Henry Walton

Abstract

Henry Walton, who died on 13 July this year, aged 88 years, was an extraordinary man who made outstanding contributions to this journal and to medical education more widely. He edited the journal in its various forms for more than 30 years. It was his vision and drive that transformed the British Journal of Medical Education into the International Journal of Medical Education and then into, simply, Medical Education. The global reach and worldwide responsibilities of medical education lay at the heart of his work and his achievements. Henry grew up in South Africa and graduated from the medical school in Cape Town. After postgraduate training in London and New York, and subsequent to a short period back in South Africa, he was invited to take up a Chair in Psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh in 1963. His clinical research interests included suicidal behaviour, alcoholism and the inter-relationships of physical and mental illnesses presenting in general hospitals. From the outset of his career in Edinburgh, Henry devoted much of his time to research in higher education, completing a PhD in the teaching of psychiatry in the mid-1960s and helping to found the Society for Research in Higher Education in 1971. Within higher education, medical education was Henry’s passion. His role in creating and developing institutions devoted to improving medical education is unequalled: he was secretary and then president of the Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME), a founder and the first president of the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE), and a founder and first president of the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME). In 1986 the University of Edinburgh appointed Henry to the Chair in International Medical Education. In this role and as president of the WFME in 1988, Henry organised the World Congress in Medical Education that produced the Edinburgh Declaration. The 12 principles set out in that document have proved to be of great influence. In particular, they underpin the WFME global standards that represent a benchmark for quality in medical education and are applied directly or indirectly in countries across the world. Henry was honoured with many awards, notably the Gold Medal of the Albert Schweitzer Academy of Medicine in 2003. This list of achievements does not capture the unique style that Henry brought to all his activities. I had the privilege of working with Henry in both his clinical and educational spheres. He was gracious and charming in manner, but tenacious in the pursuit of his goal: his was a steel hand in a silk glove. Silk is an appropriate description; immaculate in his attire, Henry was never afraid to dress with an edge of flamboyance in the conservative world of medicine. Art collecting was the other enduring passion that Henry pursued with energy, determination and success. As in his dress, he was eclectic: his collection contained challenging examples of modern art, as well as drawings by various of the Old Masters and Chinese jade pieces. High quality was his only requirement for the decision to purchase. Variety and individuality attracted him in art, in psychiatry and in medical education. In his clinical work, Henry insisted on a rigorous personality description, as well as an illness diagnosis. In medical education, he was particularly interested in the learning that takes place in small groups. In all three spheres, he wished to understand the interactions of an individual with his or her specific context and environment. The quality of his art collection led to its acceptance in 2010 by the National Galleries for Scotland. Henry’s art collection is one of his legacies; the Edinburgh Declaration is another, but the third, in my view, is his greatest: Medical Education. This journal continually develops and changes because Henry set it free from the limitations and preoccupations of one country to enable it to become a forum for those interested in improving medical education, wherever they live and work.