Aubrey Sheiham
2015; Elsevier BV; Volume: 386; Issue: 10011 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/s0140-6736(15)01204-0
ISSN1474-547X
Autores Tópico(s)Dental Health and Care Utilization
ResumoDental health epidemiologist. He was born in Graaff-Reinet in South Africa on Sept 12, 1936, and died of a mesothelioma in London, UK, on Nov 24, 2015, aged 79 years.The last time I saw Aubrey Sheiham was 18 months ago—not in the flesh but on a television news programme. On the table in front of him was a giant pair of dentures that he was scouring with an oversized toothbrush. The point of the item was that even dentists themselves are inconsistent when it comes to recommending the best tooth-brushing method. Sheiham had investigated and was explaining, on the basis of the best available evidence, how to perform the task. What most audiences watching this genial man would not have guessed was his eminence as a scientist: a man whose interests extended beyond oral health and into public health more generally. He believed that planners and educators need to integrate their two areas more closely. As Professor of Dental Public Health at the UK's University College London (UCL) from 1984 to 2001 he was a living demonstration of that conviction; the group he headed was housed not, as might have been expected, in UCL's dental school, but in its Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.Sheiham's successor as the head of UCL's Dental Public Health Group is Professor Richard Watt. “Aubrey was unusual in coming from a clinical background but moving into mainstream public health”, he says. “He had a passion for it, and for reducing inequalities in health.” Sheiham trained at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, graduating in 1957, before moving to the UK where he joined the London Hospital Medical College, rising to become head of its Department of Community Dental Health in 1982. His first step into dental epidemiology had come in 1964 when he spent time as a research fellow on secondment to Nigeria's University of Ibadan. The emergence of epidemiology as his principal research interest culminated in his appointment to the UCL Chair of Dental Public Health.Sheiham was a supporter of the advent of evidence-based medicine and dentistry. “In the 1970s, in The Lancet, he published a challenge to the dental profession about the scientific basis of 6 monthly recalls”, says Watt. There was little evidence that these frequent check-ups were beneficial, but to a profession paid by items of service they were of some value. “It was a brave challenge”, Watt goes on. And it was not the only one. Sheiham was not afraid to confront orthodoxy. “He did it a lot in the 1980s and 90s and got a very rough ride, but stood up to professional organisations that were motivated more by self-interest than public health”, says Watt. Sheiham was also among the original group of academics who took an interest in sugar and its effects not only on dental health but also more generally. “He had a range of research interests”, says Watt, “from narrow clinical topics to broad public health issues”. To take just two topics from the many he studied: the prevalence of dental pain in Brazilian schoolchildren; and the scientific basis for modelling caries prevention.In the early 1990s, Sheiham was among those who supported the creation of a Cochrane Oral Health Group. His experience of it prompted him to embark on what Sir Iain Chalmers, one of the founders of the Cochrane Collaboration and now coordinator of the James Lind Initiative, describes as an amazing act of generosity. Sheiham and his wife, the Darwinian philosopher Helena Cronin, owned a small flat in Oxford that she'd used while working in that city. At some point it was no longer needed and lying empty. “Out of the blue, about 10 years ago”, Chalmers recalls, “Aubrey wrote to me saying that he and Helena had decided that they would like the Cochrane Collaboration to use it for a scholar from a developing country.” The pair also offered to pay the cost to the scholar of attending a systematic reviews course in Oxford, to provide a laptop computer, to pay for the airfare and travel in the UK, and even to provide a stipend. The offer was duly accepted and the scheme, now titled the Aubrey Sheiham Evidence-based Health Care in Africa Leadership Award, continues and flourishes.Professor Jimmy Volmink, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at South Africa's Stellenbosch University, is a past chair of the award committee. “Aubrey's heart and soul was in it”, he says. “He really felt the need to help build research capacity in developing countries. The way he understood issues from their viewpoint was quite unusual.” Chalmers' summary of Sheiham is