Search Results for Medical Obituaries - Narrowed by: Breast Surgeon

First Title value, for Searching Péley, Gábor (1961 - 2016)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Simon Pain
Publication Date 2016-10-27 2017-11-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009200-E009299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381449381449
Occupation Breast Surgeon Endocrine surgeon
Details Gábor Péley was a consultant breast surgeon at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. He was born on 24 March 1961 in Hungary, and studied medicine at Szegad before completing his training in Budapest. He worked in the department of surgical oncology in Budapest, where he helped pioneer the use of sentinel lymph node biopsy for breast cancer. He moved to the UK in 2006 to join the team at the breast surgery unit, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. Here he helped introduce the technique of tumour localisation using radioactive isotopes. He also participated in a large number of research projects. He gained his FRCS in 2010. Gábor Péley died on 9 September 2016 at the age of 55. He was survived by his wife, daughter and son.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009266
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Safar, Samie Bashir (1943 - 2014)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2014-08-15 2016-10-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005800-E005899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378012378012
Occupation Breast Surgeon General surgeon
Details Samie Bashir Safar was a professor of surgery at the University of Baghdad. He was born in Mosul, Iraq, on 2 February 1943, the son of Bashir Safar, a pharmacist, and Sabria Safar née Al-Aswad. He studied medicine at Mosul Medical School, which at that time was part of Baghdad University, and qualified in 1964. After resident posts in Mosul, he went to the UK for further training and gained fellowships from the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of England, Edinburgh and Glasgow. In 1975 he returned to Iraq, where he was appointed as a consultant surgeon at the main teaching hospital in Baghdad and as an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Baghdad. His research interests included hydatid disease and endocrine tumours, especially of the parathyroids. He was subsequently appointed professor of surgery. In 2000 he returned to the UK and worked as a locum general and breast surgeon in Norfolk, Harlow, Newham and Medway until 2010. Outside medicine he was an expert violinist and oud player. In 1972 he married Evelyn Mackasha, who was also a doctor. They had a son (a colorectal surgeon), a daughter and four grandsons. Samie Bashir Safar died on 27 May 2014 from metastatic prostatic carcinoma. He was 71.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005829
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Chare, Michael John Bruton (1945 - 2013)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2013-11-08 2015-11-20
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004600-E004699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376794376794
Occupation Breast Surgeon General surgeon
Details Michael Chare was a consultant surgeon at Neath, Baglan, Morriston and Singleton hospitals. He was born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, the second son of Ernest John Bruton, an engineer, and Marjorie Bruton née Briars. He was educated at Warwick School, where he boarded from the age of seven and was a keen sportsman, and went on to study medicine at Pembroke College, Oxford, and St Mary's Hospital Medical School, where he won the Wallace Memorial prize in microbiology. He qualified MB BCh in 1959. He held junior posts at St Mary's under William Tait Irvine and at Portsmouth and Sheffield. He was then on a registrar rotation at the University of Wales, Cardiff, where he developed an interest in breast surgery. In 1983 he was appointed as a consultant general surgeon at Neath Hospital, and went on to lead the development of West Glamorgan's specialist breast service at Singleton Hospital. Outside medicine he was interested in photography, music, squash and rugby. Michael Chare died on 3 August 2013 from colon cancer. He was 68. He was survived by his wife Sian, his children Christopher and Peter, stepchildren Victoria and Nikki, and his grandson Joseph.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004611
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Sacks, Nigel Philip Michael (1957 - 2017)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Christobel Saunders
Publication Date 2017-11-02 2018-01-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009300-E009399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381547381547
Occupation Breast Surgeon General surgeon
Details Nigel Sacks FRACS, FRCS (Eng Hon), FACS died Friday 7 July in Melbourne. Nigel was a member of BreastSurgANZ and a Consultant Breast and Oncoplastic Surgeon at Maroondah Breast Clinic and Eastern Health, and Senior Lecturer at Monash and Deakin Universities. He was also my friend and teacher for more than 25 years and I will miss him dreadfully. A University of Melbourne graduate (1980), Nigel trained in surgery first at the Royal Melbourne and later in the UK in Nottingham, Oxford and Guilford. He was appointed consultant surgeon to the Royal Marsden Hospital in 1990 at age only 33, which is where I first met him. His extraordinary surgical skills, sharp brain, love of art and great love of life made him an ideal teacher of us young surgeons (well only just younger than him!). Nigel was a great innovator being one of the first to adopt reconstructive surgery and in 1997 sentinel node biopsy. I have just done a therapeutic reduction mammoplasty this morning in Perth - a procedure Nigel taught me back in the early 1990's. Nigel spent nine months in Pakistan in 2008 setting up breast services at the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital founded by Imran Khan, and during that time walked to K2 - a journey my son is setting out on actually today amazingly, after advice from Nigel. Nigel then returned to Australia in 2010, first to Adelaide, then in 2013 back to Melbourne. He re-met and married the love of his life Prof June Corry. Nigel leaves three beautiful daughters in the UK, and our heartfelt condolences go out to all of his family and friends.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009364
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Blaxland, Peter Dudley (1920 - 2007)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2015-06-12 2017-12-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007400-E007499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379636379636
Occupation Breast Surgeon General surgeon
Details Peter Dudley Blaxland was a general surgeon in Sydney, Australia and a distinguished sportsman. He was born in Broke, a small village in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales on 15 December 1920, the son of Arthur Dudley Blaxland, a grazier, and Beryl Blaxland née Moses. He was a direct descendent of John Blaxland, whose brother Gregory helped forge a passage over the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, in 1813. He was educated at Broughton College, Newcastle, and then boarded at Sydney Church of England Grammar School. He studied medicine at Sydney University and qualified in 1943. In 1944, he joined the Royal Australian Navy. He was posted to Darwin for a year, as a lieutenant commander, and served on HMAS *Vendetta* and HMAS *Rushcutter*. He later travelled to Antarctica as a medical officer on board LST 3501, later known as HMAS *Labuan*. This sparked an interest in Antarctica - he later took part in an Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition to establish research stations at Heard and Macquarie islands. He remained on the Australian Navy reserve list as a consultant until his retirement. Following his demobilisation, Blaxland went to the UK to train as a surgeon. He worked at St Mary Abbot's Hospital in London and gained his FRCS in 1952. In 1955, he returned to Australia and set up practice as a general surgeon in Sydney. He held a number of honorary and visiting consultant positions, at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Fairfield Hospital (where he was chairman of the medical staff council and the department of surgery), Prince Henry Hospital, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, the Eastern Suburbs Hospital, the Prince of Wales Special Cancer Unit and Sydney Square Diagnostic Breast Clinic. He was a tutor in surgery at Sydney University. He retired in 2000. In 1962, he became a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, where he was a foundation member of the section of hand surgery. He was also an outstanding sportsman. He was president of the Australian Ski Federation and represented the Australian Olympic Committee as chef de mission at the Winter Olympics at Innsbruck in 1964 and at Grenoble, France in 1968. He represented Australia in 18 world Tornado sailing championships, won the open B-class catamaran world championships at Lake Macquarie in 1968 and was reserve to the Australian Olympic sailing team in Montreal, Canada, in 1976. He was president of the Australian International Tornado Association for 25 years from 1969. In 1955, he married Anna Schulthess, a Swiss national he had met while on a skiing holiday in Austria. She died in 1998. They had no children. Peter Dudley Blaxland died on 23 June 2007. He was 86.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007453
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Jessiman, Andrew Gatson (1924 - 2017)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2018-02-26 2020-11-17
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009400-E009499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381824381824
Occupation Breast Surgeon
Details Andrew Gaston Jessiman was a surgeon and hospital administrator at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston. He was also assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. Born in London on 13 January 1949, he was the son of George Gaston Jessiman, a stockbroker on the London Stock Exchange, and his wife, Muriel Hilda Gwendolin née Hannen. His maternal great grandfather was Sir Morrell Mackenzie, the distinguished ENT surgeon who founded what was then known as the Hospital for Diseases of the Throat in 1868. In the same year he had been called upon to treat the Emperor Frederick III of Germany who was suffering from carcinoma of the throat. Andrew was educated at Stowe School in Buckingham from 1937 and went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1941. He trained at the Westminster Hospital Medical School where he was a scholar in anatomy and physiology and graduated MB, BChir in 1946. In 1947 he became surgical house officer to Sir Stanford Cade and Robert Cox at the Westminster Hospital. From 1948 to 1950 he served with the Royal Air Force as a surgeon with the rank of squadron leader and returned to the Westminster as registrar to his previous mentors. During the four years he spent there he also spent a year as a research fellow at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Harvard Medical School from 1950 to 1951. He had passed the fellowship of the college in 1949. Moving to the USA, he held various surgical appointments from 1954 to 1964, firstly at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and Harvard Medical School and also later at the University of Virginia Medical School. His career was abruptly halted by a serious illness and he transferred to work as an administrator at the Peter Bent Brigham. Identifying the late sixties as a period of great social change in the States, he began to assess the role of the teaching hospital in the provision of health care to the surrounding community and studied for a masters degree in public health at the Harvard School of Public Health. For the last 25 years of his professional career he carried out increasingly responsible administrative jobs. He worked with local community leaders to initiate programmes that brought health care out of the parent hospital into the community and set up neighbourhood health centres. In 1980 the Peter Bent Brigham merged with two other hospitals to become the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which was affiliated with the Harvard Medical School. By the time he retired in 2002 he was the vice-president for the clinical and diagnostic service. An accomplished fly fisherman, he spent his summers in Scourie, Scotland where he had a holiday home. With his sons he enjoyed fishing excursions around the world such as for salmon in Iceland, brown trout in Patagonia and rainbow trout in Alaska. A keen gardener, his garden at home in Nantucket won several awards and he was a renowned cook having had lessons at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Some of his recipes appeared in a family recipe book that he wrote. Both he and his wife loved all forms of travel from cruises to African safaris. He was a member of the Harvard Club of Boston, the Flyfisher’s Club of Great Britain, and the Nantucket Yacht Club. He met his wife, Joan née Macintosh of Cleveland, Ohio, when he was at Harvard Medical School and they married on 16 April 1956. They had three sons: Alistair (born 30 September 1957), Hugh Gaston (born 30 September 1958) and Thomas Anthony (born 13 May 1960). When he died on 24 November 2017 aged 93, he was survived by his wife, son Alistair and his wife Deborah, son Hugh and his wife Gray, son Thomas and nine grandchildren Hugh, Andrew, Margaret, Jane, Joan, Nigel, Cooper, Jack and Tyler.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009420
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching George, Phyllis Ann (1925 - 2017)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Lionel Gracey
Publication Date 2017-04-21 2018-11-21
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009300-E009399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381515381515
Occupation Breast Surgeon General surgeon Thyroid surgeon
Details Phyllis George was a consultant general surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital, London and the first woman to be elected as vice president of the Royal College of Surgeons. She was born in Sedgley, Staffordshire on 18 February 1925, but, though she later travelled widely, she remained at heart a Londoner all her life. She was educated at City of London School for Girls. There was no tradition of medicine in her family, but Phyllis, in her senior school years, felt the vocation to become a doctor and so proceeded to the Royal Free School of Medicine, then the only school exclusively for female students. After qualifying in 1948, she would have been expected to train to become a GP or possibly a hospital physician. Phyllis, however, had other ideas. She had always been very practical with her hands and saw her future in surgery, a field which was then almost exclusively occupied by men. Having obtained the challenging fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1953, she was appointed as a registrar and thereafter a senior registrar to Geraldine Barry, the only female general surgeon on the staff of the Royal Free Hospital. Barry was a specialist in thyroid surgery, having been trained by the great Cecil Joll. During her registrarships, Phyllis spent some time at the Memorial Hospital in New York, researching malignant melanomas. The senior surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital at that time was George Qvist, a giant of a man, and Hallet medal prize winner at the Royal College of Surgeons. He strongly believed that a general surgeon should be just that; a surgeon capable of coping with any surgical contingency anywhere in the body at any time of day or night. He practised what he preached, so that his lists might move easily from a thoracotomy and mitral valvotomy to