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Allen Recently,
Michael Edwin Allen, MRPharmS, aged 74, of 12 Balmoral Close, Putney,
London SW15 6RP. Mr Allen registered in 1955. (Tribute)
Marsh On 17 January, Pamela Marsh, née Fox, MRPharmS, aged 68,
of 25 Bryanston Road, Solihull, West Midlands B91 1EN. Mrs Marsh registered
in 1961. She worked all her professional life, mainly part time, in various
Birmingham hospitals and community pharmacies, spending her last 20 years
at Solihull Hospital. She is survived by her husband Neil and daughters
Jennifer Coley and Sara Goodwin.
Parkinson On 2 December 2006, William Roland Parkinson, FRPharmS, aged
84, of 141 Norris Road, Sale, Cheshire M33 3GS. Mr Parkinson registered
in 1944.
Scales On 16 January, Jenny Osborne Scales, née Hughes, MRPharmS,
aged 37, of 17 Wilson Close, Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire
CM23 3US. Mrs Scales registered in 1991.
Tomlinson On 13 January, Peter William Tomlinson, aged 82, of 16 Harborough
Road, Desborough, Northamptonshire NN14 2QY. Mr Tomlinson registered
in 1945 and retired from the Register in 2006. Since 1952 he had owned
and run a pharmacy business in Studfall Avenue in Corby, Northamptonshire.
Wilson On 14 February 2006, Shirley Wilson, née Marsden, MRPharmS,
aged 51, of 15 Hayfield Close, Tytherington, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10
2UW.
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Tribute
Allen In a tribute to the late Michael Edwin Allen, MICHAEL
CYMBALIST writes:
Michael and I met in the early 1950s when students
at the School of Pharmacy (“The Square”), at that time still
located in Bloomsbury Square. We were guinea pigs for the newly introduced
three-year BPharm honours degree of the University of London. The smallness
of the premises allowed an intake each year of only about 30 students.
Of these many of the male entrants were mature students who had completed
their military service. Most of the rest of us were in our late teens,
not long out of school, and within that group there evolved a sort of
camaraderie among those living at home in London, which included Michael
and myself. We found that we shared common interests and became friends.
However, after graduation we lost touch until 1970 when our paths crossed
again.
During the intervening years fundamental changes had occurred in the
production of medicines, in the wake of the thalidomide tragedy. New
regulatory legislation
was envisaged that made it necessary for manufacturers to review the information
they held on their products in order systematically to improve the data. Among
those recruited to undertake this activity at the international headquarters
of the Wellcome Foundation, where I happened to be based, was, to my surprise
and delight, Michael. He excelled at the task, using his writing skills and scientific
knowledge to produce high quality reports — accurate, objective and without
bias.
When he left the company he became involved in various medicines-related activities.
In particular he was knowledgeable in the field of product registration, especially
with respect to the differences between the requirements of the European and
the US authorities. Eventually he became a regulatory affairs consultant and
was in demand as a lecturer at technical symposia in numerous countries.
In his retirement he became a founder member and honorary secretary of HealthWatch,
a UK charity that promotes the assessment and testing of treatments and better
understanding by the public, that valid clinical trials
are the best way of ensuring protection. This gave him the opportunity to pursue
his constant quest to safeguard the health of the public, so maintaining the
best traditions of his chosen profession.
Ill health was a constant feature of Michael’s later years. However, he
was extremely fortunate to have a devoted wife, Walli, who tirelessly nursed
him through his many crises. My family and I extend our heartfelt sympathy to
her and to the children of whom he was so proud — Justin, an aspiring theatre
director, and the BBC News correspondent Karen Allen.
We shall miss this kind, generous, cultured and amusing friend.
Roebuck In a tribute
to the late Nicola
Anne Roebuck (PJ, 16 December,
2006, p755), MIKE CULSHAW writes:
It is with great sadness that I write
this tribute to Nicola following her untimely death in November 2006.
Nicola’s pharmaceutical career spanned 33 years following her graduation
from the Welsh School of Pharmacy in 1973. She completed her preregistration
year in the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital before becoming a resident pharmacist
at Leeds General Infirmary in 1973. She then undertook senior pharmacist positions
at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle and at St Luke’s Hospital in Bradford
before her appointment as staff pharmacist for the area drug information service
at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary in February 1980.
Nicola worked industriously for a quarter of a century to develop the medicines
information service in Huddersfield, initially under the leadership of Brian
Dawson and then myself from 1998. She was respected by clinicians, nurses,
pharmacists and, indeed, patients for her quick, accurate and appropriate responses
to their numerous complex queries.
Nicola was a pharmacist of exceptional ability and therefore she had an active
involvement in most spheres of hospital pharmacy way beyond her medicines information
portfolio. She actively contributed to patient care in the fields of intensive
care and oncology and had a national reputation for her expertise in clinical
trials. Our senior nursing staff knew her as “the queen of patient group
directions”.
She had her own charismatic way of controlling the introduction of new medicines,
many of which were locked in a cupboard to which only the privileged few were
granted access. Her office was adjacent to the dispensary and so any attempt
to prescribe or supply a sample or non-formulary medicine was soon abated.
She was a highly respected preregistration tutor and many practising pharmacists
will look back at the guidance and inspiration that they received from Nicola
in their formative years. Nicola loved teaching and delivered many lectures
in the school of human and health sciences at the University of Huddersfield.
She was an active member and ex-chairman of the Huddersfield branch of the
Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
For me, she was a trusted confidante and I can recall numerous discussions
at which we debated new ideas and ways of working for the pharmacy service.
I always knew that if I could get her on board then the ideas would become
reality.
Nicola was extremely articulate and a fun-loving person with a wicked sense
of humour who was always a central figure at any pharmacy social event. On
the other hand you soon knew if you caused her displeasure.
Nicola was, and is, still loved by her colleagues within pharmacy and on the
wards at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. We will all miss her dearly but her
strength of character will mean that her memory and firm views will live on
for many years.
Nicola was first diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2002 and, incredibly,
returned to work in January 2003 at the same time as receiving chemotherapy.
We were all devastated when her symptoms returned in November 2005 and her
battle with cancer was lost a year later. She was actively involved in her
local church and I am certain that her strong faith helped her through the
final stages of her illness.
Our thoughts are with her family — husband Bill and children Adam (19)
and Lucy (16). They are a wonderful family and through them the spirit of Nicola
Roebuck will shine for many years to come. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal