George Grey Turner (8 September 1877 – 24 August 1951) was an English surgeon. He was born in North Shields and received his medical degree from

Newcastle Medical School Newcastle University School of Medicine is the medical school at Newcastle University in England. It was established in 1834 in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and served as the College of Medicine in connection with Durham University from 18 ...

(then a part of the University of Durham). He received a Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons in 1903 and joined the staff of the Royal Infirmary. He served with the Royal Army Medical Corps in 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 ...

. As a young surgeon, he travelled around the world, being received by the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

, Benito Mussolini, the King of Italy and

King Alfonso King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

of Spain. In 1927 he was made Professor of Surgery in the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

. In 1934 he was elected President of the

Medical Society of London The Medical Society of London is one of the oldest surviving medical societies (being organisations of voluntary association, rather than regulation or training) in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1773 by the Quaker physician and philanthro ...

and in 1935 delivered the

Bradshaw Lecture The Bradshaw Lectures are prestigious lectureships given at the invitation of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons of England. List of past lecturers at Royal College of Physicians List of past lecturers at Royal Co ...

at the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

. After the war, Grey Turner was briefly famous for performing one of the earliest operations to attempt the removal of a bullet from a soldier's heart. The bullet was never removed, but Grey Turner's surgery saved the patient's life. During the following decades, Grey Turner worked with early

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

research, and anticipated the development of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

("We shall never overcome cancer by surgery: it will be something we will inject"). In 1925 he published an optimistic work entitled "''Some encouragements in Cancer surgery''".George Grey Turner
whonamedit.com In 1943-44 he was again elected President of Medical Society of London. in 1949, two years before his death, Grey Turner was made President of the XIII congress of the International Society of Surgeons in New Orleans. He married Alice Grey Schofield, with whom he had 3 daughters and a son, Elston Grey-Turner, also a physician. A type of bruising,

Grey Turner's sign Grey Turner's sign refers to bruising of the flanks, the part of the body between the last rib and the top of the hip. The bruising appears as a blue discoloration, and is a sign of retroperitoneal hemorrhage, or bleeding behind the peritoneum, ...

, was named after the surgeon.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grey-Turner, George 1877 births 1951 deaths People from North Shields English surgeons Alumni of Durham University College of Medicine Academics of Durham University