an abdominal gastrectomy or colectomy. He resisted specialisation and academic departments. Phyllis, however, thought differently: she saw the future to be in specialisation. She recognised that surgery was as much a team effort and that, for best results, fully trained teams of theatre staff and ward nursing staff were as important as the actual surgeons. Time has proved her right. Having worked as her registrar for some years, I can confirm that there were almost no complications, morbidity or mortality from her operations. Before the advent of liver transplantation, the only surgical treatment for portal hypertension was the delicate and dangerous operation of portacaval shunt. Sheila Sherlock, the world renowned hepatologist, entrusted all this surgery to Phyllis and her trust was not misplaced. On Barry’s retirement in 1963, Phyllis was appointed to the consultant staff at the Royal Free Hospital. There she blossomed, continuing her specialised thyroid and breast surgery, and showing a particular aptitude and clarity in teaching medical students and junior staff. She had a thoughtful and wise head in medical committees, and this was widely recognised when she was elected president of the section of surgery at the Royal Society of Medicine, and then, in 1979, became the first female member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1988, she became the first female vice president. She might well have become the first female president had not age imposed her retirement. Outside the hospital, Phyllis lead an active and varied social life. Her strong Christian faith sustained her throughout her life. She was very family orientated, and suffered badly after the death of her father in a fire. She loved cooking, and held many memorable parties for her friends and colleagues in her house opposite the new Royal Free Hospital in Pond Street. As a registrar, she had lived in a flat a few yards from the old hospital in Gray’s Inn Road, so she never had to commute and was always easily available and extremely punctual for all her obligations. In her later years, Phyllis moved to a care home in St John’s Wood, where she died peacefully on 6 April 2017 aged 92. She will be deeply missed and ever remembered by all who knew her.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009332
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Hayward, John Langford (1923 - 2013)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Ian Fentiman
Publication Date 2013-04-30 2013-10-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003900-E003999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376117376117
Occupation Breast Surgeon
Details John Hayward was a pioneer, specialising in breast surgery before this was a recognised discipline. He was as much a scientist as a surgeon, bringing rigour to the investigation of the causes and treatment of breast cancer. The son of an architect, he was born on 26 April 1923 in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, and was educated at Haileybury School. At his father's suggestion he gave up the idea of a stage career, spending most of his life in a different theatre. He trained in medicine at Guy's Hospital during the Second World War and went to Belsen concentration camp after it had been liberated. This experience clearly had a profound impact upon him, possibly shaping the way in which he established a highly effective method of caring for anxious patients. After graduating in 1947, his National Service was spent in the Royal Air Force. In 1953 he was appointed as an assistant surgeon at Guy's, working with Sir Hedley Atkins. At that time the major research interest was endocrine manipulation for the control of advanced breast cancer and his early research focused on adrenalectomy and hypophysectomy, both procedures being associated with substantial morbidity. The turning point came in 1957 when he met Richard (Mick) Bulbrook, an endocrine biochemist working at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF). Hayward and Bulbrook formed a working partnership, with the former taking blood and urine samples from patients, which were analysed by the latter. Between them they developed a discriminant function test to determine which patients would benefit from endocrine surgery. Furthermore, low levels of certain urinary steroids indicated a poor prognosis, which raised the question of whether this abnormality could have a causative role in the evolution of the disease. This prompted the Guernsey study, with the aim of collecting specimens from a large stable population with good medical care and accurate follow-up information. The project started in 1961. Other much larger epidemiological projects occurred later, but this was the first of its kind in the world. Long-term analysis indicated that different endocrine profiles predicted risk in pre- and post-menopausal women. Specimens from the Guernsey study continue to yield important data concerning risk factors for breast cancer. In order to combine laboratory research and clinical investigation, the ICRF supported the building of a 37-bedded breast unit at New Cross Hospital in the 1960s and John Hayward was appointed director in 1967. He set about gathering around him a dedicated team of individuals specialising in breast cancer research and he established the multidisciplinary team as the underpinning of this work. He wanted to test surgical techniques for avoiding mastectomy, and he and Sir Hedley Atkins set up the Guy's wide excision trials. These trials compared radical mastectomy and radiotherapy with wide excision and radiotherapy, without any axillary surgery. The first trial included clinically node positive cases, whereas in the second only those with clinically negative axillae were randomised. Unfortunately, because of the low radiation dose to the axilla, these trials showed that breast conserving treatment was inferior to mastectomy in terms of local control and overall survival. This strongly influenced his views on the need for adequate axillary treatment. A subsequent trial comparing modified radical mastectomy with wide excision, axillary clearance and breast irradiation showed similar survival in both groups and was, with other trials, influential in changing surgical treatment for selected patients with breast cancer. He was recognised as an international authority on breast cancer, and was in great demand at medical conferences, where he was a lively and stimulating lecturer and chairman. He was a founder member of the British Breast Group and, in combination with Mick Bulbrook, could be guaranteed to bring wisdom and wit to the meetings. Such was the respect in which he was held that the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) invited him to chair the multidisciplinary project on breast cancer in the 1980s, and he was able to gather together the world experts on the disease. The aim was to determine strategies for the prevention, detection and management of breast cancer and to define directions for future research. He was much admired by his patients because he had the ability to make them feel that they were the sole individual who mattered. As a colleague he was a delight because his concerns were to get the treatment right and foster an atmosphere in which high quality basic and clinical research could flourish. That was his legacy. He died on 24 February 2013 aged 89. He was survived by his wife Jill and two sons.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003934
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Wood, Robert Anthony Bowness (1943 - 2016)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2017-02-17 2020-07-02
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009300-E009399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381497381497
Occupation Breast Surgeon General surgeon
Details Robert Anthony Bowness Wood was an innovative consultant breast and general surgeon in Dundee. He was born in Horsforth, near Leeds on 12 April 1943. Both of his parents, John Fletcher Wood and Mabel Wood née Bowness, were pharmacists. He boarded at St Peter’s School in York and then studied medicine at Leeds University. He qualified in 1965 with the Tomlin prize in ophthalmology. He carried out house posts at Leeds General Infirmary and then spent a year in Glasgow working as an assistant lecturer in the department of anatomy, where he worked with Graham Teasdale, the inventor of the Glasgow coma scale. Wood subsequently spent a year in London and in Birmingham, before moving to Norwich and then Cardiff. At Cardiff, he developed a new wound dressing made from silicone foam elastomer, which was non-adherent, non-allergenic, absorbent and allowed air to circulate around the wound (‘Foam elastomer dressing in the management of open granulating wounds: experience with 250 patients’ *Br J Surg* 1977 64 554-7). The elastomer was injected into the wound and could be left for up to a week, reducing the number of dressing changes needed. Wood became an adviser to the manufacturer Dow Corning. From July 1975 to August 1976 he was a research instructor in Chicago. From September 1976, he was a senior lecturer at Dundee University and an honorary general surgeon at Ninewells Hospital, where he worked closely with Alfred Cuschieri, the professor of medicine surgery. Together they developed the UK’s first dedicated one-stop breast clinic to speed up diagnosis and treatment, meaning patients could undergo mammograms and fine needle cytology and receive results on the same day (‘Needle aspiration of the breast with immediate reporting of material’ *Br Med J* 1979 2 185-7). As well as breast surgery, Wood performed gastrointestinal and thoracic surgery, and worked on the renal transplantation programme. He also helped Ronald Harden, professor of medical education at Dundee, design and implement his idea of an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), where a student passed through several stations and completed a series of tasks, while being observed by an examiner who marked against a checklist (‘A new approach to a final examination in surgery. Use of the objective structured clinical examination’ *Ann R Coll Surg Engl* 1979 61 400-5). Wood retired from the NHS in 2008, but continued to teach anatomy at the University of St Andrews. Throughout his life, he had an enduring love of nature and the outdoors, and was a keen hill-walker and traveller. He also loved music and was president of the Dundee Chamber Music Club. He also enjoyed gardening, particularly growing vegetables. Wood met his wife Elizabeth May (née Spiers) at Leeds General Infirmary. She went on to become an immunologist. They had four children, Chris, Tim, Alison and Susannah, and nine grandchildren. Wood died from motor neurone disease on 27 October 2016. He was 73.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009314
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Sellwood, Ronald Arthur (1929 - 2015)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Sir Miles Irving
Publication Date 2015-06-12 2016-08-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007400-E007499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379651379651
Occupation Breast Surgeon General surgeon Oncologist
Details Ron Sellwood was professor of surgery at the University Hospital of South Manchester (UHSM). He undertook his initial surgical training in Bristol, where he held house officer appointments at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. After military service with the RAMC in Hong Kong, he continued his surgical training at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, Bristol Royal Infirmary and Sharoe Green Hospital in Preston. He subsequently trained at registrar level at the Postgraduate Medical School of London at Hammersmith Hospital, working with Ian Burn, the well-known breast surgeon, and Richard Welbourn, the endocrine surgeon. He then took a year out to undertake studies in pathology at the Chester Beatty Institute for Cancer Research. Thereafter he returned to Hammersmith as a senior surgical registrar and a tutor in surgery. In 1968 he was appointed as a senior lecturer in surgery and assistant director at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, London, and as an honorary consultant surgeon to St Mary's Hospital. In 1970 he was appointed to a new chair in surgery at Manchester University with the task of developing an academic department of surgery at Withington Hospital, subsequently renamed the University Hospital of South Manchester. That same year he was awarded the Moynihan fellowship of the Association of Surgeons. Ron's main interest, both clinical and research, was in the field of breast cancer. His laboratory studies resulted in significant contributions to the understanding of the dissemination of cancer cells in the circulation. Whilst at the Hammersmith he worked closely with Ian Burn to establish breast surgery as a specialty in its own right. With the encouragement of Welbourn, they defined oncology as a specialty, leading to the creation, in 1972, of the British Association of Surgical Oncology, of which he was a founder member and a member of the national committee. Throughout these developmental years he was described as having a razor sharp intelligence and a splendidly analytical mind, bound up with an unassuming personality and a wonderful sense of humour. He was subsequently honoured to be made president of the British Breast Group. Ron Sellwood was a great communicator and was especially gifted in explaining to patients the problems associated with the management of breast cancer. An example of this talent is the interview with the broadcaster Sally Magnusson on BBC television about the development of breast screening, which is now in the BBC archive. Perhaps his greatest achievement was his successful development of the academic department of surgery at Withington Hospital, which, alongside other clinical departments, formed the University Hospital of South Manchester, thus creating the second campus of the rapidly expanding Manchester University Medical School. When it was finally completed, with the addition of the third campus at Hope Hospital, Salford, Manchester University could pride itself on having a thriving school of surgery with three chairs in general surgery, as well as chairs in urology, orthopaedics, vascular surgery, plastic surgery, emergency medicine and surgical science. It is to Ron Sellwood's credit that several of these were sited at UHSM. Ron had an irrepressible sense of humour and was always fun to be with, and he and his wife Patsy were charming hosts. Ron Sellwood retired in 1988 with the title of emeritus. Together with his wife, he moved to Norfolk, where they lived happily and where Ron could indulge in his hobby of bird watching. He died on 18 May 2015.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007468
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Shennan, John Millward (1939 - 2018)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Pamela D Shennan
Publication Date 2018-05-18 2018-06-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009400-E009499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381853381853
Occupation Breast Surgeon General surgeon
