bmj.com archive: selection of BMJ articles by Donald Acheson • Conflict in Bosnia 1992-3 (1999;319:1639) OBITUARIES • Preventing genocide (1996;313:1415) • Health, humanitarian relief, and survival in former Yugoslavia (1993;307:44) For the full versions of articles in the Obituaries section see bmj.com

Donald Acheson Former English chief medical officer who fought to contain the new AIDS epidemic

On appointment as chief medical officer (CMO) for Bosnia in 1992-3. He also , Sir Donald Acheson’s sense of personal chaired the influential independ- authority and status gained him access to govern- ent inquiry into inequalities in ment ministers that some of his predecessors had health at the request of the new not dared ask for. It proved critical to his success Labour government in 1997. The in dealing with a key medical problem of the late resultant Acheson report gave 20th century—AIDS. There were only 28 cases in 39 recommendations, ranging the in 1983, but the news from the from restricting tobacco smok- United States was frightening. Acheson’s passion- ing in public places to improv- ate conviction that this epidemic must be quashed ing school meals and better sex before it could take hold was one of his strengths in education, many of which were persuading the government and his colleagues to subsequently implemented. take it seriously. At his request the prime minister, Acheson was born in . Margaret Thatcher, established a cabinet committee He was educated at Merchiston through which Acheson could orchestrate a scien- Castle School, Edinburgh, and at tifically informed response—one that jarred at times Brasenose College, Oxford, quali- with the UK’s conservative culture. fying in 1951 to take up clinical A national media campaign of unprecedented posts at the Middlesex Hospital. proportions was launched to explode the myths on In 1962 he became the first how the disease was transmitted. “AIDS—DON’T DIE ai r director of the Oxford Record

OF IGNORANCE” leaflets were delivered to 23 mil- si ncl Linkage System, which pio-

lion homes. A week in February 1987 incorporated n i ck neered the use of patient admis- 19 hours of public service broadcasting across all He persuaded the secretary of state for health, sions data for epidemiological four television channels. Harm minimisation was Norman Fowler, to give an explicit television and health service research. In the underlying message: safe sex rather than no interview on the steps of 10 Downing Street 1968 he was appointed as pro- sex. Acheson was successful in getting ministers fessor of clinical epidemiology to drop plans for compulsory testing and to turn achievement in halting the AIDS epidemic in the at the University of Southampton and in the same a blind eye to illegal drug use, allowing needle UK was not immediately apparent. As worldwide year as foundation dean of its medical school. exchanges for drug users in the interests of wider deaths from AIDS increased in the 1990s, the emer- From 1979 to 1983, he also served as director of public health. gence of cases in the UK slowed, but he was not the environmental epidemiology unit of the Medi- given the credit until much later for his unremitting cal Research Council. Explicit television interview attack on this frightening new disease. Acheson was the first CMO with no previous Acheson “ate and slept AIDS from 1985 onwards,” The AIDS crisis of the mid-1980s had established civil service experience. He would not have been determined to take every precautionary measure the CMO as the publicly recognisable face of medi- appointed as CMO in 1983, but for Margaret Thatch- possible to halt the spread of the disease, from cal expertise. By 1990, as the first human cases of er’s objection to the promotion of Elizabeth Shore, working as an intermediary between the gay com- variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) appeared, wife of the Labour peer Peter Shore. The Department munity and the medical profession, to meeting Acheson was under pressure to make a public state- of Health’s intricate succession planning was over- with the English Collective of Prostitutes. Despite ment. He made a videotape for circulation to televi- turned and an external candidate headhunted. his Calvinistic upbringing he ensured that he knew sion channels, stating that British beef remained His first marriage was to Barbara Mary Castle, the facts of gay sex and conveyed them in detailed safe for everyone to eat. What his expert advisers a staff nurse whom he had met at the Middlesex briefings to government ministers. He persuaded had actually said was that there was a remote risk, Hospital. They had a son and five daughters (one the secretary of state for health, Norman Fowler, not that there was no risk. His statement was criti- of whom predeceased him). This marriage ended to give an explicit television interview on the steps cised by the Phillips inquiry on BSE in 1998, but in 2002 and in the same year he married Angela of 10 Downing Street to dispel some of the initial Acheson maintained that his words had been edited Judith Roberts, with whom he had a daughter. vagueness about the safe sex message and to make from his original videotape. Sally Sheard senior lecturer in history of the public realise that AIDS was not a threat only to medicine, University of Liverpool the health of gay men. Inequalities in health Ernest Donald Acheson, chief medical officer, 1983- On an international level, Acheson used his After Acheson retired as CMO in 1991 he held 91 (b 1926; q 1951, Brasenose College, Oxford), died authority at the World Health Organization to a number of honorary and visiting positions and on 10 January 2010. develop programmes for AIDS prevention. His completed projects for WHO, notably in war torn Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c419

