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

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

Educated at McGill University, Montreal, graduating in 1931, he came to London for postgraduate study at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and took the Fellowship in 1939. He served throughout the war of 1939-45, reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Returning to Canada he was appointed associate sur

James William Hinton was born in Reedville, Virginia, in 1894 and attended the University of Virginia where he graduated MD in 1919. He then went to the Postgraduate Hospital in New York for his surgical training and was later appointed to the consultant staff at the hospital, and at the Bellevue Ho

Owen Harding Wangensteen, the son of a farmer, was born at Lake Park, Minnesota, USA, on 21 September 1885. He always wanted to become a farmer and was fond of relating how he decided to become a doctor instead. When he was a high school junior, he had the opportunity to help fifty of his father's s

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

Born on 1 October 1894 at Bishopstoke, Hampshire, son of Dr Henry James Bailey MB, MS (Edin). He was educated at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate and then entered the London Hospital Medical College. His studies were interrupted by the first world war and whilst serving as a dresser with the first Belg

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

Barry Shandling was born in South Africa on 20 February 1928 and graduated in medicine from the University of Cape Town in 1950. While he was in training he was inspired by the surgeons Christian Barnard and Jannie Louw. On travelling to the UK he did house jobs at the Hospital for Sick Children, Gr

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

Joel Wilson Baker was chair of the department of surgery at Virginia Mason Hospital and Medical Center, Seattle, USA. He was born in Shenandoah, Virginia, in 1905 and studied medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, qualifying MD in 1928. He moved to Seattle in 1930 to join a group

Jim Thompson was an outstanding surgical scientist and educator, arguably without parallel in the latter half of the 20th century. His publications, almost all relating to gastrointestinal physiology, totalled nearly 1,000; he trained 131 research fellows and was the recipient of 265 visiting profes