(Edward) Miles Vaughan Williams (8 August 1918 – 31 August 2016) was a British cardiac pharmacologist and academic. He is best known for the
Vaughan Williams classification of antidysrhythmic drugs.
From 1955 to 1985, he was a
Fellow
A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
of
Hertford College, Oxford
Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main ga ...
, and its
Tutor
Tutoring is private academic help, usually provided by an expert teacher; someone with deep knowledge or defined expertise in a particular subject or set of subjects.
A tutor, formally also called an academic tutor, is a person who provides assis ...
in medicine.
Life
He was born in
Bangalore
Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
to Stella and Arthur Vaughan Williams.
His father, an engineer working on the railways of India, was a cousin of the composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
. He received his primary and secondary education from
Wellington college in Berkshire, and higher education from
Wadham College
Wadham College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy Wadham, a ...
in Oxford, where he studied philosophy and classics (
Greats). He became an ambulance officer during the Second World War. Upon his return to Oxford, he switched from Greats to Medicine.
In 1956, he married Marie, born Londès de Payen de l'Hôtel de Lagarde, with whom he had three children.
She died 4 June 2024.
Scientific work
He is best known for his work on beta-adrenoceptor antagonists (better known as
beta blocker
Beta blockers, also spelled β-blockers, are a class of medications that are predominantly used to manage abnormal heart rhythms ( arrhythmia), and to protect the heart from a second heart attack after a first heart attack ( secondary prevention ...
), and for the development of the first widely used classification system for antidysrhythmic drugs, commonly known as the
Vaughan Williams classification. This classification system is still widely taught. His work has been recognized through an honorary fellowship of the
American College of Clinical Pharmacology
The American College of Clinical Pharmacology® (ACCP) is a national organization of clinical pharmacology healthcare professionals who seek to advance clinical pharmacology.
History and mission
In the 1960s, a group of physicians formulated t ...
and an honorary doctorate from the
Sorbonne.
Hertford College
Miles was the first full science fellow of
Hertford College, Oxford
Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main ga ...
, appointed in 1955. Apart from teaching, his major contribution to the college included improvements to the fabric of the building, and the design of the Holywell Quadrangle.
He used funding from pharmaceutical companies to provide travel funds for medical students at the college.
Selected publications
* A classification of antiarrhythmic actions reassessed after a decade of new drugs (1984)
* The multiple-modes of action of propafenone (1984)
* Effects of selective alpha-1-adrenoceptor,alpha-2-adrenoceptor,beta-1-adrenoceptor and beta-2-adrenoceptor stimulation on potentials and contractions in the rabbit heart (1984)
* Effects on rabbit nodal, atrial, ventricular and purkinje-cell potentials of a new antiarrhythmic drug, cibenzoline, which protects against action-potential shortening in hypoxia (1982)
Fitness
*You Don't Need a Gym (2010)
References
1918 births
2016 deaths
British pharmacologists
Fellows of Hertford College, Oxford
British people in colonial India
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