Sir Robert Shields enjoyed a distinguished career in surgery and in academic and health service administration. He was professor of surgery and chairman of the department of surgery and honorary consultant to the Royal Liverpool University and Broadgreen hospitals from 1969 to 1996. His unit was int

Roger James was a general surgeon who lived and worked in Canada. He qualified from the University of Sheffield in 1953 and passed the fellowship in 1960. He moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba where he was on the staff of the Misericordia General and Victoria General Hospitals. He died on 18 January 2007.

Murray Pheils was professor of surgery at the University of Sydney. He was born in Birmingham on 2 December 1917, the younger of the two sons of Elmer Theodore Pheils, an osteopath, and Lilian Mary née Cole. His father Elmer was a colourful character: he was born in Toledo, Ohio, and trained as an o

Claude Organ was a distinguished American surgeon and the second African-American President of the American College of Surgeons. He was born in 1927 in Marshall, Texas, and educated at Terrell High School, Denison, and then Xavier University, Louisiana. Denied acceptance to the University of Texas o

Lloyd Nyhus was the first Warren Cole professor and head of surgery, and the second academic surgeon, at the University of Illinois, Chicago. During his 22 years as head of the department, Nyhus developed innovative, multidisciplinary residency programmes for more than 300 doctors and recruited top-

Born 12 January 1862 at Westport, Connecticut, the eldest son of Horace Bradley Coley, farmer, and Clarine Bradley Wakeman, his wife. He was educated at Westport School, at Yale University (1880) and at the Harvard Medical School (1886-88). He acted as instructor in surgery at the New York Postgradu

Lloyd Douglas MacLean was professor of surgery at McGill University and chief of surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was born on 15 June 1924 in Calgary, Alberta, the son of Wilfred and Azilda MacLean. He studied at the University of Alberta on scholarships, graduati

Peter Catts was a general surgeon in New South Wales, Australia. He was born in Sydney, New South Wales on 12 April 1940, the son of Stanley Victor Catts and Vera Jean Catts née Reynolds. He went to the UK for surgical training and gained his FRCS in 1967. He then returned to Australia, where h

Albrecht F. W. Encke was born on 24 June 1935 in Remscheid, Germany. His father was a psychiatrist and his mother’s father and maternal grandfather were GPs. He studied medicine at the universities of Freiburg, Tubingen, Vienna and Cologne. After qualifying in Cologne in 1961, he spent a year at the

Walter Campbell MacKenzie was born in 1909 in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. He went to school in Sydney and Baddeck and to Dalhousie University. He graduated BSc in 1929, MD, ChM in 1933 and was awarded the Malcolm Honour Society Medal as the outstanding graduate in his year. He was a resident at the Roya

Duncan Stout was not deterred by having a famous father, Sir Robert, who became Chief Justice of New Zealand, Chancellor of the University and Prime Minister. In his own time he too achieved eminence in New Zealand, becoming Chairman of Council of Victoria University, Wellington and subsequently Cha

Jacques Turcot came from a Canadian family with a long medical tradition. He was Associate Professor of Surgery at Laval University, where he had trained at the medical school. He gained a great reputation for his work as a skilful general surgeon at L'Hôtel-Dieu de Quebec, especially for his long-t