Robert William Kerwin
2007; Wiley; Volume: 63; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1111/j.1365-2125.2007.02949.x
ISSN1365-2125
Autores Tópico(s)Diet and metabolism studies
ResumoRobert W. Kerwin, psychiatrist: born Salford (Manchester) 28 September 1955; Professor of Clinical Neuropharmacology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London 1994–2007 and Founding Editor of The Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines; Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, Maudsley Hospital, London 1989–2007; Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists 1996; Treasurer, Clinical Section of British Psychopharmacological Society 1997–2001 and member of the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 1998–2003; Member of the Council of the British Association of Psychopharmacology 1994 and Treasurer 1999–2004; married (1991) Fiona Lofts (three daughters); died London 8 February 2007. Professor Robert (Rob) Kerwin was born to a working-class family and rose to become one of the most eminent psychiatrists in Britain as well as one of the world's opinion-leaders in psychopharmacology. He will be remembered as one of the great figures in the field of pharmacogenomics and for inspiring and creating evidence-based clinical guidelines for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. He made a huge contribution to psychiatry in terms of improving treatment, reducing stigma, advancing science, and raising standards for the training of young psychiatrists. In his memorial speech at the funeral, Rob's brother explained how Rob was born into a happy family in the front room of a modest house in Salford, Manchester, in September 1955. It soon became clear that he was not cut out for factory work. Outstanding in the local Grammar school, he managed to secure a place in Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took a BA in Pharmacology in 1977. He once jokingly remarked to his brother that he was living in exactly the same place where Isaac Newton used to live! He continued his academic career obtaining a PhD in neuropharmacology “A demonstration of central neurotransmitter interactions by simple methods” at the Department of Pharmacology in the University of Bristol in 1980, before returning to Westminster Medical School and the University of Cambridge to continue his training, completing his MB BChir in 1983. From 1983 until 1986 Rob worked as a physician at the Westminster and Hammersmith Hospitals. By the time he joined the Maudsley in 1986, as a trainee psychiatrist, he had authored over 30 scientific papers in synaptic transmission, from neuroreceptor functions to the mechanisms of action of antipsychotic and anticonvulsant medications. He was an outstanding trainee, admired by his peers and highly respected by his more senior consultant colleagues, who would listen with great respect to his explanations about psychopharmacology during ward rounds. He was a Lecturer and a Research Fellow in Psychiatry, Neuropathology, and Neurology at the Institute of Psychiatry, the Maudsley Hospital, from 1987 until 1989. He became a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1988 and a Senior Lecturer jointly in Psychiatry and Neuroscience in 1989 at the Institute of Psychiatry. He also became a Consultant Psychiatrist at The Maudsley Hospital; he was 34. In 1994 became Professor of Clinical Neuropharmacology at the Institute of Psychiatry. His department grew unstoppably, fostering collaborations among psychiatrists (Paul Harrison, Ian Everall, Lyn Pilowsky, David Cotter, Mike Travis, James V. Lucey, Pádraig Wright, Ann Lingford-Hughes, Kathy J Aitchinson, Carmine Pariente, Janet Munro, and Sarah Osborne amongst others), geneticists (David Collier, Maria J. Arranz), statisticians (Pak Sham, also a psychiatrist), molecular biologists (Andrew Makoff), and pharmacists (David Taylor). One of his long-time friends and colleagues, Lyn Pilowsky, remembers his brilliant mind, his supportive nature and generous creativity, his gift for making an idea real, and the courage of an excellent clinical research scientist to carry projects further than had been done before. Under his mentorship, junior psychiatrists passed their membership exams, found their research interests, discovered their clinical capabilities, and matured personally as well as professionally. Central to his research and clinical practice were his patients in the National Psychosis Unit at the Bethlem Royal Hospital, most of them with treatment-resistant psychotic illnesses, who benefited greatly from his humane, knowledgeable, and selfless approach. He fought determinedly, along with Mike Launer, to re-introduce clozapine into the UK in the early 1990s and set up the first clozapine clinic in the country at the Maudsley Hospital. He was the founding editor of the Maudsley prescribing clinical guidelines, which from its inception was the gold standard for psychiatric treatment, not only in the UK but world wide. For the first time in the history of psychiatry, clinicians were issued with evidence-based, clear, safe, tested treatment algorithms with which to try to help their patients. It is unsurprising that his efforts resulted in the Hospital Doctor Psychiatry Team of the Year awards in 1996 and 1999, the former jointly with Dr Adrianne Reveley and Professor Robin Murray. He was also the recipient of the Joel Elkes International Award for Psychopharmacology from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (1996). Rob joined the British Pharmacological Society in 1983. He was a staunch supporter of the Society's Clinical Pharmacology Section, becoming a member of the Section Committee in 1996, and then Section Treasurer from 1997 to 2001. He was also a member of the Executive Editorial Board of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology from 1998 to 2003. He was a Fellow of Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum, and the Treasurer of the Special Interest Group in Psychopharmacology at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He was a member of one of the Technology Appraisal Committees of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE). He was also a member of the British Medical Pilots Association. Professor Kerwin's untimely death has robbed us of an eminent psychiatrist and neuroscientist. His many achievements in such a short period were due not only to hard work, perseverance, and determination: he was a genius and represented that qualitative intellectual leap that we are not very often lucky enough to witness. We are left, not only with the sadness of the loss, but with the churning emptiness of what could have been. We will forever wonder: ‘What if?’ Ricardo Sainz-Fuertes was Professor Kerwin's last Specialist Registrar
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