BMJ | 30 january 2010 | Volume 340 263 OBITUARIES

school. Anatomy strengthened his at the Brompton Hospital and John George Banton Christian faith throughout his life. He became a tuberculosis officer at leaves a wife, Maude; two sons; and Harefield Hospital in Middlesex. four grandchildren. With the decline of tuberculosis, Janet Baker he took a senior registrar post in Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c488 geriatric medicine at Stoke on Trent. He became consultant for Havering and Brentwood Hospitals James Kerr Finlayson in 1963, as well as taking on a huge Former consultant in cardiology workload at Thurrock and Basildon the Netherlands as a singlehanded Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (b 1923; Hospitals, and developed a modern general practitioner. Inspired by Former general practitioner Eastwood, q Aberdeen 1954; BSc (Hons), FRCP), geriatric service in south east Essex. his UK experience, he helped to Nottingham (b 1929; q Leeds 1953; died from metastatic prostate cancer Predeceased by his wife, he leaves organise palliative care in the region MRCGP, DRCOG), died from colon on 28 November 2009. four sons and a daughter. and was the driving force behind cancer on 18 July 2009. As a civil engineer, James Kerr Kevin Jackson developing a large multidisciplinary John George Banton was the first Finlayson (“Jimmy”) did war service Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c489 health centre, a project now nearing student from Heanor Grammar with a West African division in India, completion. He died while enjoying School in Derbyshire to go to attaining the rank of captain. In 1947 a cycle ride near his home. He leaves medical school. After house jobs he was employed by Tees Water Bernard Vincent Lee a wife, Herma, and two daughters. in Bradford, he returned to his Board before studying medicine Former medical officer for assessment Martin Hadshar home town of Eastwood and was in Aberdeen and graduating with of attendance and disability allowances Gerbo Huisman general practitioner there for 39 honours. Appointed consultant Department of Health (b 1929; Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c492 years. In 1976 he became one of with interest in cardiology in q Manchester 1953; DLO), died from the first trainers on the Nottingham Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in 1964, he oesophageal cancer on 2 October 2009. vocational training scheme, a role developed cardiac pacemaking and Bernard Vincent Lee first trained William Francis Toomey he greatly enjoyed, instilling the pioneered telephone transmissions in ear, nose, and throat surgery in Former consultant surgeon Royal importance of listening to patients of electrocardiograms from Orkney, Manchester, doing national service Alexandra Infirmary, Paisley (b 1920; and never being surprised by human Shetland, and elsewhere. In as a medical officer in the Royal Air q Glasgow 1946; FRCS), died from behaviour. Away from work, he retirement he made and played Force. After eight years in general bronchopneumonia on 24 May 2009. loved walking, particularly in the bagpipes, sang with Aberdeen Gaelic practice in Carlisle and working with After qualification, William Francis Lake District, and trekking in the Choir, and was an enthusiastic golfer. the blood transfusion service, he Toomey (“Bill”) served in the Royal Himalayas, New Zealand, and Kenya. Predeceased by his wife, Dr Anna became the then youngest regional Air Force as flight lieutenant and Predeceased by a son, he leaves a Robertson, he leaves three sons and medical officer in the Department of later deputy senior medical officer wife, Dorothy; three children; and six three grandchildren. Health. He was also twice secretary in Lincolnshire. After returning grandchildren. F L Pierre Fouin and chairman of Altrincham Medical to Glasgow as registrar, he was Dorothy Banton Michael J Williams Society. He shared in his eight Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c493 Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c490 children’s interests, and spoke fluent Italian, once having a private audience with the Pope. His strong Frederick Nii Lomote Stanley Leighton Orr Christian faith was the driving force Engmann Jackson of his life. He leaves a wife, Barbara; Former professor of anatomy and dean Former consultant geriatrician Havering eight children; and 10 grandchildren. Accra Medical School, Ghana (b 1933; and Brentwood Hospitals, Essex John Scotson q Cambridge/St Thomas’ 1962; BA (b 1923; q Guy’s Hospital, London, Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c487 (Hons) Anatomy; PhD), died from colon 1947; MD, FRCP), died from heart appointed consultant in Paisley in cancer on 15 February 2009. failure on 18 October 2009. 1956, where he remained until his Frederick Nii Lomote Engmann Stanley Leighton Orr Jackson Paul Schleijpen retirement in 1985. Bill published (“Fred”) left Ghana to study medicine began postgraduate training in General practitioner Coldstream, widely, with a reputation as a in the UK. After house jobs, he pathology at Central Middlesex Berwickshire, and Emmen, Netherlands meticulous surgeon, and was a returned to Ghana and helped to set Hospital. But, having contracted (b 1959; q Nijmegen 1986; MRCGP), respected trainer and honorary up its first medical school, becoming tuberculosis as a medical student, d 26 July 2009. clinical professor. He was an active the first Ghanaian anatomist having he switched to chest medicine After qualifying, Paul Schleijpen member of the West of Scotland gained his PhD in Cambridge. Fred came to England in 1987 for a short Surgical Association and the was also vice president of the Ghana locum position in Salisbury. He Livingstone Surgical Club and fellow Medical Association, and in 1978 eventually moved with his family of the Association of Surgeons of as representative of the association to Scotland, where he trained in Great Britain and Ireland. He leaves he helped to craft the constitution general practice in Crieff. He was a Muriel, his wife of 62 years; two for the third republic of Ghana. He partner in Coldstream for over 10 children; and two grandsons. co-wrote a television series You and years, becoming an active member David P Crampsey Your Body. On retiring, he continued of Borders Local Health Council Alan D Toomey to teach part time at the medical Committee. In 2003 he returned to Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c491

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