Sir Geoffrey Slaney, (19 September 1922 – 29 January 2016) was a British surgeon and academic, specialising in vascular and gastrointestinal surgery. He held the Barling Chair of Surgery at the University of Birmingham from 1971 to 1986, and was the President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England from 1982 to 1986.'SLANEY, Prof. Sir Geoffrey', '' Who Was Who'', A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 201
accessed 19 Sept 2017
/ref>

Career

Military service

During the Second World War, Slaney was a member of the University of Birmingham's Home Guard battalion. In 1948, Slaney was called up to the British Army to complete his national service. He was commissioned into the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...

(RAMC) as a lieutenant on 22 August 1948. He was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 22 August 1949. He served as a medical officer at Catterick Garrison in Yorkshire, England, and in Hamburg, Germany. He left the army in 1950 after completing the required two years service.

Medical career

Slaney began his medical career as a house surgeon at Birmingham General Hospital from 1947 to 1948. Then, from 1948 to 1950, he was a medical officer in the British Army. From 1950 to 1953, he worked as a surgical registrar at hospitals in Coventry and London. From 1953 to 1959, he was a surgical registrar at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. In 1955, he undertook a one-year post at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, United States: he worked under

Warren Henry Cole Warren Henry Cole (24 July 1898 – 25 May 1990) was an American surgeon, a pioneer in the field of adjunctive treatments for surgical cancer patients. With Evarts Ambrose Graham he co-developed in 1924 the process of visualizing the gall bladder w ...

and was exposed to the relatively new specialism of

vascular surgery Vascular surgery is a surgical subspecialty in which diseases of the vascular system, or arteries, veins and lymphatic circulation, are managed by medical therapy, minimally-invasive catheter procedures and surgical reconstruction. The specialty ...

. In 1958, he joined

Dudley Road Hospital City Hospital (formerly Dudley Road Hospital, and still commonly referred to as such) is a major hospital located in Birmingham, England, operated by the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust. It provides an extensive range of genera ...

as a surgeon.

Academic career

From 1953 to 1959, Slaney was a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

in surgery at the University of Birmingham. He was promoted to senior lecturer in 1959. He held the Hunterian Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons for 1961/1962. He was made Professor of Surgery in 1966. From 1971 to 1986, he held the Barling Chair of Surgery. In December 1982, Slaney was elected as the next

President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promotes and advances standards of surgical care for patients, and regulates surgery and dentistry in England and Wales. Th ...

in succession to

Sir Alan Parks Sir Alan Guyatt Parks (19 December 1920 – 3 November 1982) was a British colorectal surgeon, who served as president of the Royal College of Surgeons. Early life and education Parks attended Sutton High School and later Epsom College (1935 ...

. He served as president until 1986, when he was succeeded by Sir Ian Todd. In 1987, he gave the Hunterian Oration, a lecture of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Honours

In the

1984 Queen's Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in suppl ...

, Slaney was appointed a

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(KBE) and therefore granted the title '' sir''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slaney, Geoffrey 1922 births 2016 deaths British vascular surgeons Academics of the University of Birmingham Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons Royal Army Medical Corps officers