Details John Shennan was a consultant general surgeon for Wirral Hospitals NHS Trust. He was born in West Kirby on the Wirral on 28 July 1939, the son of William Millward Shennan, an architect from a family of architects who designed many of Liverpool's iconic buildings, and Pamela Mary Shennan née White, who studied art. He had a sister, Anne. John attended a local preparatory school and then King William's College on the Isle of Man, where he excelled as a scholar and sportsman, winning the *victor ludorum* (the school's highest sporting achievement). He competed in the long jump at the National Schools' Championship at White City, London and was a keen rugby player and a Cheshire Schoolboys' trialist. He was also a Queen's Scout and an assistant scoutmaster. From 1958, he studied medicine at Liverpool University, qualifying in 1963 with the J Hill Abram prize in medicine and the Sir Robert Kelly gold medal in surgery. During these years, he kept up his rugby, playing for the Liverpool University side until advised by his tutors that if he wanted to be a surgeon he needed to quit as he was breaking too many fingers. He kept in touch with many of his year at university via the reunions. His first consultancy appointment was in 1974 at Whiston and St Helens hospitals. He then moved to the Birkenhead and Wallasey Group of Hospitals from 1975 to 1982. Arrowe Park Hospital replaced these groups and the Wirral Hospitals NHS Trust was formed in 1991. He had a subspecialist interest in breast surgery and was instrumental in setting up one of the first triple assessment diagnostic clinics for breast cancer in the area. He contributed several papers to journals, including 'Twelfth rib syndrome: a differential diagnosis of loin pain' *Br Med J (Clin Res Ed)*. 1983 Aug 27;287(6392):586 and 'Surgical treatment of the 'slipping rib syndrome'' *Br J Surg.* 1984 Jul;71(7):522-3. John played his part in hospital management, serving as clinical director of surgical services and as a member of the council of Wirral Hospitals NHS Trust. He was an honorary clinical lecturer in surgery for Liverpool University and during his career trained many specialist registrars in surgery. Although he was an imposing figure who liked to dress in smart suits, flamboyant shirts and ties, and was not known for suffering fools gladly, he was (judging by the many letters of condolence) loved by his patients for his kind, patient and professional bedside manner. Whilst on holiday in Salt Lake City, Utah, he witnessed a laparoscopic gall bladder operation. This fascinated him, and he made it his mission to train in the procedure by attending courses in Edinburgh, Dublin, Hamburg, Liège and Yorkshire. The first laparoscopic centre in the North West was set up at Arrowe Park Hospital, and John, who loved his cars, had a Bentley with the registration plate A1 LAP, more to annoy his colleagues than anything else as he had a puckish sense of humour. He retired from NHS practice in 2001, continuing in private practice until 2011. John had a lifelong interest in golf, playing off scratch in his younger days. He was captain of Caldy Golf Club on the Wirral in 1979 and a member of Royal Liverpool Golf Club from 1988, where, with his second wife Pam, he spent many happy and frustrating times on the links. They both had an interest in antiques, and together travelled throughout the country to antique fairs. He was married twice. He had three children with his first wife, Hazel (née Blease) - Phillipa, Victoria and Timothy. Divorced in 1991, he went on to marry Pam (née Cookson). John died from a large cerebellar stroke on 7 March 2018 whilst on holiday in Iceland. He was 78.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009449
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Price Thomas, John Martyn (1935 - 2000)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-12-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008800-E008899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381037381037
Occupation Anatomist Breast Surgeon General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Martyn was born in London on 6 August 1935. His father, Sir Clement Price Thomas, was surgeon to King George VI, President of the BMA, the Association of Surgeons, the Royal Society of Medicine and Vice-President of the College. His mother was Dorrie Ricks. He was educated at Leighton Park and then went into the RAF medical branch to do his National Service, before going on to St Thomas's. There he won the Grainger prize in anatomy and was greatly influenced by Sharpey-Schafer and Arthur Buller. He was house surgeon to Robert Nevin and house physician to Bill Medd and Kingston. After a period as an anatomy demonstrator, he went to Hammersmith as house surgeon to Richard Franklin and Selwyn Taylor, before going on to Oxford to complete his surgical training. He was appointed consultant surgeon to the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport in 1975, where he developed a special interest in urology and breast cancer. In 1995 he moved to Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, to teach anatomy and be a consultant to their breast unit. He was a talented painter and sculptor, and a member of the Chelsea Arts Club, as well as a keen sailor and golfer. In 1962 he married Deirdre Irene McMaster. They had three daughters, Emma, Kate and Clem, who inherited his artistic talents. He died on 6 June 2000 from a sarcoma of the oesophagus.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008854
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Francis, Adele Margaret (1957 - 2017)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Mike Hallissey
Publication Date 2017-02-17 2017-11-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009300-E009399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381490381490
Occupation Breast Surgeon General surgeon
Details Adele Francis was a breast cancer surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. She was born in Solihull on 19 March 1957. Her father ran a printing business in Birmingham. She spent much of her childhood in Solihull, growing up with her sister Lorna, with the family moving out to Lapworth, Warwickshire, in her teens. She was a keen horsewoman and had her own pony, which occupied a lot of her spare time in her teenage years. She completed her schooling in Solihull, before moving to London to undertake a BSc in biology. As she proved later in life, a BSc was not enough and she went on to complete a PhD and she would often comment on her time with tomato seeds. With this background in lipid chemistry, she moved to a role at Sheila Sherlock's laboratory at the Royal Free Hospital, before moving to the research laboratories attached to the renal unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. In 1986, with her background in medical research, she entered a fast track medical course at the University of Birmingham, qualifying in 1990. She then decided on a career in surgery and set out to pass the college examinations. She undertook the Sloan course and triumphed in her primary examination and undertook a two-year junior registrar rotation in Birmingham working at Dudley Road Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Birmingham Children's Hospital. This set her on course to achieving a post as a registrar on the West Midlands rotation and she completed her FRCS (in general surgery) and gained her CCT (certificate of completion of training) in July 2000. She was appointed as a consultant surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 2001, having taken a short break to spend more time with her young daughter. Having first established herself as a key member of breast team, she started to develop her research portfolio. The initial plan of a trial looking at the role of Cox-2 inhibitors in breast cancer was nearly prevented following the results of a long-term adjuvant trial in colorectal disease, but her persistence came to the fore. She cajoled Pfizer and Cancer Research UK into supporting the study and providing the required funding and placebo-controlled medication. As a result, she delivered the trial, completing recruitment and demonstrating an impact of this approach in breast cancer therapy. This trial started her signature approach to trial recruitment with a penguin as the mascot of the trial and, as a reward for recruitment, centres would be sent a penguin soft toy. Adele was a consummate clinician, developing a reputation across the West Midlands, with requests for advice becoming an increasing part of her workload. She helped develop the reconstructive service and delivered the nipple reconstruction and tattooing service for some years. To ensure everyone had access to the best information, she established the breast