Thomas Ferguson Rodger (4 November 1907 – 1 June 1978) was a Scottish physician who was Professor of Psychological Medicine at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

from 1948 to 1973, and

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

thereafter. He joined the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

during the

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and rose to become a consultant psychiatrist with the rank of

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

. His son was Scottish lawyer Alan Rodger, Baron Rodger of Earlsferry, who became

Lord President of the Court of Session The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General () is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. ...

and subsequently

Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom are the judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom other than President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the president and Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United ...

Early life

Rodger was born in Glasgow and educated at North Kelvinside School (merged with Cleveden Secondary School in the 1990s), before going on to study at the

Medical School A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

of the

( BSc 1927, MBChB 1929). After graduating and undertaking general medical training, he was appointed assistant to Sir David Henderson at the Glasgow Royal Mental Hospital at Gartnavel, and spent a year from 1931 to 1932 as assistant to Professor Adolph Meyer at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

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, Maryland.

Career

Rodger returned to Glasgow in 1934 as Deputy Superintendent of the Royal Mental Hospital and Assistant Lecturer in

Psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...

at the

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. He remained there until 1940, when he joined the

as a Specialist in Psychiatry. By 1944, he was Consultant in Psychiatry with the rank of

, and was stationed in India and the South East Asia Command area (

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

, Malaya and Singapore). He increased the profile of psychiatry within military medicine and established psychiatry as an important tool in selection of officers. After the War, in 1945, he returned to Scotland as Senior Commissioner of the General Board of Control for Scotland (replaced in 1960 by the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland), but retained his connection to the Army throughout his life. In 1948, he was appointed to the new Chair of Psychological Medicine at the

. He developed his unit at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital into a strong component of the university's

, and was instrumental in developing it into a leader in the development of psychiatry within hospitals and the combination of psychological medicine with neurological sciences. In 1972, the unit was formed into the Institute of Neurological Sciences, where the Glasgow Coma Scale was devised by Graham Teasdale and Bryan J. Jennett in 1974. He was an external examiner at

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Universities. Rodger served on a number of government committees as well as the Committee on Mental Health of the

World Health Organisation The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 6 regional offices and 15 ...

. He was Chairman of the Scottish Division of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association in 1962 and President of the Association nationally in 1965, and was awarded an honorary fellowship in 1972 for his efforts during its application to become a Royal College. He was appointed CBE in 1967.

Publications

*''Notes on Psychological Medicine'', with Ian Ingram, Robert Mowbray and Gerald Timbury (1962) *''Psychology in Relation to Medicine'', with Robert Mowbray (1963)

Honours

Rodger was appointed: *

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE), 1967 *Member of the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that set the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by royal charter i ...

(MRCP Ed), 1939; Fellow (FRCP Ed), 1947 *Fellow of the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (FRFPSG), 1958 *Fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow is a global community of over 15,000 Members working together to develop skills, knowledge and leadership to drive the highest standards in healthcare. For 425 years, the Royal College of ...

(FRCP Glas), 1962 (the Royal Faculty changed its name to the Royal College in 1962, and the FRCP Glas qualification therefore supersedes the FRFPSG qualification) *Fellow of the

British Psychological Society The British Psychological Society (BPS) is a representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom. History It was founded on 24 October 1901 at University College London (UCL) as ''The Psychological Society'', the org ...

(FBPsS), 1971 *Fellow of the

Royal College of Psychiatrists The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, and is responsible for representing psychiatrists, for psychiatric research and for providing public information about mental healt ...

(FRCPsych), 1971; Honorary Fellow, 1972

Retirement

Rodger fell ill in 1972 and retired from the chair at Glasgow the following year. He was succeeded by Sir Michael Bond, previously a lecturer in

neurosurgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system ...

at the university, who was knighted in 1995 for services to medicine. Bond retired in 1998, and the chair is currently vacant.

Personal life

Rodger married Jean Chalmers in 1934, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. His son,

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Kurdish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

, was

, the head of Scotland's judiciary, from 1996 to 2001, and served as a judicial member of the House of Lords and subsequently

until his death in 2011; his daughter is a consultant physician. The family lived in

Bearsden Bearsden ( ) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the northwestern fringe of Greater Glasgow, approximately from the Glasgow city centre, city centre. The Roman Empire, Roman Antonine Wall runs through the town, and the remains of ...

, an affluent suburb of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodger, Ferguson 1907 births 1978 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow Academics of the University of Glasgow British Army personnel of World War II Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Medical doctors from Glasgow Royal Army Medical Corps officers Scottish psychiatrists 20th-century Scottish medical doctors Military personnel from Glasgow