Desmond Canavan: Dr Desmond Adrian Canavan who has died aged 66, reached the pinnacle of a distinguished medical career when he became president of the Royal College of Physicians on St Luke's Day 2000, the 136th person to hold the office since the foundation of the college in 1654.
Born in Whitehouse, Co Antrim, into a medical household, his father, James P, was a general practitioner with a very successful and extensive practice on the outskirts of Belfast. All three children were to become doctors - Desmond, the eldest, and his sisters Valerie and Yvonne.
Educated at St Malachy's College in Belfast, "Des" Canavan qualified in medicine in 1961 at Queen's University. He was renowned as a hard-working student winning many of the undergraduate medals and prizes. He was awarded the O'Connell Gold Medal and prize of the Mater Hospital and gained first place in the finals examination.
Canavan's early training took place at the Mater Infirmorium. His ability and application did not go unnoticed and he was selected to conduct medical research in the University Department of Medicine under the direction of Prof Graham Bull.
His thesis, for which the higher MD degree was awarded in 1965, had tested the hypothesis that the remarkable journey of the parasite schistosoma haematobium inside the human host was directed by chemotaxis, the parasite following a chemical trail around the body. The choice of this topic probably influenced his later decision to specialise in infectious diseases, for which he trained at the Purdysburn Fever Hospital.
During training, he successfully passed the membership examinations of both the London and the Irish Royal Colleges of Physicians. In 1968 at the very young age of 30 he was appointed as a NHS consultant physician to Purdsyburn Hospital and honorary lecturer in medicine for the university. Fellowships (FRCP) of the Irish, London, and the Edinburgh colleges followed.
In the busy clinical setting, Canavan was appreciated as a careful, thorough physician maintaining always the patient's best interest clearly in focus. He was highly regarded as an excellent diagnostician. Over time he became senior physician at the hospital and chairman of medical staff.
In 1997 the services at Purdysburn Hospital, (now renamed Belvoir Park), were transferred to the Royal Group of Hospitals, Belfast. On moving to the staff of the Royal Victoria, Canavan the specialist had to become a "generalist" with responsibility for acute medical admissions. He applied himself with characteristic thoroughness and vigour.
But there was disappointment too as others had appeared not to appreciate the importance of infectious diseases for a modern society. It seemed that the concerns of the western world should be with "stress-related" illness and diseases of affluence; infections being a problem of the third world. Canavan's prescience has been realised as today, the threat to health from infections is a public concern due to emerging resistant micro-organisms such as MRSA and the agents responsible for hepatitis, AIDS, meningitis, etc.
In the 1990s Canavan was becoming heavily involved with the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. A committed educator, in 1997 he was given responsibility for the professional examinations of the college. This entailed setting and delivering theoretical and practical tests every four months for nearly five years, ensuring a consistent, internationally recognised standard. He was concurrently secretary/treasurer of the prestigious Corrigan Club of physicians, founded by the late Dr Ivo Drury and Dr Desmond Montgomery, to promote friendship between physicians in Ireland, North and South. He was installed as chairman in 2003.
Canavan served the Royal College of Physicians well, through the examinations, education and training committees, on the council of the college and as a censor. In 2001 when he offered himself for the office of president, he was elected unopposed. During his three-year term there was a period of rapidly accelerating development and expansion in its educational activity with development of medical specialty programmes. With the acquisition of MRCPI or equivalent a requirement of entry into training, the popularity of the exam grew at home and abroad. As president, Dr Canavan significantly influenced these important developments for medicine.
An inquiring mind, a profound interest in the subject, an ability to assemble and utilise the information available, so important for professional life, coloured everything he did. To his many interests he brought the same enthusiasm for knowledge and skill that he applied to medicine. His principal interests were historical subjects, particularly in the context of Ireland, of person and of place. He was well-informed and capable of correcting "the expert" but only out of a respect for accuracy, never to criticise.
Des Canavan met Nuala Molloy, a nurse, when they were both working at the Mater. They married in 1964. No couple were better suited, sharing among many things, a deep religious faith, always at their own quiet and personal level. They had two children, Anne, an anaesthetist, and Marie Therese, a nurse. When he became seriously ill with a rare and mysterious disease, he and the family dealt with the reality of this positively and optimistically, strengthened through their faith. When the effects of the disease were finally being overcome it seemed ironic that he should be suddenly struck down by a second, unrelated illness. Within a few days he was deeply unconscious. Then, and in characteristic fashion, he quietly moved on.
He is survived by his wife, Nuala, his daughters Anne (Duckworth) and Marie Therese and his sisters Valerie and Yvonne.
Desmond Adrian Canavan: born February 13th 1938; died December 5th, 2004.