Horace Smirk

Sir Frederick Horace Smirk , called Horace Smirk, (* 1902 in Accrington , Lancashire , † May 18, 1991 in Dunedin ) was a British medic who dealt with high blood pressure and its drug therapy.

Life

Smirk studied medicine at Victora University of Manchester with a bachelor's degree (in medicine MB and surgery ChB) in 1925 with top marks and an MD degree in 1927 (for which he received the gold medal of the British Medical Association ). In the same year he became a member of the Royal College of Physicians . He went to Vienna on a scholarship and then to University College in London , where he was influenced by Thomas Lewis . In 1935 he became professor of pharmacology in Cairo, where his interest in hypertension began. In 1940 he became a professor at the Medical School of the University of Otago in Dunedin in New Zealand. In 1960 he switched to a research professorship and also became director of the Wellcome Medical Research Institute. In 1968 he retired.

In 1949, while searching for potential antihypertensive agents as a visiting professor at Hammersmith Hospital in London, he came across hexamethonium , a drug that had serious side effects but, as Smirk showed, could be used as an antihypertensive agent, paving the way for more effective drugs with fewer side effects.

In 1965 he received the Canada Gairdner International Award . In 1958 he was ennobled. In 1961 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Hahnemann Medical College ( Drexel University ) and in 1975 from the University of Otago . In 1987 he received the silver medal from the Medical Research Council of New Zealand.

He had been married to Aileen Bamforth since 1931 and had three sons and a daughter.

Fonts

High arterial pressure, Blackwell Scientific Publ., 1958

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Smirk, Horace
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Smirk, Frederick Horace
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British medic
DATE OF BIRTH	1902
PLACE OF BIRTH	Accrington
DATE OF DEATH	May 18, 1991
Place of death	Dunedin