academic meetings, where she would engage national and international speakers to come and present the latest information on all aspects of breast cancer care. These have been a focus for the breast cancer community across the West Midlands and everyone will remember fondly her eclectic Christmas quiz questions. Following an unfortunate serious injury to a senior member of the breast team, Adele took on the additional role of clinical service lead in 2008, in addition to juggling her research work, clinical activity at a time when the unit was short, and performing what she felt was her major role of being a mother. She developed the unit to reflect her approach to care and continued in this role until her death. Never one to rest on her laurels, Adele was involved in a number of other studies in breast cancer, but was also involved in the data and safety monitoring committee of a trial in oral cancer. Her involvement in the steering committees of a number of key adjuvant and neo-adjuvant chemotherapy trials helped her shape the surgical aspects of the trials and she was critical in getting patients in the current ROSCO study with known pre-treatment nodal involvement to be included in a study looking at the accuracy of sentinel node biopsy following neo-adjuvant therapy, another part of her vision that less is better when it is right. Adele's vision was to minimise the intervention that patients needed to ensure the best outcome and she was vocal in condemning the huge variation in treatment offered across the UK. As part of this she set up the NOSTRA study of post-treatment, pre-operative biopsies to establish the accuracy of this as a predictor of a complete pathological response with modern neo-adjuvant therapy. The trial that will carry her legacy forward is the LORIS (low risk ductal carcinoma in situ) study, another trial which used the bribe of a cuddly toy to engage centres with recruitment. Adele was certain that treatment of patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) needed to be more focused and that current guidance could result in over treatment. She laid the ground work for this study over a number of years, working with the Sloane Project, which has collected data on DCIS and its outcomes as part of the screening programme for some years. Her attempts to set up a study coincided with a report on the UK screening programme by Michael Marmot, which suggested over diagnosis and consequent overtreatment in 4,000 patients a year and recommended further research. Her work in developing and establishing the study brought on board members of Independent Cancer Patients' Voice and Lesley Fallowfield, and the clear wish of patients to push this study forward supported her in getting the required funding despite the reluctance of a number of senior figures in the breast field. The study was launched in 2014 and has completed the feasibility phase, and the main trial, which aims to recruit 900 patients, is running. Her influence internationally has resulted in a number of other countries offering to support LORIS or establish similar trials. In addition, the LORIS trial was pivotal in securing a £15 million Cancer Research UK grand challenge award to an international consortium intending to identify the key biological processes determining the transition of DCIS to an invasive cancer and how to distinguish those cases that will progress from those that will not. She became the lead for breast cancer research at the Royal College of Surgeons in 2013 and used this role to engage with trainees, in particular to encourage their involvement in research. This resulted in the MASDA (Mastectomy Decisions Audit) study, a national trainee-led project. In recognition of her immense work in breast cancer, she was appointed honorary professor in cancer sciences in 2016. Her involvement in medicine did not restrict her commitment to life. Married to Noel Fitzgibbon, they had two children, Marianne and Michael. Both her children were involved in choirs, her son being a chorister at Christchurch, Oxford, and she would spend many hours in church listening to them though she was not at all religious. When her son took up polo, she refreshed her loving of riding by learning herself. She was also a keen snowboarder. Adele died on 8 January 2017. She was 57. She leaves a legacy as a clinician, a researcher, a wife and a mother that few could emulate. Many have learnt from her so far, but the learning will continue after her death, a legacy few can leave.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009307
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Blamey, Roger Wallas (1935 - 2014)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Christopher W Elston
Publication Date 2014-11-25 2015-02-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006400-E006499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378606378606
Occupation Breast Surgeon General surgeon Transplant surgeon
Details Roger Blamey was professor of surgical science at Nottingham and a pioneering breast surgeon who developed the world-famous Nottingham prognostic index (NPI). He was born in London on 16 March 1935, the son of John and Cara Blamey. From Highgate School he went to Downing College, Cambridge, where he played rugby and was secretary of the boat club, followed by the Middlesex Hospital Medical School. He graduated BChir in 1960 and MB in 1961, and obtained his FRCS five years later. He became a research fellow under Pat Forrest in Cardiff and was awarded an MD from Cambridge University in 1970 for his thesis 'Immunological aspects of tumour growth'. He spent two happy years from 1970 to 1972 in Australia as a senior lecturer under Dick Bennett in Melbourne. He subsequently undertook further postgraduate surgical training in Cambridge, where he was involved in both renal transplantation and breast surgery, which stood him in good stead when he was appointed senior lecturer in Nottingham in 1973 in Jack Hardcastle's department. He was appointed professor of surgical science in 1980. Although he became an internationally-known breast surgeon, an early achievement was the introduction of renal transplantation to Nottingham. In 1974 the regional service for transplant surgery was too busy to cope with demand. Blamey felt that Nottingham patients were dying unnecessarily, so against the Regional Health Authority's wishes and inducing panic in his hospital administrators, he simply went ahead and laid the foundation for Nottingham to become a major renal centre. Roger Blamey became one of the foremost breast surgeons of his generation and established at the City Hospital the Nottingham Breast Institute, a beacon for teaching and research. His main objective was to find a way to tailor the treatment of patients with breast cancer so that each individual received the most appropriate therapy for them, rather than the broad based standard of the day. To this end he set up in 1973 the Nottingham Tenovus breast cancer study, in collaboration with the Cardiff Tenovus Research Institute. A range of potential prognostic and predictive factors was studied in a large group of closely followed-up patients, leading in 1982 to the Nottingham prognostic index, based on pathological (not clinical) tumour size, histological grade (the Nottingham method evolved by his colleagues Elston and Ellis) and lymph node stage. It proved, with oestrogen receptor status, to be a reproducible tool for the stratification of patients into therapeutic groups. Combined with newer molecular markers, such as HER2, the NPI still remains relevant. The collaboration with Tenovus was typical of Blamey's approach to research. From small beginnings he built a team of cellular pathologists, research fellows, oncologists, radiologists, plastic surgeons, geneticists and many others. Although clearly the leader of the team, Blamey took pains to develop the potential of every member. He was one of the first surgeons to introduce preoperative diagnosis of breast lesions, using needle core