Kenneth Hunter (physician)
Kenneth Ross Hunter FRCP (31 May 1939 – 26 April 2013) was a Scottish consultant physician who specialised in diabetes.[1]
Education[edit]
Hunter was born in Glasgow and educated at Strathallan School near Perth, Scotland, and St John's College, Cambridge.[1][2] He proceeded to University College Hospital, London, for his clinical training and was awarded the Fellowes gold medal.[1] Following the conclusion of his house appointments, which included working for Max Rosenheim, he was appointed to a general medical rotation post between the University College Hospital and the Whittington Hospital.[1] In 1967, he gained Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP).[1]
Physician[edit]
Hunter completed his MD and was appointed to a general medical rotating post in Bristol, though he started in Plymouth, and this is where he began working with diabetes.[1] After four years in Bristol he was seconded to Hammersmith Hospital in London, to receive specialist training in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics.[1] He was the first person to qualify in this new discipline in the United Kingdom.[1] Unfortunately, the post that was created for him had to be cancelled because of a financial crisis and cutbacks.[1]
In March 1977, Hunter was appointed as a general physician with a special interest in diabetes to the Plymouth Health District.[1] He began his consultant career at Devonport Hospital, before moving to Freedom Fields Hospital and then to Derriford Hospital.[1] Initially, the diabetic clinic was based at Freedom Fields and consisted of Hunter and one clinical assistant.[1] By 1999, there was a diabetes centre, with five specialist nurses, full-time dietetic and chiropody support, and a team of research nurses.[1] This multidisciplinary approach enabled the Plymouth centre to become the first in the United Kingdom to move all its patients on to a new form and strength of insulin.[1]
Hunter was a member of the British Medical Association national committee, the regional manpower committee, and sat on numerous committees at hospital, district and regional levels.[1] In 1983, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) for whom he was a regional adviser and examiner.[1] Hunter was also awarded an honorary fellowship by the College of Occupational Therapists in 1992.[1] He published numerous research papers during his career.
In 2001, Hunter gave the FitzPatrick lecture at the Royal College of Physicians.[1] He spoke about the career of John Clarke, whose 1781 notes from John Hunter's lectures on surgery had been found in Plymouth.[3][1] Hunter also served as both secretary and treasurer of the Plymouth Medical Society.[1]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "Kenneth Ross Hunter". Royal College of Physicians. 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
- ^ "K R Hunter" (PDF). The Strathallian. December 1963. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
- ^ Hunter, Kenneth Ross (4 April 2001). John Clarke (1760 – 1815): one of John Hunter’s Pupils (Speech). 2001 FitzPatrick lecture. Royal College of Physicians, London. Retrieved 12 October 2015.