Sir Abraham Goldberg (7 December 1923 – 1 September 2007) was a British physician who was a

Regius Professor A Regius Professor is a university Professor (highest academic rank), professor who has, or originally had, Monarchy of the United Kingdom, royal patronage or appointment. They are a unique feature of academia in the United Kingdom and Republic ...

of the Practice of

Medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

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 ...

. He was educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh and the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

Early life

Sir Abraham (Abe) Goldberg was born in

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 ...

on 7 December 1923, the youngest of five children of

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immigrant parents from

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Career

After junior hospital medical posts and

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

with the Royal Army Medical Corps in Egypt, Goldberg obtained a Nuffield fellowship in the Department of Chemical Pathology at

University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lo ...

, London. Here he worked with the Professor of Chemical Pathology, Claude Rimmington, in learning the techniques which were to underpin his future research studies on the blood pigment haem and its relation to the disease

porphyria Porphyria ( or ) is a group of disorders in which substances called porphyrins build up in the body, adversely affecting the skin or nervous system. The types that affect the nervous system are also known as Porphyria#Acute porphyrias, acute p ...

. After a year and a half spent on an

Eli Lilly Eli Lilly (July 8, 1838 – June 6, 1898) was a Union Army officer, pharmacist, chemist, and businessman who founded Eli Lilly and Company. Lilly enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War and recruited a company of men to ...

travelling fellowship in

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with the haematologist Max Wintrobe, Goldberg returned to Scotland in 1956. He obtained his MD from the University of Edinburgh at this time, with his thesis ''Acute intermittent porphyria'', and began working as a lecturer in medicine in the Department of Medicine of the

, where he was to spend the remainder of his professional career. The mid-1960s saw him being awarded

DSc DSC or Dsc may refer to: Education * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dyal Sin ...

and securing a Personal Chair in the Department of Medicine, Western Infirmary, University of Glasgow. As editor of the '' Scottish Medical Journal'' in 1962-63, he presided over the initiation of a special series on Scottish medical education which was published in book form in April 1963. Subsequent to this, over the next 20 years, he made contributions to the development of medical education through, for example, the production of a bedside teaching manual for medical students (known as "the green book"), the production of a clinical examination slide-tape series (with Albert Yeung), and a major paper on the future of Scottish medical education in the Health Bulletin, in addition to his bedside teaching, lectures and supervision of students undertaking postgraduate degrees. He became a world authority on

, and a leading expert on

lead poisoning Lead poisoning, also known as plumbism and saturnism, is a type of metal poisoning caused by lead in the body. Symptoms may include abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, irritability, memory problems, infertility, numbness and paresthesia, t ...

, being influential in improving the safety of the water supply to Glasgow. He was appointed to the Regius Chair of Materia Medica, Stobhill Hospital in 1970, succeeding Stanley Alstead. He built up the Department of Materia Medica and supervised Brian Whiting, later to be Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, in the development of a drug interaction disc which ultimately was distributed to all practising doctors in the UK. This activity, together with other work on

pharmacodynamics Pharmacodynamics (PD) is the study of the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiologic effects of drugs (especially pharmaceutical drugs). The effects can include those manifested within animals (including humans), microorganisms, or comb ...

, laid the foundation for later achievements including the chairmanship of the Committee on the Safety of Medicines and the Founding Presidency of the

Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine The Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine (FPM) is a faculty of the three Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom (the Royal College of Physicians London, the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians and ...

of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK. His work on lead poisoning, an interest of his in the 1960s, continued while at Stobhill Hospital and he was an influential figure in promoting a safer, lead-free water supply to the people of Glasgow. In 1974, he was responsible for establishing the West of Scotland Alcohol Research Group; he was interested in research associated with alcohol and, indeed, he was also a former member of the Scottish Council on Alcoholism. In 1978, following the death of Graeme Wilson, he was appointed to the Regius Chair of the Practice of Medicine, Western Infirmary, Glasgow. A year later he was invited to chair the UK Government's Committee on the Safety of Medicines. In 1982, he was knighted for services to medicine.

Personal life

He married Clarice Cussin in 1957, with whom he had three children; Richard (Professor of Law at Durham University), David (Professor of Public Health at Glasgow Caledonian University) and Jennifer.

References

External links

Biography of Sir Abraham Goldberg
University of Glasgow Story {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Abraham 1923 births 2007 deaths Medical doctors from Edinburgh People educated at George Heriot's School Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 20th-century Scottish medical doctors Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Glasgow Knights Bachelor 20th-century British Army personnel Royal Army Medical Corps officers Knights_Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire