Marshall Marinker: academic general practitioner who laid the foundations of modern general practice
BMJ 2019; 365 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l4337 (Published 21 June 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;365:l4337
- Roger Jones, editor, British Journal of General Practice
- roger.jones{at}kcl.ac.uk
Shortly before his death, Marshall Marinker spoke at an event at the Royal College of General Practitioners to honour the memory of Michael Balint, the great Hungarian psychoanalyst. The event included the unveiling of a plaque on the house in Regent’s Park, London, where Balint had lived and worked. Over 50 years earlier Marshall, then practising as a GP in Essex, had applied to join Balint’s research group and was interviewed there, at length. Balint had put his arm round Marshall’s shoulder and told him that he was accepted: “You will love the work. After all, you’re a little bit crazy.”
Setting the agenda for general practice
The contribution that Marshall made by bringing Balint’s ideas into mainstream general practice—illuminating, analysing, and valuing the central importance of the doctor-patient relationship—cannot be overstated. It was a crucial theme in the landmark publication in 1972 of The Future General Practitioner: Learning and Teaching, written by Marshall and five other giants of general practice (Pat Byrne, Paul Freeling, Conrad Harris, John Horder, and Donald Irvine). The book set the agenda for the conduct, teaching, and assessment of general practice for decades. In Marshall’s words, it defined the discipline.
Balint was one of the three men who Marshall says shaped his intellectual life. The second was his father, Izydor, born in Warsaw …
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