Search Results for Medical Obituaries - Narrowed by: Paediatric urological surgeon

First Title value, for Searching Atwell, John David (1929 - 2016)

2024-05-04T16:26:03Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2017-02-17 2020-02-04
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/381485381485
Occupation Paediatric surgeon Paediatric urological surgeon
Details John Atwell was a paediatric surgeon in Southampton and a distinguished paediatric urologist. He was born on 17 May 1929 in Maracaibo, Venezuela. His father, Percival John Cyril Atwell, was a manager with Shell Oil; his mother was Doris May Atwell née Gardner. When he was five, the family returned to England, to a home on the Hamble River, Hampshire. He was educated at Peter Symonds School in Winchester and then spent two years in the Royal Corps of Signals. From 1949 he studied medicine at the University of Leeds, qualifying in 1955 with the McGill prize in clinical surgery. All of his junior posts were in Leeds. He was a house surgeon at the General Infirmary, a demonstrator in anatomy at the university, a house physician at St James’s Hospital, a senior house officer in the receiving room at the General Infirmary and a registrar on the surgical professorial unit there under John Goligher and Alan Pollock. Keen to work in other centres, he became a house surgeon at the Postgraduate Medical School of London, a senior house officer at Great Ormond Street, a surgical registrar at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford and a senior registrar back at Great Ormond Street, where he trained in paediatric urology with David Innes Williams. In 1961 he returned to Leeds as a lecturer in surgery. In 1963 he went back to London, as a senior lecturer with consultant status at the Institute of Child Health, where he worked with Andrew Wilkinson, the first professor of paediatric surgery in the UK. He also had sessions at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hackney and later at the Westminster Children’s and St Thomas’ hospitals. In 1969 he moved to Southampton to establish the Wessex regional centre for paediatric surgery at Southampton General Hospital, the first such regional centre in the south of England outside London. From 1986 to 1993 he was also a civilian consultant in paediatric surgery to the Royal Navy. As a trainee in Leeds his main research interest was Crohn’s disease, but his later publications were on neonatal surgery and urological subjects. He made many important contributions to paediatric urological research, including a landmark paper in 1985 ‘Ascent of the testis: fact or fiction’ (*Br J Urol*. 1985 Aug;57[4]:474-7), the first paper to authoritatively document the phenomenon of secondary testicular ascent. Other research included studies of familial inheritance of upper tract duplication, pelvic ureteric junction obstruction, vesicoureteral reflux and other congenital anomalies of the urinary tract. An elected member of the Society of Paediatric Urological Surgeons, he was president of the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons from 1989 to 1990 and in 1997 was awarded the Association’s Denis Browne gold medal. He was an examiner for all four Royal Colleges and chairman of the court of examiners at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He had a lifelong passion for sailing and won many prizes in sailing competitions and regattas. He also collected old English glass. In retirement, he learnt to fish with flies and to paint watercolours. In 1960 he married Sue Nightingale, a nurse at Great Ormond Street. They had two sons and a daughter, 11 grandchildren and three great grandchildren. John Atwell died on 14 December 2016 at the age of 87. A children’s day surgical ward at Southampton General Hospital has been named in his honour.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009302
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Thomas, Gareth Gambold (1937 - 1978)

2024-05-04T16:26:03Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-03-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006900-E006999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379176379176
Occupation Paediatric surgeon Paediatric urological surgeon
Details Gareth Gambold Thomas was born on 13 July 1937 at Tonypandy, South Wales. After education at Porth County Grammar School and Edinburgh University he began his training in paediatric surgery in Swansea, continuing it in Edinburgh and again in Wales at the Cardiff Royal Infirmary. After becoming FRCS in 1968 he was senior registrar in Sheffield, taking a special interest in the problems associated with spina bifida, and thereafter at the Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool. He was also honorary clinical tutor in paediatric surgery at Liverpool University. In 1976 he was invited to join the staff of the Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, and he was put in charge of the paediatric urological department. He built up a unit of the highest standards, his work and worth being appreciated by many paediatric surgeons and urologists in the Netherlands. He was working there when he died suddenly on 12 June 1978 at the age of 40. He maintained a constant interest in the academic aspects of his work and made contributions to the literature. He was also a keen Territorial, holding the rank of Major and senior surgical specialist in the Army Volunteer Reserve, being awarded the Territorial Decoration in 1974. A kindly man, devoted to his family, he was survived by his wife Jennifer and his three children.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006993
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Hendren, William Hardy (1926 - 2022)

