Our colleague and friend Prof. Hugh MacPherson passed away on Sunday, August 20, 2020, at the age of 72. Hugh was the pioneer in acupuncture research in the UK and the first Professor of Acupuncture Research. Over his career, he made numerous important contributions specific to the field of acupuncture research and in general to the complementary and alternative medicine. He served as an editorial board member of Integrative Medicine Research since the launch of the journal in 2012. His contributions to the CAM research left a legacy.
He was trained as a practitioner of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine in the early 1980’s, becoming a registered acupuncturist in 1983. He then practiced acupuncture over his career. He founded the Northern College of Acupuncture (NCA) in 1988. He was Chair of Trustees at the NCA, Research Director at the Foundation for Research into Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Clinical Director at the York Clinic for Integrated Healthcare. He also founded and coordinated the international STRICTA group.
He was a passionate scholar who authored many scientific articles and was the book editor of Integrating East Asian Medicine into Contemporary Healthcare, Acupuncture Research, and Acupuncture in Practice. His acupuncture research included safety studies, clinical trials and systematic reviews. His trials evaluated the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of acupuncture for a variety of conditions that are problematic in primary care, including low back pain, irritable bowel syndrome, depression and chronic neck pain. He also conducted neuroimaging studies exploring potential mechanisms of acupuncture and finally yet importantly his understanding and knowledge about acupuncture as a complex intervention have had a great impact in the research community. Hence, Hugh’s research has contributed to the establishment of fundamental basis of clinical evidence for acupuncture worldwide, and his academic activities inspired many researchers. It has been our great pleasure to read his papers and to have discussions with him.
Many friends and colleagues around the world have paid their tributes to Hugh at the website https://hughmacpherson.nca.ac.uk/.