Mike Rawlins was a highly intelligent and greatly admired clinical pharmacologist, and a lifelong champion of evidence-based medicine. The chair of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for 14 years, professor of clinical pharmacology at Newcastle University for 33 years, president of the Royal Society of Medicine from 2012 to 2014, Mike was knighted in 1999 and chosen to give the RCP’s most prestigious annual lecture, the Harveian Oration in 2008. Michael David Rawlins was born on 28 March 1941 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, the first of two sons of the Rev Jack Rawlins, vicar of Holy Trinity, Northwood, in Stoke-on-Trent, and his wife, Evelyn (née Douglas-Hamilton), a nurse. When he was only five his father died, and 10 years later his mother married Hedley Boardman, a GP in Melbourne, Derbyshire, who was extremely supportive of his stepson’s career. Michael attended Uppingham school, in Rutland, where he enjoyed biology, applying to read medicine at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, where his mother had trained. As a student he spent much of his time putting on operas and conducting an orchestra – he played a number of instruments including the piano, violin and viola, and in addition to playing, had an interest in their construction. He trained in clinical pharmacology and general medicine at the Hammersmith hospital, while beginning a parallel career in research. While at medical school, in 1963 he married Elizabeth Cadbury (née Hambly), a ‘Nightingale’ nurse (ie ex-St Thomas’ Hospital) whose father was a surgeon. They had three daughters and divorced in 2005. In 1973 he was appointed as consultant clinical pharmacologist at the Newcastle upon Tyne NHS trust and the Ruth and Lionel Jacobson professor of clinical pharmacology at Newcastle University. He stayed there for 33 years, setting up a unit to treat drug overdoses and conducting research. Among many honorary degrees and other honours, he was knighted in 1999 and promoted to GBE in 2017. In 2008 he was chosen to give the RCP’s most prestigious annual lecture, the Harveian Oration. ‘De Testimonio: on the evidence for decisions about the use of therapeutic interventions’ was based on Mike’s view ‘that evidence can be reliably or usefully placed in ‘hierarchies’ is illusory. Rather, decision makers need to exercise judgement about whether (and when) evidence gathered from experimental or observational sources is fit for purpose.’ Mike chaired the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for 14 years, providing evidence-based recommendations developed by independent committees, including professionals and lay members, and consulted on by stakeholders. At the time of its inception during the early years of Tony Blair’s government, minister of health Frank Dobson didn’t give it much chance of success. However, more than 20 years on, thanks in no small part to Mike’s leadership, the organisation has more than 700 employees and is now accepted nationally and internationally as an important and impartial empirical evaluator of the welter of new medications that continue to appear, often with hyperbolic claims about their effectiveness. I first encountered the impressive and unforgettable Professor Sir Michael Rawlins at the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) where he was one of my predecessors as president. He projected a restless energy and an extremely engaging enthusiasm: a man who got things done. His major strength was his decisive, yet always inclusive, manner – something that was helpful as he chaired the board of the RSM between 2012 and 2014. These characteristics were illustrated in the way he appointed Andrew Dillon as chief executive of the recently formed National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) in 1999. According to board member Dame Professor Parveen Kumar, Mike, as Chairman, told the newly appointed board members that he had identified a suitable candidate, who was at the time CEO of St George’s NHS Healthcare Trust, and who was waiting outside the room. He gave them only 10 minutes to agree to his recommended appointment, which they duly did. Andrew Dillon went on to lead the organisation for the next 20 years before handing over to his deputy, Professor Gillian Leng CBE, who is currently our Dean at the RSM. A typical academic clinician, there was an eccentricity about his clothing, and as a lifetime heavy smoker he had a distinct whiff of tobacco smoke about him. He drove a series of characteristically battered cars, more often than not with dislocated wing mirrors dangling perilously. True to form to the end, as the ambulance arrived to take him to hospital for the last time, he was taken from his home on a stretcher with a cigar in his mouth and a tumbler of whiskey in his hand! Michael was a devoted father to his three daughters, Vicky, Lucy and Suzannah; his eight grandchildren, Laura, Emily, Annie, Lottie, Tilly, Alfie, Sam and Daisy; and his great granddaughter Flossie. He was loved by them dearly and was a constant in each of their lives.