Norman Henry Ashton

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 ...

, FRCP, FRCS, FRCPATH,

FRCOphth The Royal College of Ophthalmologists, founded in 1988, is an independent professional body and one of the Medical Royal Colleges. They set the standards and examinations for medical doctors aiming to become ophthalmologists, and provide surgic ...

, FRS (11 September 1913 – 4 January 2000) was a British ophthalmologist and pathologist. Ashton studied medicine at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, doing his practical work at

Westminster Hospital Medical School The Westminster Hospital Medical School was formally founded in 1834 by George Guthrie, an ex-military surgeon – although students had been taken on at Westminster Hospital almost from the hospital's foundation in 1719 (the traditional name a ...

(now Imperial College School of Medicine), and qualified in 1939 with a specialisation in pathology. In 1941 he became a pathologist for Kent and Canterbury Hospital, leaving in 1945 to serve in the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...

. After demobilisation in 1947 he was invited to become Director of Pathology at the

UCL Institute of Ophthalmology The UCL Institute of Ophthalmology is an institute within the Faculty of Brain Sciences of University College London, University College London (UCL) and is based in London, United Kingdom. The institute conducts research and post-graduate teach ...

, a position he held for 30 years. During this time he did key research on retinopathy, and was one of the scientists who connected the delivery of oxygen to premature babies with

retinopathy of prematurity Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), also called retrolental fibroplasia (RLF) and Terry syndrome, is a disease of the eye affecting prematurely born babies generally having received neonatal intensive care, in which oxygen therapy is used due to ...

. He was the first to report on cases in the U.K. of children with larval granulomatosis of the retina from intra-ocular nematode infestation by larvae of '' Toxocara canis''. Ashton established the

European Ophthalmic Pathology Society The European Ophthalmic Pathology Society is a learned society for advancing ophthalmic pathology, the study of the pathological basis of the diseases of the eye and its adnexa: the orbit, eyelids, conjunctiva and the lacrimal apparatus. History Fo ...

, becoming its first president, and after helping found the Fight for Sight charity in 1965 he became its president in 1980. He became a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1971, and was appointed Companion of the Order of the British Empire in 1976. He won the

Buchanan Medal The Buchanan Medal is awarded by the Royal Society "in recognition of distinguished contribution to the medical sciences generally". The award was created in 1897 from a fund to the memory of London physician Sir George Buchanan (1831–1895). It ...

of the Royal Society in 1996 and served as president of five different ophthalmological associations before his death on 4 January 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashton, Norman Henry 1913 births 2000 deaths Physicians of the Westminster Hospital Alumni of King's College London British pathologists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights of the Order of St John Fellows of the Royal Society Royal Army Medical Corps officers 20th-century English medical doctors Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons Fellows of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists