Many groups of health professionals have contributed their passion, commitment, and leadership to the development of kidney care in the UK.

These include  nephrologists, transplant surgeons, pathologists, nurses, dietitians, physiotherapists and other members of the multiprofessional clinical team.

Among the most remarkable achievements are those of the early clinical pioneers who led the  specialty from its early uncertain start towards the modern integrated clinical care and the highly organised kidney research which we recognise in the 21^st century.

Many of those early leaders have died, and for most an obituary is available at: https://ukkidney.org/about-us/history/obituaries

The experiences and reminiscences of a minority have been recorded in interviews which they gave, mostly in retirement. These give fascinating insights into the way kidney care developed, as well as the intense personal and professional demands it made on these pioneers.

As well as those who have died, we also include some who are still alive, but who have usually been retired at least ten years from active involvement in nephrology.

We will continue to add to this list.

In alphabetical order:

Dwomoa (Jo) Adu (1946- ). Nephrologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham who returned to work in his native Ghana (more)

Bill Asscher (1931-2014). Professor of renal medicine in Cardiff. Chair of the DHSS Committee on Safety of Medicines (more)

Rosemarie Baillod (1936- ). Dialysis physician who worked on the Royal Free renal unit from its inception in 1964 (more)

Martin Barratt  (1936-2014). Professor of paediatric nephrology, Great Ormond Street (more)

Sir Douglas Black  (1913-2002). Nephrologist, professor of medicine in Manchester, and later President of Royal College of Physicians (more)

Christopher Blagg (1931-2022). Working at the beginning of dialysis in Leeds, he soon moved to Seattle where he helped develop (under Belding Scribner) and then direct the first chronic HD programme in the world (more)

  Graham Bull (1918-1987). Nephrologist at Hammersmith Hospital, then professor of medicine in Belfast. An advocate of conservative dietary management for AKI (more)

Eric Bywaters (1910-2003). A rheumatologist who made seminal observations on crush syndrome and acute renal failure during World War Two (more)

Sir Roy Calne (1930-2024). Transplant surgeon, professor of surgery in Cambridge. He introduced azathioprine and cyclosporine into clinical practice (more)

Stewart Cameron (1934-2023). Professor of Renal Medicine, Guy’s Hospital. The only nephrologist to be President of the Renal Association, EDTA, and ISN (more)

Sir Cyril Chantler (1939-  ). One of  the first paediatric nephrologists in the UK (more)

 

   Hugh de Wardener (1915-2013). Nephrologist and professor of medicine at Charing Cross Hospital. He  chaired the Ministry of Health’s 1965 working party on the expansion of dialysis services across the UK (more)

Michael Darmady (1906-1989). A pathologist, he built the first artificial kidney in the UK, and used it clinically to treat acute renal failure (more)

Anne Eady    A dialysis nurse in the very early days of the haemodialysis programme at Royal Free Hospital in the 1960s and then at Guy’s Hospital (more)

Ram Gokal (1945-  ). Nephrologist at Manchester Royal Infirmary, he was a national and international leader in peritoneal dialysis (more)

John Goldsmith (1920 –   ).   An émigré from Germany in the 1930s he founded the renal unit at Sefton General Hospital, Liverpool (more)

Robert Hepstinstall  (1920-2021). He was among those who established renal pathology as a speciality, working at St. Mary’s Paddington, before he moved permanently to the USA in the 1960s (more)

Mark ‘Jo’ Joekes  (1914-2010).  In 1946 he delivered the first haemodialysis in the UK (for acute renal failure at Hammersmith Hospital), and in 1954 he performed the first renal biopsies in the UK . Listen to an interview with him in 1997.

Norman Jones (1931-2021).  Nephrologist at St. Thomas’s Hospital, London (more)

Arthur Kennedy (1922-2009).  Nephrologist and professor of medicine, Glasgow. A pioneer of dialysis for acute renal failure (more)

David Kerr  (1927-2014).  Professor of medicine in Newcastle, a dialysis pioneer, a founder of EDTA  (more)

Ann Lambie (1928-2023).   Anne Lambie was among the first nephrologists in Edinburgh (more)

Martin Lockwood (1945-1999).  Nephrologist at Hammersmith Hospital and Cambridge. Innovator in the diagnosis and treatment of anti-GBM disease and vasculitis (more)

Sir Netar Mallick (1935-  ). From the 1960s he led the dialysis and transplant service at Manchester Royal Infirmary, and was the first advisor on renal medicine to the Department of Health (more)

Mollie McGeown (1923-2004). She   established kidney services in Belfast, and was the first female president of the Renal Association (more)

Malcolm Milne (1915-1991). Nephrologist in Manchester and Hammersmith, then professor of medicine, Westminster Hospital. His research in potassium metabolism earned him FRS (more)

Peter Morris  (1934-2022). Transplant surgeon and Nuffield professor of surgery, Oxford (more)

Donal O’Donoghue (1956-2021). Nephrologist in Salford, who was the first National Clinical Director for Kidney Care for England (more)

Des Oliver (1930-1997). Nephrologist in Oxford, working singlehanded for most of his career (more)

Frank Parsons (1918-1989). Established in Leeds the first sustained programme of haemodialysis for acute renal failure in the UK  (more)

Victor Parsons (1929-1995). Nephrologist at King’s College Hospital, among the first to offer dialysis to those with diabetes, and those who were hepatitis B positive (more)

Stan Peart (1922-2019).  Professor of medicine, St Mary’s Hospital Paddington. He became FRS for his work on noradrenaline and angiotensin (more)

Tony Raine  (1949-1995).  Until his early death, professor of renal medicine at Barts (more)

  Chris Rudge (1949-  ). A transplant surgeon in London who became  the first National Clinical Director for Transplantation (more)

Stanley Shaldon  (1931-2013).  He started the first chronic haemodialysis in the UK in 1964 at the Royal Free Hospital, and pioneered home dialysis  (more)

Sally Taber   A renal nurse, the first transplant coordinator in the UK, Secretary-Treasurer of EDTNA (more)

Dick White  (1926-2020). Professor of paediatric nephrology, Birmingham (more)

Oliver Wrong  (1925-2012).  Academic nephrologist who worked in Manchester, Hammersmith, and University College Hospital, London. A pioneer in renal acidosis (more)

 

 

 

Last Updated on April 2, 2024 by John Feehally