Robert Martin Rowan

Robert Martin Rowan

Martin Rowan started his career at Heathfield Hospital in Ayrshire, moving to the department of haematology at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in 1963; he became a consultant in haematology at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1969, and in 1977 he was appointed as head of the haematology department at the Glasgow Western Infirmary and senior lecturer in haematology at the University of Glasgow until his retirement in 1996. While at the Royal Infirmary he began his research into laboratory instrumentation, especially the potential developments in automated analysers, which were just beginning to appear, and he realised their future role in the organisation of modern laboratory practice. This was to be his life study, continuing long after his formal retirement until his final illness. He made major contributions to these important topics; under his direction his department gained an international reputation as a centre of excellence for the evaluation, standardisation, and quality control of laboratory instruments, and the clinical reliability of laboratory tests.

He published numerous scientific papers as well as contributing to textbooks, and as a skilled lecturer he took part in many scientific symposia in the United Kingdom and overseas. His acknowledged expertise led to his being invited to serve on many authoritative bodies. In the UK he served on the steering committee and also on the advisory panel of the National External Quality Assessment Scheme (NEQAS), and he was a member of the British Committee for Standards in Haematology, where he was coauthor of several guideline documents that have been adopted as standard methods for laboratory practice in the UK and beyond. He served on European Union committees on standards as well as on working groups of the World Health Organization, including coauthorship of their publications on laboratory safety, calibration, control and maintenance of haematology equipment, laboratory services for primary health care. He also served for many years as the executive secretary of the International Council for Standardization in Haematology and as a member of a number of their expert panels. He was, thus, a major influence in laboratory medicine. On retirement he became a consultant to one of the main international laboratory instrument companies, where his contributions to the development of innovative technology has been responsible for many of the recent advances in their analysers that are now used in diagnostic laboratories. He was a superb committee chairman, being qualified for this role by his sense of humour, soft spoken but authoritative voice, professional expertise, and patient understanding of the individual concerns and problems of each of the committee members.

He enjoyed classical music and was an accomplished pianist. His other pleasures were gardening and travelling, and he was a keen hill walker. He leaves a wife, Betty; two adult children; his mother; and numerous colleagues who were proud to be his friends. [Mitchell Lewis]