Professor Sir Donald Acheson KBE? Foundation Dean of the Faculty of Medicine? died on 10 January 2010 at the age of 83.

Sir Donald took up his appointment as Dean of Medicine in October 1968 having joined the University in 1963 as Professor of Clinical Epidemiology. The Medical School was only the second to come into existence in the UK since 1893 and was established after joint proposals from the University and the then Wessex Regional Hospital Board were accepted in view of the national need to train more doctors. This came at a time when medical education, the organisation of health services and the role of the doctor were under more active and searching review than had occurred for some time.

For 10 years Sir Donald led the team that introduced new ideas and a more flexible approach to the undergraduate medical curriculum. The main features of which included: early patient contact; the integrated systems-based approach; experience in general practice; the fourth year study in depth and the final year of clinical apprenticeship throughout the Wessex Region.

Sir Donald also served as Chief Medical Officer from 1983 to 1991, a position he held for eight years, which coincided with the advent of AIDS (autoimmune deficiency syndrome) and the outbreak of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalitis).

In 1997, Sir Donald was commissioned by the new Blair government to chair the Independent Inquiry into Inequalities in Health. This led to the publication of the Acheson Report, which called for an increase in benefit for women of childbearing age, expectant mothers, young children and pensioners and said that many people on low incomes had insufficient money to buy the food and services necessary for good health.

Sir Donald also held posts as the Director of the Medical Research Council Unit in Environmental Epidemiology, acting squadron leader in the medical brand of the RAF, President of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Medical Association. He was a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP), Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS) and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (FRCOG).

Through his breadth of knowledge and a passion to deliver the very best, Sir Donald made an outstanding contribution to the University of BOB体育登录网址_欧宝体育官网平台-APP|下载 and created the foundation upon which the School of Medicine has built to become one of the country’s leading medical schools. Sir Donald achieved a high reputation through a number of striking pieces of research on aspects of public health and the influence Sir Donald made on the public health agenda. After this highly successful career as public servant, academic and researcher he took up, in retirement, the position of WHO Special Representative for the former Yugoslavia.

For more read his obituary in the Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/medicine-obituaries/6983349/Sir-Donald-Acheson.html