2024-05-04T16:26:03Z

by Sir Barry Jackson
Publication Date 2022-12-09
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010100-E010199
Occupation Paediatric surgeon Paediatric urological surgeon
Details William Hardy Hendren (always known as Hardy) was universally accepted as being the leading American paediatric surgeon of his generation. Known worldwide for his meticulous surgical technique and his pioneering ability to correct seemingly intractable anatomical conditions, he was driven by the mantra that his operations had to last his young patients a lifetime. Hardy was equally well known for his astonishing stamina, sometimes operating on a single patient for 18 hours or more and his demand for surgical perfection. If necessary, he would undo many hours of work in order to redo an operation from the beginning. This work ethic led to his acquiring the nickname ‘Hardly Human’, a mark of affection by his devoted trainees and friends and a soubriquet of which he was secretly proud. Hardy was born on 7 February 1926 in New Orleans to a film industry executive, William Hardy Hendren Jr, and his wife, Margaret Inglis Hendren née McLeod, but spent much of his childhood in Kansas City. Later he attended Woodberry Forest School in Orange, Virginia, leaving at the age of 17 to enlist as an aviation cadet as part of the war effort. While waiting for his military call up, he studied at Dartmouth College for a semester. He earned his wings as a naval pilot but did not see combat service. On demobilisation in 1946 he re-enrolled at Dartmouth, gaining a bachelors degree in 1948 and then completed a two-year medical programme before transferring to Harvard, where he qualified MD *cum laude* in 1952. His paediatric training was at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Boston Children’s Hospital, where he was particularly influenced by Robert Gross. After eight years of paediatric training, he was appointed to MGH in 1960 to found the department of pediatric surgery, where he served as chief for 22 years. During this time, he became recognised for developing ground-breaking operations for complex genitourinary defects, which had previously been thought impossible to correct. In 1969 he became the first surgeon in Boston to successfully separate conjoined twins. International fame quickly developed, and he was invited to lecture, teach and operate in more than 60 countries worldwide. He was a prolific publisher of more than 200 scientific articles, 100 book chapters and six books, as well as making medical educational films. Honours included the William E Ladd Medal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Ferdinand C Valentine Medal of the New York Academy of Medicine, the Denis Browne Medal of the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons, the Urology Medal of the urologic section of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Henry Jacob Bigelow Medal of the Boston Surgical Society, the Distinguished Service Award of the American Pediatric Surgical Association and the Jacobson Innovation Award from the American College of Surgeons. Hardy became an officer in many professional organisations, twice being elected president of the American Pediatric Surgical Association. He served as vice president of the American College of Surgeons and, in 2000, was awarded the honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. In 2008, the Hendren Chair in Surgery was established at the Harvard Medical School. Two endowed fellowships were established in his name and a third was given to the Boston Children’s Hospital by grateful families whose children he helped surgically. The Hendren Project was established in 2014, an online global community of paediatric surgeons and urologists to provide digital resources that enable members to connect, collaborate and discuss difficult patient problems. This has grown to comprise over 5,000 members in over 140 countries, ensuring that Hardy’s name will live on. His biography, by G Wayne Miller, *The work of human hands: Hardy Hendren and surgical wonder at Children’s Hospital* was published in 1993 (New York, Random House). Despite his fame and extensive CV, Hardy remained a self-effacing humble man, a friend to all, most especially his patients as he followed their lives into adulthood. He and his wife of 75 years, Eleanor (née McKenna), whom he married in 1947, had five children. They were wonderful hosts to visiting surgeons the world over as the writer can testify, having been entertained by them on his first visit to Boston and later becoming a personal friend. Hardy’s interests outside of surgery included motor cycling, skiing, water-skiing and woodworking. He died peacefully at the age of 96 on 1 March 2022.
Resource Identifier RCS: E010185
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Cohen, Samuel Joseph (1923 - 2012)

