Sir Peter Lachmann, global authority on immunology dedicated to fighting ‘bad science’ – obituary
He advanced our understanding of the body’s immune system, was an authority on bees, and was noted for his bracing admonishments
Sir Peter Lachmann in 2003
Credit: Eric TRAVERS/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Professor Peter Lachmann, who has died aged 89, was Sheila Joan Smith Professor of Immunology at Cambridge University and made huge contributions to scientific understanding of the “complement system” which contributes to the process by which the body eliminates harmful cells and triggers the production of immune cells known as cytokines.
Lachmann published more than 450 research papers elucidating the complex pathways of the complement system and investigating the immunology of diseases such as measles, systemic lupus erythematosus (a chronic autoimmune disease that causes fatigue and joint pain), mechanisms in tumour immunology and allergy to insect stings caused by
Professor Richard White, world authority on kidney disease in children – obituary
He carried out the first paediatric biopsy in Europe in 1959 and helped to transform renal treatment for young people
Richard White: he was noted for his carefulness and attention to detail
Professor Richard White, who has died aged 94, was a paediatrician who improved the care of children with kidney disease.
In the 1950s he became interested in diseases of the kidney in children. These often manifest as nephrotic syndrome, in which the kidneys leak protein, resulting in low blood levels of albumen; there is severe whole-body swelling due to fluid retention. Though this was first described as Bright’s Disease in 1820 there was still a dearth of information to accurately diagnose it.
Professor Peter Dunn, paediatrician who improved the care of newborn babies – obituary
He developed standards of care which improved survival rates and was one of the first to use CPAP for babies in respiratory distress
Peter Dunn
Credit: Wellcome Library, London
Professor Peter Dunn, who has died at the age of 92, was a paediatrician whose work contributed greatly to survival rates of newborn babies and was a driving force in establishing regional networks of care; in 1950, 40 of every 1000 babies born alive died within seven days. Today it is eight.
Peter Dunn was born on June 23 1929 in Birmingham. His father, an orthopaedic surgeon, died when he was 10; his mother was an ex- VAD nurse. After Marlborough and undergraduate studies in St John’s College, Cambridge, Peter took the unusual step of moving to Birmingham for his clinical studies.
Bornstein: a hippyish figure, he wrote poetry, including an ode to a wrestling match
Credit: NBC NEWS
Harold Bornstein, Donald Trump’s former personal physician, who has died aged 73, hit the headlines in 2015 when he issued a letter claiming that the 70-year-old, overweight, junk-food eating would-be Republican candidate would “unequivocally” be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”
Trump had been insinuating that Hillary Clinton, his putative Democratic opponent, did not have the stamina for the presidency, and when questioned about his own health ordered Bornstein to issue “a full medical report’’, predicting that “it will show perfection.”
Bornstein’s letter, a scrappy four paragraphs, went on to claim that Trump’s “laboratory results were astonishingly excellent”, but surprise was expressed in some quarters at the language used, one pundit calling it “the single most absurd letter ever written by a doctor in the history o