Donald Robert James Singer (20 August 1954 – 11 June 2022) was a British clinical pharmacologist who was the president of the

Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine (FPM) is a British non-profit organisation that was founded after World War I and pioneered the development of postgraduate educational programmes in all branches of medicine. It was founded in late 1918 ...

Biography

He was born in

Forres Forres (; gd, Farrais) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several occasions. There ...

, Scotland and attended schools in Iraq, Bahrain, and Scotland. He died on 11 June 2022, at the age of 67.

Medical career

Singer was awarded Bachelor of Medical Biology and

Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United Kin ...

degrees from the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

in 1975 and 1978 respectively, followed by the MD degree in 1995. He served as senior lecturer/consultant and then reader at

St George's Hospital Medical School St George's, University of London (legally St George's Hospital Medical School, informally St George's or SGUL), is a University located in Tooting in South London and is a constituent college of the University of London. St George's has its o ...

from 1996 to 2003, having previously trained at the Aberdeen Teaching Hospitals,

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

Hospital, the

Royal Postgraduate Medical School The Royal Postgraduate Medical School (RPMS) was an independent medical school, based primarily at Hammersmith Hospital in west London. In 1988, the school merged with the Institute of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and in 1997 became part of Imperial ...

, and the Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School. While at St George's, he held honorary research posts at the Harefield Heart Science Centre, a research facility of the

National Heart and Lung Institute The Faculty of Medicine is the academic centre for medical and clinical research and teaching at Imperial College London. It contains the Imperial College School of Medicine, which is the college's undergraduate medical school. History Medica ...

, a Division of the Faculty of Medicine of

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

. He was appointed professor of

clinical pharmacology Clinical pharmacology has been defined as "that discipline that teaches, does research, frames policy, gives information and advice about the actions and proper uses of medicines in humans and implements that knowledge in clinical practice". Clinic ...

and

therapeutics A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many different ...

at the graduate medical school of the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

in 2003. In 2007, Singer was elected president of the

. In 2014 he was on the Faculty of

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

School of Medicine.

Medical activities

His interests included new approaches to personalising medicine, chemical and genomic research for the discovery of medicines and their harmful effects, prevention and treatment of

hypertension Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

and other disorders of the heart and circulation, and public understanding of health. He is a co-author of the Pocket Prescriber, a paper and electronic guide on safe and effective use of medicines for health students and prescribers, in publication with 8 editions since 2004. Singer was active on many medical and professional committees, including for the British Hypertension Society, the London Hypertension Society (president 1990–2002), the

British Pharmacological Society The British Pharmacological Society is the primary UK learned society for pharmacologists concerned with research into drugs and the way they work. Members work in academia, industry, regulatory agencies and the health services, and many are medi ...

, the West Midlands Physicians Association, the

European Union of Medical Specialists The European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS: Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes) is a professional organisation of doctors representing medical specialists in the European Union, which was founded in 1958. It is the oldest medical o ...

, the European Association of Internal Medicine, and the European Federation of Internal Medicine. He was a co-founder and associate editor of the ''

European Journal of Internal Medicine The ''European Journal of Internal Medicine'' is a monthly peer review, peer-reviewed medical journal that was established in 1989 and is published by Elsevier. It is an official journal of the European Federation of Internal Medicine, the Icelandi ...

''. He was a former advisory panel member for the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

Health Technology Assessment Programme, for the Pharmaceuticals Panel, and for the Primary Care, Community and Preventive Interventions Panel, an executive committee member of the British Microcirculation Society, secretary of the

European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics The European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT) is a learned society in the field of clinical pharmacology. It is the leading society in Europe serving the European and global Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics com ...

, and former member of council and co-chair (2011–2013) of the Committee of Heads of Pharmacology and Therapeutics of the British Pharmacological Society. He was a Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society and an honorary Fellow of the Finnish Society for Internal Medicine and the European Federation of Internal Medicine. He was chair of the advisory board of ''

Health Policy and Technology ''Health Policy and Technology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed healthcare journal that was established in 2012 and published by Elsevier on behalf of the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine. Professor Wendy L. Currie was the founding Editor-in-Chie ...

'' and a consulting editor for ''

Clinical Therapeutics ''Clinical Therapeutics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal that was established in 1977 and is published by Elsevier. The journal covers all aspects of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics. Abstracting and indexing The journal is a ...

'' He was a member of the Healthcare Professionals' Working Party of the

European Medicines Agency The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) in charge of the evaluation and supervision of medicinal products. Prior to 2004, it was known as the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products or Euro ...

. He has worked as a clinical pharmacologist on the Human Resources for Health Programme for Rwanda advising on systems for pharmacovigilance and organizing an International Symposium on Medicines and Patient Safety held in

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwa ...

in November 2014 in partnership with Pharmacology for Africa and

IUPHAR The International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR) is a voluntary, non-profit association representing the interests of scientists in pharmacology-related fields to facilitate ''Better Medicines through Global Education and Resear ...

Poetry and medicine

He was co-founder in 2009 with

Michael Hulse Michael Hulse (born 1955) is an English poet, translator and critic, notable especially for his translations of German novels by W. G. Sebald, Herta Müller, and Elfriede Jelinek. Life and works Hulse was educated locally in Stoke-on-Trent unt ...

of the

Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine The Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine was founded in 2009 by Donald Singer and Michael Hulse. The founders "wished to draw together national and international perspectives on three major historical and contemporary themes uniting the disc ...

for UK

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

-related poets and the International Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine. Singer, Michael Hulse and Sorcha Gunne won the 2011

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts for the Hippocrates poetry and medicine initiative. This award aims to recognise the collaborative and interdisciplinary work within universities and their external partners to promote the arts. In 2012, he co-founded with Michael Hulse the international Hippocrates Prize for Young Poets for poetry on a medical theme. In 2013, he was co-founder with

of the international Hippocrates Society for Poetry and Medicine. Since 2017, Open, Health Professional and Young Poet categories are all international in the

. The 2017

was held in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Initiative of

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

Other interests

He was formerly a trustee of the Richmond Orchestra (London) and Ealing Junior Music School (London). In 2010 he co-founded the "Healthy Heart Awards" for schools and colleges. The inaugural 2011 Healthy Heart Awards were organised by the Cardiovascular Research Trust and supported by "Heads, Teachers and Industry". Selected healthy heart poetry entered from 19 schools for the 2013 and the 2014 Healthy Heart Awards was published in the Love your Heart anthology.Love your Heart anthology website: http://hippocrates-poetry.org/publications/the-hippocrates-press/love-your-heart-2.html

References