2024-05-04T16:26:03Z

by Sir Miles Irving
Publication Date 2012-06-28 2018-05-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002500-E002599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374725374725
Occupation Paediatric surgeon Paediatric urological surgeon
Details Samuel Joseph Cohen, known as 'Joe', was a paediatric surgeon in Manchester. He was born on 22 July 1923 in Germiston, a gold mining town near Johannesburg, South Africa. He was the youngest of three children of Berel Nathan Cohen and Feiga Cohen, a nurse, who emigrated to South Africa from Lithuania. He attended Germiston High School, where he excelled in sport, particularly athletics and golf, and also sang in operatic performances. His talent in these areas developed further during his time at university, where his fine tenor voice was constantly in demand by the university operatic society and his prowess at golf meant that he was regarded as one of the finest South African university golfers of his time. He received his undergraduate medical training at Witwaterstrand University Medical School, from which he qualified MB BCh in 1947. Following qualification, he undertook house officer posts in the Johannesburg teaching hospitals. His time as house physician on the fever unit coincided with an outbreak of poliomyelitis, resulting in the admission of 150 cases in one month. It was following this experience that he decided to direct his future career towards the treatment of children. Another life changing decision occurred at this time when he met Isobel (née Williams), a nurse, who was to become his wife of 55 years. Overall he spent five years training as a house officer, registrar and senior casualty officer in the Johannesburg hospitals. In 1952 he moved to Britain for postgraduate training, initially gaining the MRCP (Edinburgh) later that year, however, his real aim was to train in surgery and he moved to London, commencing surgical training with Norman Tanner and, in 1954, as house surgeon to Sir Denis Browne at Great Ormond Street Hospital. His London training was linked with Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, where he gained general and urological paediatric surgical training with Isabella Forshall, Peter Paul Rickham and Herbert Johnson. On returning to Great Ormond Street, he was appointed as a resident assistant surgeon to, amongst others, Andrew Wilkinson and Sir David Innes Williams, the latter being instrumental in founding the sub-specialty of paediatric urology. In 1963 he moved from London to take a post as the second consultant paediatric surgeon in the Manchester region, working alongside Ambrose Jolleys, with appointments to all three of that city's children's hospitals, at Booth Hall, Royal Manchester Children's Hospital Pendlebury and the Duchess of York Children's Hospital and, later on, at the neonatal unit at St Mary's Hospital, Manchester. By the time he retired there were four paediatric surgeons in the Manchester region. It was in the 1960s, in the course of creating a world-renowned paediatric urology service, that he developed the operation to prevent vesico-ureteric reflux that subsequently became associated with his name. The operation, which involved a cross trigonal tunnel technique, was hailed as being successful in around 98% of cases and became generally accepted by urologists worldwide as the best technique. Publications in the international literature confirmed his status as the leading authority on the surgical management of vesico-ureteric reflux in children. He was passionate about teaching and pioneered video televised courses for the training of surgeons in operative paediatric urology in Manchester and Varese in Italy. So successful were these video presentations that he was awarded the Golden Eagle award by the Council on International Nontheatrical Events for the most outstanding teaching film made by a non-commercial film company. He was well known and highly respected not only in Manchester and the United Kingdom, but also at an international level. He was the first South African-born president of the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons. In 2009 the British Association of Paediatric Urologists nominated both him and Sir David Innes Williams as honorary members. He was also a lifelong member of the Society of Paediatric Urological Surgeons, a small group of paediatric urologists founded by Sir David Innes Williams, who met annually to present and discuss each other's research and papers. He was an honorary member of many international urological societies and in 1996 was awarded a medal by the European Society for Paediatric Urology. His reputation led to appointments as visiting professor at Beilinson Hospital, Tel Aviv, the University of Michigan, USA, and Bogota University Medical School, Colombia. He also worked in Kuwait for some time. He was a member of the council of the Royal College of Surgeons from 1987 to 1988. His paediatric surgical colleagues in Manchester recall that children were very fond of him. At one time a child drew a picture of him holding a briefcase on which the letters 'J C' were imprinted. The child had written underneath 'Jesus Christ'. The respect in which he was held was also demonstrated by a thriving private practice. Although of amicable personality, Joe was not afraid to challenge authority when necessary. He once upset a senior Manchester rabbi by pointing out that children with clotting disorders could die after circumcision. Throughout his career in Manchester and following retirement, he was a strong supporter of the section of surgery of the Manchester Medical Society. When he retired, initially his only interest was salmon and trout fishing, a pastime he had pursued enthusiastically throughout his professional life, however, a new opportunity to exercise his talents arose as a result of his knowledge and interest in antiques and silver. He became honorary curator of silver and clocks at the Royal College of Surgeons and in 1998 was invited to give the Vicary lecture on this subject entitled 'Silver and the surgeon'. Joe will be remembered not only for his major contributions to the development of paediatric urology, but also for his gregarious, cheerful and vivacious spirit. He died on 17 April 2012, aged 88 and was survived by three sons, Anthony, Peter and Nicholas (a consultant urological surgeon), and five grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002542
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Williams, Sir David Innes (1919 - 2013)

