Robert Heptinstall (1920-2021)

Robert Heptinstall (Heppy) was one of the founding fathers of renal pathology. He worked in the early part of his career at St Mary’s Hospital Paddington where he forged a partnership with Jo Joekes which led to seminal papers on renal pathology based on material obtained through the newly introduced technique of percutaneuous renal biopsy.

• See page Renal Pathology in the UK

Heppy emigrated to the USA in 1960, working at John Hopkins, Baltimore until he retired.

His textbook of renal pathology, always known simply as ‘Heptinstall’ remained through many editions  an encyclopaedic benchmark.

• Read Robert Heptinstall’s obituary (UKKA)
• Here an interview he gave in 1995 for the ISN Video Legacy Project, and
• Transcript of an interview at Johns Hopkins 2007 .

Last Updated on April 30, 2025 by neilturn