John Studd: a towering figure in gynaecology

One of the most forthright doctors of his age, John Studd fired controversy in both the medical and the political arenas. Few other doctors have been driven to the same degree by the uncompromising belief that they were right.

Among the last of the old style, paternalistic consultants, he made enemies for his Thatcherite support of private healthcare, but he stands out as one of the towering figures in women’s medicine. The “Studd curve” features on every woman’s partogram and is one of the foundations of modern labour management. Studd also had a pioneering role in developing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and launched the in vitro fertilisation unit at London’s Lister Hospital.