David Campbell (pharmacologist)

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Sir David Campbell (born May 6, 1889 in Patna , † May 30, 1978 in Peterculter ) was a Scottish doctor and pharmacologist. He was the successor to Charles Robertshaw Marshall from 1930 to 1959 Regius Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics at the University of Aberdeen .

Life

Campbell was born in Patna, East Ayrshire , to seamstress Agnes Smith Campbell and her husband, teacher Stewart Campbell. Campbell's father died either shortly before or after the boy's birth, leaving the family in financially precarious circumstances. The boy's alert intelligence brought him to the Ayr Academy and later on a scholarship to the University of Glasgow , where he studied arts and sciences at the same time. In 1911 he completed both subjects with an MA and B.Sc. with honors in mathematics and physics . During this time, he garnered a considerable range of awards and honors. He finally found his calling when he continued his studies in medicine and pharmacology . He completed this course in 1916 with MB and Ch.B. with distinction.

His young medical career was interrupted by the First World War. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and served in northern France. There he was awarded the Military Cross in 1918 with the rank of captain in a major position . In 1919 he was demobilized. He returned to the University of Glasgow as Assistant to the Regius Professor of Materia Medica in Glasgow , Ralph Stockman , and was appointed Pollok Lecturer in Materia Medica and Pharmacology in 1921. In the same year he married Margaret Lyle. The marriage remained childless.

In addition to his teaching activities, he worked with interruptions in the Glasgow Western Infirmary until 1929 as a doctor. In 1924 he again received his doctorate (MD) with distinction. His doctoral thesis on rheumatoid arthritis was awarded the university's coveted Bellahouston Gold Medal for the best medical student. In 1925 he traveled as a Fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation to the Johns Hopkins University . He was the first in a series of excellent fellows from the United Kingdom.

In 1930 he was appointed to the Regius Professorship for Materia Medica in Aberdeen and moved there. There he initiated major changes in the Center for Medical Research in Foresterhill , which made Aberdeen one of the leading medical schools. He formed a team of outstanding scholars, including Dugald Baird , Stanley Davidson , James Learmonth and others, and made full use of his powers in both administration and teaching. In 1932 he was elected Dean of the Faculty and held the position with a three-year re-election tour until his retirement 27 years later. His administrative skills were based on the careful selection and preparation of the topics for the meetings of the many committees he chaired, an astute knowledge of his colleagues, and a striking sense of timing. Unproven but plausible stories circulated that when he had to travel to London on the night train immediately after a faculty meeting, he would take the minutes before the meeting and rarely, if ever, change them.

From 1936 he represented the University of Aberdeen in the General Medical Council and retained the representation for 25 years. In 1949 he was elected President of the Council for the United Kingdom. He was also Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee for investigation of medical errors . In 1950 he received five honorary doctorates , an LL.D. from the Universities of Glasgow, Liverpool , Dublin and Aberdeen and a DCL from the University of Durham . In 1951 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . In 1953 he was knighted as a Knight Bachelor .

As a teacher, Campbell was conservative, quoting from the Pharmacopoeia without notes, and insisting on memorizing the recipes. His own handbook ( Handbook of Therapeutics ) was a classic of its time. And although administration and teaching demanded a lot of time and effort, he continued to treat patients in the hospital, where his enormous memory, his mindfulness and attention to detail made him a capable and respected doctor.

In 1959 he retired to his retirement home in Peterculter, west of Aberdeen. He continued to pursue his personal studies, but also enjoyed his beloved golf, where he hardly had to fear an opponent at the university. He died on May 30, 1978 at his home at 252 North Deeside Road. His obituary in the British Medical Journal , The Lancet and the Times gives the place of death instead of Peterculter as Milltimber . Given a distance of two kilometers, the difference is probably insignificant.

Artistic appreciation

  • A picture by David Campbell painted by Charles Hemingway in 1959 is in the possession of the University of Aberdeen.
  • A photograph taken in 1953 by Walter Stoneman is held by the National Portrait Gallery .
  • Another portrait of A. Morocco hangs in the General Medical Council Chamber.

bibliography

  • A Handbook of Therapeutics (1928)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w E. K. Cruikshank: David (Sir) Campbell. b.6 May 1889 d.30 May 1978, Kt (1953) MC (1918) BSc Glasg (1911) MA (1911) MB ChB (1916) MD (1924) FRCP * (1956) †. In: Lives of the Fellows. Royal College of Physicians, accessed October 21, 2019 (English, first published in British medical Journal, 1978, 2, 61; Lancet, 1978, 2, 55; Times, June 15, 1978).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of Captain David Campbell. Retrieved October 21, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Sir David Campbell. East Ayrshire Council, November 20, 2019, accessed October 21, 2019 .
  4. ↑ unknown: Scottish Office, Whitehall, SW 28th August, 1930. In: London Gazette. August 29, 1930, p. 5357 , accessed on October 7, 2019 (English, notification of the appointment of David Campbell as Regius Professor of Materia Medica at the University of Aberdeen).
  5. ↑ John D. Comrie: History of Scottish Medicine. Volume II. The Wellcome Historical Medical Museum London, 1932, accessed October 14, 2019 .
  6. ^ Campbell, Sir David (1889-1978), physician. Oxford University Press, September 23, 2004, accessed September 13, 2018 (English, DOI 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 30894).
  7. ↑ Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh - 1783 - 2002. (PDF) The Royal Society of Edinburgh, June 2006, accessed on October 21, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Sir David Campbell (1889–1978), MC, MD - Art UK Art UK - Discover Artworks Sir David Campbell (1889–1978), MC, MD. Art UK , accessed January 26, 2017 .
  9. ^ Portrait - National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved January 26, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Campbell, David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish doctor and pharmacologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Patna
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 1978
Place of death Peterculter