Oxford Medicine is produced by the Medical Informatics Unit, NDCLS, University of Oxford. Telephone +44 (0)1865 222746.

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