succinct: “A man with a strong social compass.” Sheiham leaves his wife Helena. Dental health epidemiologist. He was born in Graaff-Reinet in South Africa on Sept 12, 1936, and died of a mesothelioma in London, UK, on Nov 24, 2015, aged 79 years. The last time I saw Aubrey Sheiham was 18 months ago—not in the flesh but on a television news programme. On the table in front of him was a giant pair of dentures that he was scouring with an oversized toothbrush. The point of the item was that even dentists themselves are inconsistent when it comes to recommending the best tooth-brushing method. Sheiham had investigated and was explaining, on the basis of the best available evidence, how to perform the task. What most audiences watching this genial man would not have guessed was his eminence as a scientist: a man whose interests extended beyond oral health and into public health more generally. He believed that planners and educators need to integrate their two areas more closely. As Professor of Dental Public Health at the UK's University College London (UCL) from 1984 to 2001 he was a living demonstration of that conviction; the group he headed was housed not, as might have been expected, in UCL's dental school, but in its Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. Sheiham's successor as the head of UCL's Dental Public Health Group is Professor Richard Watt. “Aubrey was unusual in coming from a clinical background but moving into mainstream public health”, he says. “He had a passion for it, and for reducing inequalities in health.” Sheiham trained at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, graduating in 1957, before moving to the UK where he joined the London Hospital Medical College, rising to become head of its Department of Community Dental Health in 1982. His first step into dental epidemiology had come in 1964 when he spent time as a research fellow on secondment to Nigeria's University of Ibadan. The emergence of epidemiology as his principal research interest culminated in his appointment to the UCL Chair of Dental Public Health. Sheiham was a supporter of the advent of evidence-based medicine and dentistry. “In the 1970s, in The Lancet, he published a challenge to the dental profession about the scientific basis of 6 monthly recalls”, says Watt. There was little evidence that these frequent check-ups were beneficial, but to a profession paid by items of service they were of some value. “It was a brave challenge”, Watt goes on. And it was not the only one. Sheiham was not afraid to confront orthodoxy. “He did it a lot in the 1980s and 90s and got a very rough ride, but stood up to professional organisations that were motivated more by self-interest than public health”, says Watt. Sheiham was also among the original group of academics who took an interest in sugar and its effects not only on dental health but also more generally. “He had a range of research interests”, says Watt, “from narrow clinical topics to broad public health issues”. To take just two topics from the many he studied: the prevalence of dental pain in Brazilian schoolchildren; and the scientific basis for modelling caries prevention. In the early 1990s, Sheiham was among those who supported the creation of a Cochrane Oral Health Group. His experience of it prompted him to embark on what Sir Iain Chalmers, one of the founders of the Cochrane Collaboration and now coordinator of the James Lind Initiative, describes as an amazing act of generosity. Sheiham and his wife, the Darwinian philosopher Helena Cronin, owned a small flat in Oxford that she'd used while working in that city. At some point it was no longer needed and lying empty. “Out of the blue, about 10 years ago”, Chalmers recalls, “Aubrey wrote to me saying that he and Helena had decided that they would like the Cochrane Collaboration to use it for a scholar from a developing country.” The pair also offered to pay the cost to the scholar of attending a systematic reviews course in Oxford, to provide a laptop computer, to pay for the airfare and travel in the UK, and even to provide a stipend. The offer was duly accepted and the scheme, now titled the Aubrey Sheiham Evidence-based Health Care in Africa Leadership Award, continues and flourishes. Professor Jimmy Volmink, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at South Africa's Stellenbosch University, is a past chair of the award committee. “Aubrey's heart and soul was in it”, he says. “He really felt the need to help build research capacity in developing countries. The way he understood issues from their viewpoint was quite unusual.” Chalmers' summary of Sheiham is succinct: “A man with a strong social compass.” Sheiham leaves his wife Helena.
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