John Feely
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: John Feely, who died in June 2009 at the untimely age of 61, was Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at Trinity College Dublin, a post to which he was appointed in 1984. Over the next 25 years, he built up a department with a reputation for excellence in teaching, research and health service delivery, and he soon became internationally regarded as an eminent clinical pharmacologist and authority on hypertension. He was a leading light in, and strong supporter of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (CPT) in Ireland and was responsible for the establishment of its first training scheme for CPT. He was born in Limerick in 1947, where his father John was a prominent doctor. He qualified in medicine at University College Dublin in 1971, and then went on to obtain a BSc in pharmacology 2 years later. His success as an undergraduate was reflected in appointments to posts in professorial departments, where his research skills were quickly recognized and nurtured. He joined the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of Dundee in 1976, where he worked with the late Jim Crooks and the late Ian Stevenson. He obtained his MD on the ‘Clinical Pharmacology of Propranolol in Thyroid disorders’ in 1979, and in the same year was awarded the prestigious Merck Sharp and Dohme International Fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology. This took him to the Department of Clinical Pharmacology in Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee for 2 years, working closely with Alastair Wood and others on drug metabolism, liver blood flow and drug interactions. In 1980 John joined the British Pharmacological Society (BPS), which just 2 years later formally recognized the quality of his scientific contributions by awarding him the Smith Kline and French prize for research in clinical pharmacology. He went on to publish more than 260 original papers over a wide range of subjects. These included important findings in drug metabolism and interactions, pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacoeconomics, drug safety, and particularly in cardiovascular clinical pharmacology. John had a strong commitment to the Society and 38 of his original papers appeared in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. He was a gifted and popular teacher and he ensured that medical students in Trinity College were offered a sound training in pharmacology and therapeutics before they went on to become prescribers of medicines. He was committed to undergraduate teaching and encouraged a research ethos among his students. Those of us who heard him present at the Society will remember just how good a communicator he was. This was in part due to his clarity of thought and ideas, but also to his infectious enthusiasm and well-developed sense of humour. As a result, he was in great demand as a lecturer internationally. He was a skilled writer and editor, and his book, New Drugs, based on articles he had written for the British Medical Journal, continued to be published through several editions. John Feely believed that clinical pharmacology had much to offer to patients, and he developed hypertension and lipid management clinics in St James's Hospital with high reputations for excellence in delivery of care. His own standing in the field was recognized in his appointment to the Chair of the Irish Blood Pressure Council. His interest in encouraging rational and cost-effective prescribing meant that he was a major force behind the development of the National Medicines Information Centre (where he was the Medical Director), the National Pharmacoeconomics Unit and the Centre for Advanced Clinical Therapeutics in Ireland. John Feely behaved with great integrity and was held in affection by colleagues all over the world. He was approachable, generous and supportive, and he had the ability to pass his enthusiasm on to others. As a result, several clinical pharmacologists in Europe and elsewhere have been influenced by John, and are making important contributions to the subject as a result of the mentorship and training he provided. He was a great listener, and many of his colleagues went to him for advice, which he gave unstintingly. His reputation as a clinician was such that many of his colleagues would choose him as their own physician. He regularly attended the Society's scientific meetings and hosted the summer meeting in Dublin in 1988. He also encouraged his trainees to present regularly at the Society's meetings. The last BPS meeting he attended was the winter meeting in Brighton in December 2008, just before his final illness was diagnosed. John was great company. He would often delight his friends and colleagues with anecdotes, delivered with perfect comic timing. Despite everything he achieved, he always retained a deep humanity and humility, treating all as equals. At John's funeral service, his friend and colleague Davis Coakley observed how John ‘wore his honours lightly’. Whatever he did, he strove for excellence, in order to do the best for his patients, colleagues, friends and, most importantly, his family. He was devoted to his wife, Deidre and their children, Claire, Michael, Robert and John. He also leaves two sisters and two brothers, one of whom, Morgan, is a clinical pharmacologist in Leeds.
Authors: Phil Routledge, David Williams
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4242301136