Prof Andrew Rae Gilchrist

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

PRCPE

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FRCP (7 July 1899 – 1 March 1995) was a Scottish cardiologist who served as President of the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

1957 to 1960. He was its longest serving Fellow: 1929 to 1995 (66 years). He did extensive work on

anti-coagulants Anticoagulants, commonly known as blood thinners, are chemical substances that prevent or reduce coagulation of blood, prolonging the clotting time. Some of them occur naturally in hematophagy, blood-eating animals such as leeches and mosquitoes, ...

. In 1959 he was a co-founder of the British Heart Foundation, a charity raising funds for heart research.

Life

He was born on 7 July 1899, the only son of Catherine Hill and her husband, Rev Andrew Gilchrist (1871–1954). He was born in Holywood,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. His parents were Scots and he was sent to

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a Scottish education in the eight ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

for schooling. At the age of 18 he was conscripted into the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...

and served for the final year of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He graduated from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

with an Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1921. He was granted a Doctor of Medicine in 1933. His first job was at Addenbrooke's Hospital in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

then he moved to the Princess Elizabeth Hospital for Children before spending a year at the Rockefeller Hospital in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. In 1928 he made the first clinical diagnosis and description of

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may ...

and in 1930 he made the first seven recordings of coronary thrombosis in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

(published in the Edinburgh Medical Journal). He expressed the opinion that heart attacks were a new disease of the 20th century. From 1931 he worked as a Consultant at the

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...

alongside

Sir Stanley Davidson Sir Leybourne Stanley Patrick Davidson (1894-1981) was a British physician, medical investigator and author who is well known for his medical textbook ''Principles and Practice of Medicine'', which was first published in 1952. Early life an ...

and Derrick Dunlop. He was an examiner in all Scottish universities plus

Makerere Makerere ( ) is a neighborhood in the city of Kampala, Uganda's capital city. The name also applies to the hill on which this neighborhood is perched; one of the original seven hills that constituted Kampala at the time of its founding, in the e ...

University in East Africa and the

University of Baghdad The University of Baghdad (UOB) ( ar, جامعة بغداد ''Jāmi'at Baghdād'') is the largest university in Iraq, tenth largest in the Arab world, and the largest university in the Arab world outside Egypt. Nomenclature Both University ...

. In 1937 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were

Edwin Bramwell Edwin Bramwell FRSE PRCPE LLD (1873–1952) was a 20th-century Scottish neurologist. He was President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh from 1933 to 1935. Life He was born in North Shields on 11 January 1873 the son of Martha ( ...

, Sir Robert William Philip,

Arthur Logan Turner Arthur Logan Turner FRCSEd FRSE LLD (4 May 1865 – 6 June 1939) was a Scottish surgeon, who specialised in diseases of ear, nose and throat (ENT) and was one of the first surgeons to work at the purpose-built ENT Pavilion at the Royal Infirmar ...

and Sir Sydney Smith. In 1954 he was elected a member of the Aesculapian Club. In 1961 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He suffered a myocardial infarction in 1965 forcing him to retire.The Times (newspaper) obituary 19 April 1995 He died on 1 March 1995.

Family

In 1931 he married Emily Faulds (died 1967). They had one daughter (Dr Jennifer Mary Rae Gilchrist) and one son (Andrew Kirkwood Rae Gilchrist). Following Emily's death he married Elspeth Wrightman in 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilchrist, Andrew Rae 1899 births 1995 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People from Holywood, County Down Scottish surgeons Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 20th-century surgeons British Army personnel of World War I Royal Field Artillery soldiers People from Northern Ireland of Scottish descent British cardiologists People educated at George Watson's College Medical doctors from County Down