Læknablaðið : fylgirit - 01.06.2008, Síða 14

XVIII. ÞING FÉLAGS ÍSLENSKRA LYFLÆKNA
FYLGIRIT 57
Research which he started in 1973 and which
has become the leading gastroenterological
charity in the UK. In October 2003, the
Foundation celebrated its 30th annivers-
ary in the presence of the Chancellor of
the University of London, HRH Princess
Anne. On the charitable front, he has
served as Trustee for a number of charities,
was President of the British Liver Trust
for a three year term and currently is Vice
Chairman of the UCL Hospitals Charitable
Foundation. He is also a Trustee of the
Altajir World of Islam Trust.
Professor Williams has published over
2,500 papers, journals and books and has
served on 22 editorial boards. A citation
analysis from ISI the leading scientific in-
formation provider in the USA, shows him
to be "one of the most highly cited and
influential researchers in his field".
Professor Williams' wider interests in
medical political matters have included
a major involvement in the work of the
British Society of Gastroenterology over
many years. He gave the Sir Arthur Hurst
Memorial Lecture and was President of
the Society from 1990 - 91. Similarly, at the
Royal College of Physicians he has been
almost continuously involved throughout
his career, starting with the Goulstonian
Lectureship and with two subsequent terms
on Council. He was Vice-President from
1991 -1993, during which time he organised
two conferences on international healthcare,
the first that the College had held in this
area, as well as chairing the main Clinical
Board. He gave the Jules Thom Memorial
Lecture in 1994 and since 2005 he has been
serving as the Hans Sloane Fellow and
Director of the International Office.
He was Honorary Consultant Physician
in Medicine to the Army from 1988-2001.
Other additional positions he has held inc-
lude the Presidency of the Harveian Society
Dr. Roger W. Duckitt is a Specialist
Registrar in Acute and General Intemal
Medicine and also Intensive Care in the
United Kingdom - currently working at the
North Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke.
Acute Medicine is an emerging specialty and
Roger has been actively involved in driving
it forward through involvement with the
Society for Acute Medicine (UK) and also
as Chairman of the Trainees Committee for
of London 1974-75 and the Chairmanship
of the International Medical Club, 1990 to
1993.
Over his 53 year span of service within the
National Health Service, Professor Williams
has served on a large number of expert
medical committees and advisory boards.
For three years he was the UK representative
on the European Select Committee on Organ
Transplantation. He also served for two
terms on the Clinical Standards Advisory
Group where he was chairman of a major
investigation into "Clinical Effectiveness - a
National Study". In the wider public arena,
Professor Williams was prime mover in the
setting up during 2003 of the first All Party
Parliamentary Group in Liver Disease and
is much invovled with medical and educa-
tional bodies in drawing public attention to
the harmful consequences of the increasing
alcohol consumption in the UK.
Personal distinctions of note comprise
inclusion in the British Medical Association
book entitled "Pioneers in Medicine -
Consultants Leading Change" (2002) and in
the book "Succeeding as a Hospital Doctor"
(2000) in which he was one of fifteen senior
doctors in the UK selected for their in-
spirational qualities and achievements. In
1999 Professor Williams was honoured in
Barcelona as one of the four hepatologists
who had done most to make hepatology into
a real discipline in Europe today. In 2003
he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement
Award of the British Association for the
Study of the Liver (BASL) and in 2004
the Wyeth Senior Achievement Award in
Clinical Transplantation from the American
Society of Transplantation.
In addition, Professor Williams has
received many awards and prizes including
the Legg Award of the Royal Free Hospital;
the Nightingale Prize of the International
Federation of Medical and Biochemical
the Royal College of Physicians of London.
Roger is currently the Secretary of the Young
Intemists Subcommittee of the European
Federation of Intemal Medicine. Improving
communication, education and working
lives for trainees are three of the key areas of
work that Roger is involved with and which
are applicable to young internists across the
whole of Europe.
Engineering and in 1992, the Gold Medal
of the Canadian Liver Foimdation. In 1994
he was awarded the Hospital Doctor of the
Year Award for Gastroenterology. A signal
honour was his election as Fellow of the
Royal College of Surgeons in recognition
of his contribution to the development of
liver transplantation. He has also been
given the Fellowship of the Edinburgh
College and that of the Royal College of
Physicians of Australasia. In 1992 he was
awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the
American College of Physicians and in 2002
that of the Royal College of Physicians of
Ireland. He was made a Fellow of King's
College, London in 1992, and an Honorary
Fellowship of UCL is to be conferred in him
in 2008.
Recent named lectures include the Telfer
Reynolds State of the Art Lecture at the
University of Southem California (1998);
the J Edward Berk Distinguished Lecture at
the American College of Gastroenterology
(2002); the Edward F Heil Endowed Lecture
in Liver Transplantation, Mayo Clinic,
Rochester, USA (2005); 15th Seah Cheng
Siang Memorial Lecture at the College
of Physicians of Singapore (2006); the
Presidential Lecture of the Shanghai Hong
Kong International Liver Congress (2006);
the FitzPatrick Lecture at the Royal College
of Physicians (2006) and most recently, the
Max Glatt Memorial Lecture to the Medical
Council on Alcohol, 2007. 2008 will also
see him for the second time taking up
the position of President of the European
Association for the Study of the Liver.
Professor Williams was appointed CBE
for Services to Medicine in the Queen's
Birthday Honours list of 1993 and in 2006
was honoured by the Queen to be included
in a celebration for those who continue to
contribute to public service after the age of
65yrs.
■ Roger W.
Duckitt
Secretary of the
Young Internists
Subcommittee
1 4 LÆKNAblaðið 2008/94