Gerald Wilson Black

Gerald Wilson Black (“Gerry”) completed his medical degree at Queen’s University Belfast. After a research fellowship in the department of anesthesiology, University of Pennsylvania, USA, he was appointed as consultant paediatric anaesthetist to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children (RBHSC) in 1960, in which capacity he served until his retirement in 1990. Much of his work involved the perioperative care of newborn infants and, recognising the need for more intensive medical and nursing care for critically ill children, he pioneered the development of paediatric intensive care in Northern Ireland. The paediatric intensive care unit in RBHSC, of which he was in administrative charge, was one of the first in the UK. He was recognised internationally as a leading authority in volatile anaesthetics and considered to be one of the outstanding anaesthetists of his generation.

For many years Gerry was involved in the investigation of the sympatho-adrenal, metabolic, and circulatory effects of the various inhalation anaesthetics. A close relation was found …