biopsy and fine needle aspiration cytology. This replaced the then standard practice of intraoperative frozen section, after which a woman would awake from surgery not knowing whether or not her breast had been removed. He also pioneered the concept of breast conserving surgery, despite opposition from more traditionally minded colleagues. Multidisciplinary team working is now standard practice for all patients with cancer and Blamey led the way. His weekly meetings with pathologists evolved into full-blown patient management conferences, including oncologists, radiologists and specialist breast care nurses, especially after the introduction of the National Breast Screening Programme, of which he was a key protagonist as project leader of the UK trial for early breast cancer detection (1980 to 1987) and the UK Coordinating Committee on Cancer Research trial of the frequency of breast cancer screening (1990 to 1996). Blamey published over 350 articles, 30 book chapters and eight books, and was in considerable demand all over the world as a teacher, lecturer and debater, even after retirement. He established the Nottingham international breast conference in 1990, one of the most important events in the breast research calendar, and it is hardly surprising that Nottingham breast service was selected as a national training centre for the screening programme. Many young surgeons from the UK and abroad trained under his supervision, with no fewer than 25 completing a doctoral thesis. He also had a major influence in establishing standards for the training of breast surgeons and the setting of national targets for the operation of breast units. At the British Association of Surgical Oncology he was chairman of the breast surgeons group from 1989 to 1996 and president (1998 to 1999). He was chairman of the British Breast Group from 1993 to 1995, and vice president and accreditation co-ordinator of the European Society of Mastology. He was an honorary fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Roger Blamey was charismatic, a great motivator and possessed of a high intellect, but he was not noted for administrative efficiency and could be intolerant of those not in tune with his ambitions. Once on a lecture tour in the USA he telephoned his long-suffering secretary saying he was in Philadelphia, but where should he be? He was notorious for making extensive revisions to research papers before they were submitted for publication. His research fellows quickly realised that by the third or fourth redraft the paper bore an uncanny resemblance to the original, so they would agree with all his amendments and send off the original version! It is not known if he ever found out. Apparently this also happened when he helped his children with their homework. He had wide interests outside medicine, including music, theatre, art and sport, particularly cricket. He was a regular attender at the Edinburgh Festival. He had a very happy home life with Norma (née Kelly), his wife for 55 years, and they were very proud of their three children, Eleanor, Sarah and Edmund, and six grandchildren. Towards the end of his life he was admitted to hospital with acute symptoms, which turned out to be due to a cerebral abscess. This was successfully drained, but he never really recovered and died on 1 September 2014, aged 79.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006423
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hudson, Michael John Knight (1936 - 2017)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Sally Hudson
Publication Date 2017-07-12 2018-01-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009300-E009399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381538381538
Occupation Breast Surgeon General surgeon Vascular surgeon
Details Michael John Knight Hudson (always known as Mike) was a consultant general, vascular and breast surgeon in north Cambridgeshire and King's Lynn. He was born in Southgate, London, on 21 March 1936, the son of Kenneth Alfred Knight Hudson, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, and Eucharia Aloysius Marie Hudson née Sloane. Mike's grandfather was Ernest Alfred Knight Hudson, who served with the Australian 1st Light Horse in the First World War and won the DSO, dying from flu a few weeks after the Armistice. Mike's father Kenneth travelled as ship's surgeon on the SS *Port Darwin* to England. He initially worked at the South Devon Hospital in Plymouth, where he met Mike's mother Eucharia, always known as Lal, a nurse from Waterville, County Kerry. Mike was lucky to survive; being born prematurely and then battling pneumonia, he was not expected to last the night and had an emergency blessing from a priest. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Mike, aged three, and his older sister Patricia (who later became a nurse) were sent to Clare Park, a small boarding school near Farnham. By now Mike's father was a consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician at North Middlesex Hospital (and deputy superintendent). Despite being sent for safety away from the London bombs and separated at an early age from his parents, Mike's early memories were happy, despite further illness. He caught infectious hepatitis and recalled being fed boiled sausages! He later developed a tonsillar abscess, which required incising and he remembered being terrified when told to breathe the anaesthetic gas. As a child, the only gas he knew came out of a tap and was bad for you! Subsequently, Ivor Lewis from North Middlesex removed Mike's tonsils. With his father's occupation and his own history of illness, one wonders if Mike's surgical career was almost inevitable. In January 1943, Mike and his sister came back home to Palmers Green and Mike attended Keble Prep School. His father was on call every second night for emergency surgery and fire-watched when he was not. Mike had vivid memories of local searchlights and anti-aircraft guns, especially the 4.5 inch guns which, when fired, broke windows for a mile surrounding! In 1946, Mike won a Keble Prep School scholarship and was made head of school and captain of games; the latter, he said, because he was coached by Miss Swinburne who had played cricket for England before the War. Mike enjoyed tapestry and sewing, hobbies which were useful later on! In 1947, he went to Highgate Junior School and a year later, he entered the senior school in Fargate House. He passed A levels in chemistry, physics and pure and applied maths, and maintained his keen interest in cricket, attending test matches at Lord's, where he got in for a shilling. He was made a prefect in his final year, deputy head of house (when Roger Blamey, a year older, was head) and again senior captain of games. In 1953, Mike attended St Bartholomew's Medical School and was interviewed by the dean, Edward Tuckwell. He joined the light blue firm. As Mike commented - who would guess that 15 years later he would become Edward's chief assistant (senior registrar). Mike married his first wife Anne Hamilton in 1963. Their first son was born in February 1964 and William followed in January 1967. His career took him to the Royal Masonic, the Royal Berkshire and North Middlesex hospitals. Even then, Mike was known for his carefully considered surgical decisions and somewhat tuneless 'hums' while he thought. He also became noted for wearing a bow tie, far more practical whilst doing a ward round. A younger colleague, Nicholas Packer, who gave Mike's funeral tribute, said he soon learned that if Mike hummed 'For those in peril on the sea' things were not going well, with a questionable prognosis. Mike enjoyed his time working under Martin Birnstingl, a renowned vascular surgeon, who probably influence Mike's career. At Bart's trainees rotated on different surgical teams every year. In 1973, Mike's pink firm, with Denis Nash and John Griffiths, received a visit from Loren Humphrey from Kansas who had an interest in breast cancer immunology. Keen to undertake some research, Mike applied for, and was awarded, a Fulbright scholarship and went to Kansas from August 1973 to 1974. Part of his remit was to run the breast screening unit at Kansas University Medical Center, part of a trial in 18 states to assess the effectiveness of a screening program. In March 1974, he co-wrote a paper on 'Cancer detection. Early detection at the center for breast disease.' (*J Kans Med Soc*. 