Tony Jackson

Short abstract

Paediatrician who became a pioneer in the management of cystic fibrosis

Tony Jackson made a considerable contribution to the transformation of cystic fibrosis from a fatal disease of infancy to a chronic disease of adults. He applied the developing technology and pharmaceutical developments to everyday practice, supported families and patients, and, after retirement, gave strategic direction to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust research and medical advisory committee, of which he was chairman. The trust awarded him its John Panchaud medal.

Tony began his training in the children's department at the Middlesex Hospital, London, before moving to the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, under the direction of Sir Wilfred Sheldon. As a senior paediatric registrar he worked with Dr Winifred Young in her cystic fibrosis clinic at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children, London. He returned to Great Ormond Street as lecturer and first assistant to Professor Sir Alan Moncrieff at the Institute of Child Health in 1956 before being appointed to the staff of The London Hospital and St Margaret's Hospital, Epping, in 1959. In those days there were only two paediatricians on the staff of The London Hospital.

In 1965 he transferred his St Margaret's sessions to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children, taking on the care of the younger children in the cystic fibrosis clinic. He diagnosed his first case of Munchausen's syndrome by proxy in the early 1960s, 13 years before Roy Meadow gave the syndrome its name. The toddler had been repeatedly poisoned with barbiturates.

Tony had a natural flair for organisation and attention to detail. This was evident throughout his life—both in his work and leisure activities. In the days long before rotating registrar appointments were usual he set up a rotation spanning district general hospital paediatrics, research in neonatal physiology, and teaching hospital paediatrics. In 1970 he was appointed postgraduate dean at The London Hospital Medical College, a post he held for 12 years. At the request of the dean, his friend, Sir John Ellis, he established a new computerised system of preregistration house appointments between The London and district general hospitals in the south of England. At Tony's insistence this system gave equal weight to the choices of candidates and consultants—a change that gained considerably more approval from the former than from the latter.

Figure 1.

During his time at The London he was a strong supporter of student extracurricular activities and this combined with his paediatric teaching led the students to elect him staff president of The London Hospital Clubs Union.

Anthony Derek Maurice Jackson was born in Dublin in 1918. Although his prowess on the rugby field led to a scholarship to St Mary's Hospital, London, he chose to go to the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, graduating during the second world war. After a shortened preregistration period at the Middlesex and Harrow hospitals, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and served in Holland, Germany, and north Africa, where he saw an epidemic of smallpox. Whilst stationed in Tripoli he met Jess Wilkes, a physiotherapist, whom he married in 1946.

Following demobilisation and a year in general practice, he embarked on a career in paediatrics. He was elected to the council of the Royal College of Physicians and subsequently became chairman of the paediatric committee, an appointment he held for 10 years. When the joint paediatric committee between the three royal colleges and the British Paediatric Association (BPA) was set up in 1978, he was invited by Sir Douglas Black (obituary BMJ 2003;326: 503) to be one of the two representatives of the London College and served on this committee until its dissolution in 1987. He was made a censor in 1980 and was a member of the part 2 MRCP examining board for 10 years, three of them as paediatric secretary.

In 1981 Tony became president of the section of paediatrics of the Royal Society of Medicine and for about 20 years contributed to the running of the BPA—he held the posts of secretary of the academic board and honorary treasurer. He was joint author with Professor Donald Court of the BPA's blueprint for the future of paediatrics, Paediatrics in the Seventies. His skill as a photographer led to him being regarded as almost the official photographer at BPA meetings.

In 1986 he was elected president of the Association for Paediatric Education in Europe, having been a member since 1974. In retirement he held the post of medical adviser to the Variety Club of Great Britain for 11 years.

He leaves Jess; three children; and four grandchildren.

Anthony Derek Maurice Jackson, consultant paediatrician Royal London Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children 1959-83 (b Dublin, Eire, 1918; q Middlesex Hospital 1943; MD, FRCP, FRCPCH), died from pneumonia and peritonitis related to chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis on 24 December 2005.