Dr Gavin Shaw, who undertook pioneering work in developing the use of cardiac pacemakers and in cardiac resuscitation and who played a prominent part in the development of medical services and postgraduate medical education in the greater Glasgow area, has died at the age of 88. He was a past president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and was influential in developing its status as a leading postgraduate educational institute.

Gavin Brown Shaw was born and brought up in Uddingston, near Glasgow. He attended Glasgow Academy and Glasgow University, graduating BSc in 1939 and MB ChB in 1942. During his time at the university he served as secretary, and later president, of the students’ representative council.

In 1942 he was appointed house physician to Sir John McNee at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow. McNee was the first clinical professor to be employed in Glasgow on a full time basis, as part of a deliberate policy of reforming the university medical school along modern lines and of raising its academic standards.

In 1943 Gavin was commissioned as a …