Stanley Shaldon (8 November 1931 – 20 December 2013) was a British nephrologist who pioneered several techniques in haemodialysis, including venous access, reuse of dialysis machines, and home haemodialysis.

Life and career

Shaldon was born in 1931 in London into a

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...

family; the family name was changed from Schlaff to Shaldon in 1943 during the Second World War. He attended University College School before studying medicine at

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

and Middlesex Hospital, completing his studies in 1955. He trained in internal medicine at Middlesex Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital, and from 1957 to 1959 he served at a military hospital in Lagos, Nigeria as a medical specialist. Upon his return to the UK from Lagos, Shaldon studied cardiac catheterisation techniques under Sir John McMichael and wrote a Doctor of Medicine thesis on the splanchnic circulation. His thesis was supervised by Dame Sheila Sherlock and won Cambridge's

Raymond Horton-Smith Prize The Raymond Horton-Smith Prize is a prize awarded by the School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge for the best thesis presented for MD degree during the academical year. Known as the prize for the best MD of the year, it should be awa ...

. Shaldon would go on to work with Sherlock for six years from 1960 at the

Royal Free Hospital The Royal Free Hospital (also known simply as the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden. The hospital is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs services at Barn ...

, London, after Sherlock appointed him a lecturer in medicine and the head of a new

nephrology Nephrology (from Greek'' nephros'' "kidney", combined with the suffix ''-logy'', "the study of") is a specialty of adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function (ren ...

unit. Shaldon pioneered the use of haemodialysis to manage renal failure, by designing central venous catheters that could remain in situ within a patient's femoral vein to allow daily dialysis sessions; these were known at the time as "Shaldon catheters". This invention made chronic haemodialysis feasible and established the thrice-weekly haemodialysis routine that remains standard practice. He also promoted the reuse of dialysis machines, which upset manufacturers, as well as home haemodialysis, allowing patients to self-dialyse at home. He left the Royal Free Hospital in 1966 to establish the National Kidney Centre in London, where chronic haemodialysis patients were trained in home dialysis. He later left the UK for mainland Europe and the United States, working throughout France, Germany and Sweden at various centres. Shaldon was one of the founders of the

European Renal Association The European Renal Association (ERA) is one of the biggest nephrology associations worldwide, with more than 19,000 members. ERA aims to reduce the burden of chronic kidney disease by supporting basic and clinical research in the fields of c ...

, and received their ERA-EDTA Award in 2011. He authored more than 350 publications over the course of his career. In his retirement, he settled in Monaco, where he died in 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaldon, Stanley 1931 births 2013 deaths British nephrologists Physicians of the Royal Free Hospital Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians People educated at University College School British emigrants to Monaco Academics from London