1974 Mar;75[3]:72-4). In the same year, he also published with C J Smart a paper on 'Carcinoma of the male breast.' (*Br J Surg* 1974 Jun;61[6]:440-4). Returning from the USA, Mike applied for a consultant post in East Anglia, as he always wanted to be a country surgeon. He was appointed in 1975 to join Graham Thompson and Paul Seargeant as a general consultant and specialist vascular surgeon for north Cambridgeshire and King's Lynn. This involved a heavy workload, as well as being on call for emergencies. He was modest, rarely grumbled, worked very hard and was adored by his patients and staff alike, because he had an innate kindness born of compassion. On Christmas Day at lunchtime he was usually to be found dressed up as Father Christmas (or for one notable year as Tony the Tiger), ready to carve the turkey on the ward. Mike, along with Simon T Donell, presented a paper in 1986 on 'Iatrogenic superior mesenteric arteriovenous fistula' (citing a rare case from King's Lynn) at the annual meeting of the Association of International Vascular Surgeons, in St Moritz. This was reprinted in 1988 in the *Journal of Vascular Surgery* (*J Vasc Surg*. 1988 Sep;8[3]:335-8). It was a measure of the respect in which he was held that Mike sat on the medical executive committee of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn, as one of the 'three wise men', doctors noted for their experience and wisdom. Mike always retained his interest in breast surgery and around 1990, when national breast screening began, he pioneered the setting up of a multidisciplinary team. He also introduced core, rather than fine needle, biopsies, to give a more accurate pre-surgery diagnosis. This was radical at the time and a notable achievement for a small country town. Queen Elizabeth Hospital still has a dedicated, excellent breast care unit, as a result of his founding principles. Following a small coronary in 1992, Mike retired in the summer of 1999. After some years, in his own words, 'in the wilderness', he met and married his second wife, Sally Ann Rosalind Strutt, in East Rudham, Norfolk, in 2000. He acquired four stepchildren, Ben, Ellie, Dominic and Charlotte, who all grew to love him. During his happy retirement spent with Sally, he co-owned a 70-foot narrowboat, was a film extra, explored Second World War airfields in East Anglia, enjoyed opera, crosswords and sudoku, and followed international cricket. His elder son Jonathan married Carla, and they had Caitlin and Erin; his younger son, William, married Jane, and their children are Freddie and Ella. Mike Hudson died on 23 May 2017. He was 81.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009355
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Owen, Anthony Wynn Michael Carton (1943 - 2012)

2024-05-04T03:58:04Z

by Linda de Cossart
Publication Date 2012-04-12 2013-11-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002100-E002199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374374374374
Occupation Breast Surgeon oncologist
Details Anthony Wynn Michael Carton Owen was a consultant surgeon at Wharfedale General Hospital, Otley. He was born on 8 April 1943 in Pinner, Middlesex, the first of seven children born to Annie and William Owen. His parents met and married in London. His mother, then Annie Daly, a Westmeath lady from Garryduff, Kilbeggan, Ireland, was training to be a nurse at the Middlesex Hospital, while his father, William Mervyn Owen, from Caernarfon, Wales, was studying medicine at St Thomas'. During the Second World War, Tony's father served in the RAMC and in 1940 was on the beach at Dunkirk. He continued to serve in the RAMC after the war had finished, rising to the rank of major and spent a long period stationed on the Rhine, in Germany. After leaving the Army he became a surgeon in Merseyside. Anthony spent his first three years in Garryduff, and for the rest of his life held a deep love of Ireland and the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. His sojourn in Germany, living in the grand officers' mess, was also said to have set the tone for his own lifestyle later on. He went to junior school in Dublin, attending St Michael's College, a preparatory school for Blackrock College, which was run by the Holy Ghost Fathers, also known as 'the Spiritans'. At 13 he went to St Edward's College in Liverpool, falling this time under the influence of the Irish Christian Brothers. He obtained a BSc with honours from the University of Liverpool in 1965 and qualified MB ChB in 1968, winning the orthopaedic medal in the final examinations. He made an early decision to follow a surgical career, and this began with house surgeon jobs to the professorial unit at the Liverpool Royal Infirmary in 1968. He became a fellow, by examination, of the English and Edinburgh Royal Colleges of Surgeons in 1973. His surgical training continued with the post of demonstrator of anatomy at the University of Liverpool's department of anatomy. Following this, he rotated through a range of general hospitals in Merseyside, gaining a broad experience in general surgery. In 1978 he was appointed as a lecturer to the department of surgery at the University of Edinburgh and spent three years under the tutorship of Sir Patrick Forrest. His interest in oncology and in breast cancer was established during this very formative time in his career, and his subsequent appointment as a lecturer in the university department at South Manchester under R A Sellwood established his credentials in breast and endocrine surgery. In these posts he was part of the key teams exploring the usefulness of breast screening for the United Kingdom. He obtained a masters degree in surgery in 1983. He regularly gave lectures in surgery and published many papers in learned journals. During this time he also supported humanitarian organisations, spending periods overseas supporting international medical aid. He was appointed as a consultant surgeon at the Wharfedale General Hospital in 1990 and retired in 2009. He continued clinical work as an honorary consultant at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital after his retirement. He was for seven years a visiting surgeon to HM Prison Service. Tony had a great passion for aviation and held his own pilot's license. For five years he was an adviser in aviation medicine to Britannia Airways PLC and an authorised medical examiner for the Civil Aviation Authority. In 1992 he was Lancashire pilot of the year and won the Rodman landing trophy in 1999. Eoghan Owen, Tony's brother, also a consultant surgeon, said of him at his funeral: 'He was such a complex man in many ways and yet in other ways he was absolutely straightforward. You knew where you were with him, he was straight talking. He lived in the fast lane of life; he was always in a rush, always having to get something done quickly so he could dash off and do something else. He was a perfectionist and "it will do" would never do for Anthony; it had to be right, it had to be perfect.' As he grew older Anthony's Christian faith became stronger and in retirement he served mass at St Christopher's and at Bishop Eton, in Liverpool. He was a reader and Eucharistic minister in both churches. He never got round to fulfilling his ambition to buy a Ferrari or a Porsche. Tony's death was unexpected and tragic. He died on 17 March 2012, aged 68, a week after sustaining a head injury following an assault outside his home in Hale, Merseyside. There were no witnesses to the event. He is missed by his family and friends.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002191
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset