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Resource Name:
Resource Type:
External Resource
Metadata
Asset Name:
E009260 - Fearon, Kenneth Christopher Howard (1960 - 2016)
Title:
Fearon, Kenneth Christopher Howard (1960 - 2016)
Author:
Olle Ljungqvist
Identifier:
RCS: E009260
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2016-10-27

2017-06-20
Contributor:
Richard J E Skipworth

Dileep N Lobo
Description:
Obituary for Fearon, Kenneth Christopher Howard (1960 - 2016), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Fearon, Kenneth Christopher Howard
Date of Birth:
3 August 1960
Place of Birth:
Glasgow
Date of Death:
3 September 2016
Place of Death:
Edinburgh
Titles/Qualifications:
MB ChB Glasgow 1982

MD 1987

FRCS Glasg 1988

FRCS Edin 1996

FRCS 1997

Hon MD Örebro 2015
Details:
Kenneth Christopher Howard (Ken) Fearon was professor of surgical oncology at the University of Edinburgh. He was born in Glasgow on 3 August 1960. He attended St Aloysius' College in Glasgow and studied medicine at the University of Glasgow. He was an exceptional student and graduated with honours in 1982. He was awarded the prestigious Brunton Memorial prize during the MB ChB course. He then trained in Glasgow and Edinburgh under the tutelage of luminaries like Sir Kenneth Calman and Sir David Carter. He developed an interest in surgical oncology early in his career and was awarded an MD by the University of Glasgow in 1986 for his thesis 'Mechanisms and treatment of weight loss in cancer'. He obtained a fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 1988 and was awarded *ad eundem* fellowships of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and England in 1996 and 1997 respectively. Ken was appointed as a lecturer in surgery at Edinburgh University in 1988, promoted to senior lecturer in 1993 and to professor in 1999. He was an honorary consultant colorectal surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh. Ken was a busy clinician who loved treating his patients. He was a consummate colorectal surgeon with a longstanding interest and expertise in surgical nutrition. He kept pace with technical advances in surgery throughout his career, and remained a key member of the colorectal surgical team who continued to fulfill his on-call commitments. Ken had an insatiable desire for depth of general knowledge and this mirrored in his approach to surgical research. His clinical research focused on cancer cachexia, nutritional pharmacology, enhanced recovery after surgery and improving surgical outcomes. He was a true translational scientist and clinical researcher, and a great driver of ideas from bench to bedside and patient benefit. He supervised numerous MD and PhD theses, and had over 300 publications in peer-reviewed journals, including *The New England Journal of Medicine*, *Nature* and *Lancet Oncology*. He had an extraordinary talent for surgical research, with a brilliant mind that remained concentrated on recognising clinical problems, formulating hypotheses and seeking solutions. He had the capacity to ask the right questions and also the stamina and stubbornness to answer them, often through large, complicated clinical trials. Starting with his MD thesis, Ken worked on cancer cachexia research for over 30 years. He published extensively on muscle metabolism, muscle function and systemic inflammation in cancer, making him the most longstanding, most prolific and most cited researcher in clinical cachexia. Ken was a tireless advocate for progressing cancer cachexia therapies into the clinic and completed several early international randomised clinical trials, without the support of cooperative groups or pharmaceutical companies. When he saw a need to identify and treat patients early and before dramatic weight loss, Ken initiated exciting work to discover early cachexia biomarkers. He was lead author of 'Definition and classification of cancer cachexia: an international consensus' (*Lancet Oncol.* May;12[5]:489-95), a landmark paper providing a road map for clinical classification and management. With Olle Ljungqvist from Sweden, he formed the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) study group in 2001, a group that served as a forerunner of the worldwide ERAS Society in 2010. As the chairman of the board of the ERAS Society, Ken was instrumental in formulating highly cited guidelines for enhanced recovery after surgery, successfully encouraging great success in collaboration, and spreading key messages that have improved outcomes for patients, reduced complications and assisted faster recovery in several surgical disciplines. During his career, Ken was the recipient of numerous honours and awards, including the Cuthbertson award of the Nutrition Society in 1991 and the James IV Association of Surgeons travellers' award in 1997. He was elected a member of the James IV Association of Surgeons (in 2000) and was president of the International Association for Surgical Nutrition and Metabolism (from 2005 to 2007). He had served as an examiner for the Intercollegiate Specialty Board in General Surgery and was a chair of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh's research board, its ophthalmology sub-committee and the Lorna Smith Charitable Trust committee. He was a member of the National Cancer Research Institute's palliative care cachexia sub-group and the Scottish Home Parenteral Nutrition Managed Clinical Network's executive committee. He was a board member of the Society on Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Disorders and received its Hippocrates award in 2009. He was honoured by the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism with the Wretlind lecture in 2011, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Örebro University in Sweden in 2015. Ken was a brilliant speaker and a superb debater, didactic, but with a wry sense of humour, and in great demand nationally and internationally. His integrity and humanity shone through all of his activities and when speaking in public he held his audience with his engagement and directness. He was a much-loved teacher of undergraduates and postgraduates. Above all, Ken was a family man and his greatest treasures were his wife, Marie Fallon, and their two children, Christopher and Katie. Marie holds the St Columba's Hospice chair of palliative medicine at the University of Edinburgh and is an honorary consultant in palliative care at the Western General. They had a thriving personal and professional partnership, and friends, colleagues and collaborators were always made welcome in their home. Ken enjoyed gourmet cooking and fine wine, and was a keen golfer. He was an avid art collector and could enthral friends and acquaintances with animated discussions on art, music, cooking and wine. Despite his achievements, he remained down to earth and his humility was remarkable. Ken passed away suddenly on 3 September 2016 in Edinburgh aged only 56. It is with great sadness that we face the loss of a very close friend, a great mind and an outstanding clinical and academic leader. All those who knew him will miss his camaraderie, collaboration and friendship, as well as the joy of his lively and spiritual company. Ken was a giant in his field and a role model in medicine and biomedical science. His contributions will remain a lasting legacy for his colleagues and patients.
Sources:
*The Herald* 16 September 2016 www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/14746676.Obituary___Kenneth_Fearon__professor_of_surgical_oncology/ - accessed 6 June 2017

*The Scotsman* 27 September 2016 www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-professor-ken-fearon-cancer-specialist-1-4240871 - accessed 6 June 2017

The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Obituary - Professor Kenneth Fearon www.rcsed.ac.uk/news-public-affairs/news/2016/september/obituary-professor-kenneth-fearon - accessed 6 June 2017

*Cell Metabolism* 24 December 13, 2016 765-6 www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/pdf/S1550-4131(16)30589-7.pdf - accessed 6 June 2017

*Clinical Nutrition* Vol.36 (1) Feb 2017 pp.5-6 www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261561416312808 - accessed 6 June 2017

*J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle*. 2017 Feb 8(1): 3-4 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5326815/ - accessed 6 June 2017
Rights:
Copyright (c) The Royal College of Surgeons of England
Collection:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format:
Obituary
Format:
Asset
Asset Path:
Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009200-E009299
Media Type:
Unknown