Professor Ray Donnelly MBE FRCS (born 1936) is a British cardiothoracic surgeon and founder of the UK's only lung cancer charity, the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.

Biography

Donnelly was born in

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 ...

in 1936, graduated from

St Mary's Hospital Medical School St Mary's Hospital Medical School was the youngest of the constituent medical schools of Imperial College School of Medicine, founded in 1854 as part of the new hospital in Paddington. During its existence in the 1980s and 1990s, it was the most ...

in 1961 and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh in 1969. In 1973, he was a research fellow at

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is a teaching hospital located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the original and largest clinical education and research facility of Harvard Medical School/Harvar ...

, and in 1975 was appointed a Consultant in Liverpool specialising in paediatric cardiac and adult thoracic surgery. From 1979 he devoted himself entirely to thoracic surgery, developing a number of innovative techniques.

Career

He is the author of over 75 scientific papers. He has been was elected to membership of the

American Association for Thoracic Surgery The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) is an international association of cardiothoracic surgeons. It was founded in 1917 by the earliest pioneers in the field of thoracic surgery. Headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts, it has ove ...

, the

European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery The European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) is a membership organisation devoted to the practice of cardiothoracic surgery. The mission statement of the association is to advance education in the field of cardiac, thoracic and va ...

and the

Society of Thoracic Surgeons The Society of Thoracic Surgeons is a Chicago, Illinois (US)-based medical specialty professional society in the field of cardiothoracic surgery. Membership worldwide includes more than 7,500 surgeons, researchers, and other health care profession ...

. He served on the National Executive of the Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland and was chairman of the Medical Research Council Working Party on cancer of the oesophagus. He has been visiting professor to several universities abroad. He retired from surgical practice in 1998 and was appointed Professor of Lung Cancer Studies at

Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public university, public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This ...

, where he had previously been appointed an Honorary Fellow. In 1990 Donnelly founded the Lung Cancer Fund to promote an intensive research programme into the causes, prevention and management of the disease. In 1993 he began development of an international centre for lung cancer research in Liverpool.

Roy Castle Roy Castle (31 August 1932 – 2 September 1994) was an English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician. An accomplished jazz trumpet player, he could also play many other instruments. In a career as a versatile perfo ...

was approached to give his name to the appeal to build the centre and twelve months after Roy died, the Trustees of the Lung Cancer Fund agreed to a proposal from Donnelly in 1995 to change the name of the charity to the

Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation is a registered charity in the United Kingdom which aims to provide help and hope to people affected by lung cancer. Founded in Liverpool in 1990, it is the only UK charity to focus solely on lung cancer care. T ...

. Donnelly Stepped down as chairman in 1998 and retired as medical director of the foundation in March 2000, having been appointed vice president of the charity. He became president of the foundation in 2001. In 1991, Professor Donnelly carried out the first keyhole surgery to remove a lung cancer. In 1997, he opened a new Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation office in his home town of Glasgow, to provide patient information and support. In 1998, he opened the world-renowned, international lung cancer research centre, in Liverpool. In 2009, Professor Donnelly was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by the Queen. In 2015, the charity he founded announced it was acquiring the award-winning, anti-tobacco short films competition for young people, Cut Films.Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation website, accessed June 2015, http://www.roycastle.org/news/roy-castle-lung-cancer-foundation-announces-merger-plan He has written three books: ''Cinderella Cancer'', a personal history of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, ''Roy Castle Remembered'', and ''With Jesus to Calvary'', reflections on the Stations of the Cross in verse. He has been married for 54 years and has five children and six grandchildren. He enjoys his family, golf and writing.

References

External links

Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donnelly, Ray 1936 births Living people British surgeons Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Academics of Liverpool John Moores University Health professionals from Glasgow Members of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of St Mary's Hospital Medical School