John Alexander Forbes
BMJ 2003; 327 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.327.7414.566-d (Published 04 September 2003) Cite this as: BMJ 2003;327:566Data supplement
- John Alexander Forbes
Former professor of primary medical care Southampton University (b Aberdeen 1922; MA 1947; q Aberdeen 1951; MD 1963, FRCGP 1972), died from lung cancer on 22 June 2003.John Forbes originally intended to become a lawyer, but his first degree was interrupted in 1942 when he volunteered to fight and was commissioned into the Gordon Highlanders, seeing active service in north Africa, Italy, and Palestine. He returned to Aberdeen in 1946, determined to read medicine. He was a general practitioner for 16 years in Bicester, researching and writing his MD in his spare time and contributing to the Oxford Record Linkage Study as a research fellow from 1965 to 1969. During the 1960s, he was an advocate of computerised information systems in general practice, as a mechanism for improving the delivery of care and as a research tool.
In 1969 John was appointed senior lecturer at the newly forming Southampton Medical School—which took its first students in 1971—becoming professor of primary medical care in 1972. Promoting general practice is a challenge in every medical school, tackling domination by hospital specialties with their reductionist approach to explaining and managing clinical problems. John demonstrated drive, vision, and tenacity in this task, successfully establishing general practice at the core of education and research in Southampton. Determined to produce doctors who understood the social context of illness, he developed new ways of teaching students medicine. One of these was the early medical contact scheme, in which general practitioners took first year students into patients’ homes. Before learning anatomy or physiology, students saw the patient as a person who existed before and after the acute illness. He opened the innovative university-funded Aldermoor Health Centre, a general practice with extensive facilities for teaching and research. He experimented with new models of primary care delivery, always insisting on rigorous evaluation, including attempts to measure the quality of the clinical encounter.
John’s dry and wicked sense of humour made for excellent company. He was a charming and sensitive man who could not bear cruelty or injustice. Always generous, he was never materialistic for himself. He had a lifelong passion for cricket, captaining his team before and after the war. Right up until his death, he maintained his broad knowledge of history, politics, and literature, and his love of Scotland.
He leaves a wife, June; four children (one a doctor); and five grandchildren. [Lindsay Forbes]
See more
- Introductory AddressProv Med Surg J October 03, 1840, s1-1 (1) 1-4; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.s1-1.1.1
- Report of the Meeting of the Eastern Branch of the Provincial Association at Bury St. Edmond'sProv Med Surg J October 03, 1840, s1-1 (1) 10-13; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.s1-1.1.10
- Mr. Warburton's Bill for the Regulation of the Medical ProfessionProv Med Surg J October 03, 1840, s1-1 (1) 13-15; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.s1-1.1.13
- An Atlas of Plates, illustrative of the Principles and Practice of Obstetric Medicine and Surgery, with descriptive LetterpressProv Med Surg J October 03, 1840, s1-1 (1) 4; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.s1-1.1.4
- A Practical Treatise on the Diseases peculiar to Women, illustrated by Cases, &cProv Med Surg J October 03, 1840, s1-1 (1) 4-5; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.s1-1.1.4-a