Biochemistry at Guy's Hospital Medical School : Prof. R. H. S. Thompson

Abstract

THE appointment of Dr. R. H. S. Thompson to the new University chair of chemical pathology at Guy's Hospital Medical School, London, is no surprise to those acquainted with his work. During the course of a distinguished career, he has been concerned in some twenty-nine publications covering several aspects of biochemistry. As a Millard scholar of Trinity College, Oxford, he early showed promise and became senior demy of Magdalen College in 1933. At this time he worked with Prof. R. A. Peters upon the role of vitamin B1in the metabolism of pyruvic acid in brain ; extending the work (with R. E. Johnson) to the important observation, now applied clinically, of increased pyruvic acid in blood in the terminal conditions of this deficiency. Following this, as a scholar at Guy's Hospital, he was awarded the Laidlaw Prize in 1937 and published research with Prof. G. Payling Wright on the chemistry of Gaucher's disease. As the Adrian Stokes travelling fellow, working with Dr. Dubos at the Rockefeller Institute in New York (1937-38), he published work upon the important enzyme ribo-nuclease, and upon the production of experimental osteomyelitis. Upon his return to Oxford in 1938, he became University demonstrator in biochemistry and fellow and tutor of University College. Since 1946, he has acted as dean of the Medical School. At the outbreak of the War he joined the team working upon antidotes to the war gases under the direction of Prof. Peters and took a prominent part with Dr. L. A. Stocken in the discovery and development of British anti-lewisite (2-3 dimercaptopropenol). He has also been much concerned with the clinical developments of this substance and is now acting as secretary of the Medical Research Council Conference on B. A. L. During the War he also co-operated with Netley Hospital in the nutritional treatment of post-arsphenamine jaundice, and in 1944-46 was attached to the Australian Army as Major, R. A. M. C. He was awarded in 1943 the Radcliffe Prize for medical research, Oxford.