2024-05-04T16:26:03Z

by Christopher Woodhouse
Publication Date 2013-06-12 2014-04-09
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004000-E004099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376278376278
Occupation Paediatric urological surgeon
Details Sir David Innes Williams (generally known as 'DI') had two careers of equal distinction and near equal length - as a surgeon and as an academic administrator. However, he was first and foremost a surgeon. He was born on 12 June 1919 in London into a distinguished medical family. His father, Gwynne Evan Owen Williams, was a surgeon at University College Hospital, London. His mother, Cecily Mary Williams née Innes, was a nurse at the same hospital, while his brother, Sir Robert E O Williams, was knighted for his work in bacteriology and genetics. Until recently, it was almost expected that children should follow their father's profession. It is not surprising, therefore, that after Sherborne School in Dorset he went up to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and qualified as doctor at University College Hospital, London in 1942. His tutor was Max Rosenheim (later Lord Rosenheim) and it was he who first encouraged David to consider research as the foundation of good medical practice. He had taken the shortened course arranged for medical students at the beginning of the war, which provided young doctors to run the major hospitals in the UK, leaving the more experienced surgeons for the military. He was greatly affected by the subsequent death in action of five of the 49 boys in his house at school, including one with whom he had shared a study. Despite a very heavy clinical workload, he found time to complete his masters degree in surgery, win the Erichsen prize in practical surgery, pass the fellowship exam of the Royal College of Surgeons, and marry Margaret Harding, a theatre sister, with whom he shared his life for 66 years. In May 1945 he was called up for military service. He was assigned to the Royal Army Medical Corps and sent to India as 1st lieutenant, general duties. He was discharged in 1948 as a major and with a very wide experience of surgery. It was only then, six years after qualifying, that he was able to devote himself to the field in which he was, in his day, to lead the world. It was entirely fitting that he should build the specialty of paediatric urology at the Children's Hospital in Great Ormond Street and at the Shaftesbury Hospital on Shaftesbury Avenue. The former was the first hospital in the United Kingdom to be devoted to the care of children, and the latter was named after the great pioneer of children's social care, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. There had been surgeons in the UK and elsewhere who had contributed enormously to the care urological diseases of children as a part of their work. Innes Williams was amongst a tiny group who made it their life's work. It is hard now to imagine that so major a specialty that can have an annual European conference with 600 delegates had but a handful when Innes Williams started work. A huge contribution was the classification of children's urological conditions which, at a time before modern imaging methods, was ground breaking. His unique surgical experience led to the writing of four books on the specialty, the first, written when he was 38, a book which is a model of lucidity and entirely based on his own experience (*Urology in childhood* Berlin, Springer Verlag, 1958). His constant quest for the scientific basis of children's neonatal and subsequent conditions produced dozens of scientific articles and book chapters, usually co-authored with inspired junior colleagues. His MD thesis on the chronically dilated ureter is as relevant today as it was at its acceptance in 1951. He was a superb technical surgeon. He made even the most complicated procedures look easy, so that he was admired by fellow surgeons and trainees alike. His formal lecturing and, particularly, his surgical teaching were legendary. Such was his prominence in the field that an appointment as his registrar was virtually essential for aspiring paediatric urologists from the UK, Commonwealth and North America. This, in turn, led to many visiting professorships and invitations to speak overseas. He was awarded honorary fellowships of prestigious medical colleges, including the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the American College of Surgeons. Many doctors make major contributions to their field but are then superseded by later specialists and later research. Such was Innes William's contribution that it still forms the basis of the study of the natural history of congenital genito-urinary anomalies and their surgical correction. His early retirement from surgical practice in 1978 means that very few of those that he taught are still working, but they have instilled the Innes Williams' lessons into the present generation of paediatric urologists. Amongst his many medical honours were the Leverhulme research scholarship and subsequently a Hunterian professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons, and the St Peter's medal of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. He was awarded the Denis Browne medal of the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons in 1977 and the urology medal of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1986. It was in 1978 that he made a radical change in his career. To the surprise of many, he retired from surgery. He was appointed director of the British Postgraduate Medical Federation, which at the time brought together as a school of the University of London the 12 postgraduate Institutes attached to the London specialist hospitals, including the Institute of Urology and the Institute of Child Heath, with which he was already familiar. However, in a subsequent reorganisation of the University, the institutes were attached to the general medical schools and the Federation became redundant. In 1985 Innes Williams was appointed as a pro-vice chancellor of the University of London. In 1982 he was appointed chairman of council of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), a voluntary position in which he worked closely with (later Sir) Walter Bodmer, the ICRF's director of research, and Alastair Dennis, its secretary. It was an important period for the ICRF. During his nine years as chairman the Fund's income grew from around £15m annually to some £50m. Innes Williams was strongly supportive of the need for the ICRF to maintain excellence in its scientific appointments and scientific research. He was involved in the bold decision to substantially reduce the Fund's financial reserves, releasing the resources required to fund a dramatic increase in its research programmes. He contributed significantly to the development of the Fund's clinical activities, particularly in relation to the surgical profession and the promotion of research fellowships for practising surgeons. He played a key role in the decision to change the Fund's management structure, placing a scientist firmly in control, a contribution that still has profound implications for today's Cancer Research UK. During these later years, he played a significant role in the highest ranks of the medical profession. He served on the council of the Royal College of Surgeons from 1974 to 1986 and was vice president from 1983 to 1985. He was on the General Medical Council from 1979 to 1989 and was president of the BMA from 1988 to 1989. In all of these roles he brought his usual dignity, fluency and insight into the problems of a profession that often sees itself as besieged. In 1975 he had been appointed to the Home Secretary's Advisory Committee on the Administration of the Cruelty to Animals Act. When this work ended in 1979, he joined the council of the Royal Veterinary College, serving until 1986. He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 1985. DI's family life was a happy one. He and his wife Margaret welcomed to their home surgical colleagues and their partners and visitors from near and far with great polish. Part of his legacy was the founding in 1963 of the Society of Paediatric Urological Surgeons, an international paediatric urology 'think tank' with a tightly limited membership. The numbers were kept small, initially no more than could sit around his handsome dining table, in a belief that this allowed freer discussion. Everyone attending had to present a paper and all made a comment on each paper. Innes Williams was to have been a guest of honour at the 50th anniversary meeting of the Society at the Royal College of Surgeons in August 2013. DI's much loved wife, Margaret, died in 2011. In his last two years, with declining health, he received devoted care from Joyce Fay, an old friend and retired nursing sister. He died on 3 May 2013, aged 93, and was survived by his two sons, Martin and Michael. Innes Williams was given every honour in his chosen field and it was a remarkable achievement to be for so long the world leader of a specialty, which he had created. But above all this, way above and beyond all these distinctions, he had the deep affection and admiration of all who were fortunate to get to know him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004095
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching McFadden, George Dickson Fisher (1892 - 1981)

2024-05-04T16:26:03Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-01-28
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006700-E006799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378894378894
Occupation Paediatric surgeon Paediatric urological surgeon
Details George McFadden was born in Newtonstewart, County Tyrone, in 1892 and remained an Ulsterman all his life. The son of Jackson McFadden, a Presbyterian minister, and of May Loudon, he was the fourth son and the sixth child in a family of nine. His early upbringing was responsible for the integrity and honesty which were outstanding features of his life. After education at the local primary school and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution he proceeded to medical school at Queen's University, Belfast, in 1911. Halfway through his undergraduate career he became a Surgeon-Probationer in the RNVR, working on small craft which would not otherwise have carried a qualified medical man. It is reputed that, whilst at sea, George McFadden was washed overboard by an enormous wave and then washed back on again by a subsequent one! On returning to Queen's after the war he graduated with honours in 1919, secured the MCh with Gold Medal in 1923 and the FRCS in 1924. He was appointed resident surgical officer at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, becoming expert in paediatric surgery under the tutelage of Denis Browne. An unexpected vacancy on the staff of the Ulster Hospital for Children took him back to Belfast and he joined the visiting staff of the Belfast City Hospital in 1939. He was at first somewhat hesitant about accepting this last appointment but, having been persuaded by the hospital's senior gynaecologist, T S S Holmes, he never regretted the decision. Together with his colleague, Eric McMechan (qv), he organised a much improved system of admission and of bed organisation at the City Hospital, a regular take-in routine and medical staff meetings. He had a special interest in abdominal surgery and paediatric urology, and made useful contributions in the prevention of shock and venous thrombosis. His work on congenital urethral valves also became well known and he was responsible for numerous publications on this subject. He established a large private practice whilst his opinion and advice were widely sought all over Ulster where he enjoyed a high reputation. After the inception of the NHS he became the first Chairman of the Consultants' and Specialists' Committee in Belfast and was President of the Ulster Medical Society in 1956-7. In his surgical work George McFadden maintained and expected the highest standard. He was a man of immaculate appearance, always arriving at hospital or nursing home in his gleaming Bentley to maintain a lifestyle now largely gone. Generations of students recall his excellent teaching rounds and informal lectures at the City Hospital. He introduced tonsillar dissection under local anaesthesia to Belfast, and operations for congenital urethral valves and for urinary diversion in ectopia vesicae. He had been an enthusiastic rugby footballer at school, a hockey blue at university and a keen golfer later. He married Gasparina dos Santos in 1927 and was survived by her and his son George when he died on 27 July, 1981.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006711
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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