Professor Ian Aird: Master of surgical education

Ian Aird (1905–1962) was a Scottish surgeon renowned for his textbook: “A companion in surgical studies”, a uniquely single-author work of thousands of pages. It was an essential study for young surgeons aspiring to pass the FRCS (Edin) examination. He was appointed Chair of Surgery of the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital in London. Under his direction, his faculty developed a pump oxygenator, used it successfully for the first time in a patient and introduced cardiac surgery in Russia. They also pioneered kidney transplantation in Britain. Aird himself discovered the relationship of blood groups to cancer and peptic ulceration. He became famous for the surgical separation of conjoined twins from Nigeria, fame that created conflicts with medical authority on the issue of cooperating with the press. He became frustrated when the medical council refused to support and sponsor funding for research. Sadly, even his indomitable energy and brilliance could not see him through his depression. He committed suicide at the age of 57.

Martin H:son Holmdahl

Uppsala Medical Society has the sad duty to inform about the death of Martin H:son Holmdahl, who died in his 92nd year on 11 March 2015. He is remembered with gratitude for his important work for science, education, humanity, and medicine in the academic community in Uppsala. He was born in Gothenburg in 1923, the son of Henrik Holmdahl, MD, into a family of academics, priests, and medical doctors. He began his medical studies in Uppsala in 1942 and finished them in 1950. He completed his thesis at the Department of Physiology in 1956 on ‘apnoic oxygenation’ under the mentorship of Professor Henrik Enghoff. Already in the late 1940s Martin H:son Holmdahl was contacted by the professor of surgery, Olle Hultén, to give guidance on anaesthesia. His leadership for anaesthesia in Uppsala was formalized in 1953. He did part of his training at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London.