Robert Kirk (1905-1962) was a Scottish parasitologist and pathologist.

Life

He was born on 26 January 1905 in Glasgow the son of the Rev Robert Lee Kirk, a Church of Scotland minister, and his wife Primrose Adair Martin, daughter of John Martin, a brewer. He was educated at

Greenock Academy The Greenock Academy was a mixed non-denominational school in the west end of Greenock, Scotland, founded in 1855, originally independent, later a grammar school with a primary department, and finally a Comprehensive school only for ages eleven t ...

then studied Zoology and Medicine at Glasgow University, winning the Gairdner Medal in medicine in 1930. He graduated MB ChB in Medicine and BSc in Zoology. His zoological studies were under Prof John Graham Kerr. He served in several Glasgow hospitals and notably as Assistant Bacteriologist in the Glasgow Public Health Laboratories. After obtaining a further Diploma in Public Health (DPH) in 1933 he went to Africa to work in the Sudan Medical Service where he worked for twenty-two years, in both the

Stack Stack may refer to: Places * Stack Island, an island game reserve in Bass Strait, south-eastern Australia, in Tasmania’s Hunter Island Group * Blue Stack Mountains, in Co. Donegal, Ireland People * Stack (surname) (including a list of people ...

and Wellcome Research Laboratories rising to be Director of the former. Here he specialised in the study of kala-azar and yellow fever. He also undertook the taxonomy of sand-flies. The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene awarded him the

Chalmers Medal The Chalmers Medal is the major mid-career award of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. The Chalmers Medal was initially awarded biennially, then annually, "in recognition of research of outstanding merit contributing to our knowle ...

for his work. He was awarded his doctorate (MD) in 1939 and won the Bellahouston Gold Medal. In 1943 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 Sir John Graham Kerr, Robert Staig,

Edward Hindle Edward Hindle FRS FRSE FIB FRGS FRPSG (21 March 1886–22 January 1973) was a British biologist and entomologist who was Regius Professor of Zoology at the University of Glasgow from 1935 to 1943. He specialised in the study of parasites. ...

and

Charles Wynford Parsons Charles Wyndford Parsons FRSE (1901-1950) was a 20th-century British zoologist. Life He was born in Swansea on 22 July 1901. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School then studied Zoology at Cambridge University graduating MA in 1924. He then be ...

. In 1948 he was awarded an OBE and granted membership of the Royal College of Physicians of London. He was made a Fellow in 1954. In 1951 he became Professor of Pathology at the

Kitchener School of Medicine The Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum (established 1924 as Kitchener School of Medicine), located in Khartoum, Sudan, is the oldest medical school in Sudan. It was opened in 1924 by Sir Lee Stack, Governor-General of Sudan and Sirdar ...

in Khartoum. In 1955 he left Africa and took the Sinclair Chair in Singapore and in 1960 moved again to be Professor of Pathology at the University of Hong Kong. He died on 6 December 1962. He is buried in Hong Kong Cemetery.

Family

He married Elsie Tan Lee Chang, whom he met in Singapore. They had three sons and a daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirk, Robert 1905 births 1962 deaths Scottish pathologists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish parasitologists Scientists from Glasgow People educated at Greenock Academy Alumni of the University of Glasgow 20th-century Scottish medical doctors Scottish people of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Academic staff of the University of Hong Kong Officers of the Order of the British Empire