College remembers ‘dedicated and gifted’ physician

11 Oct 2024

Dr John Alexander Thomson (widely known as JAT) was a renowned clinician, teacher and clinical academic, and a long time Fellow and supporter of our College.

John grew up in Blantyre, receiving his school education there and at Hamilton Academy. He graduated from the University of Glasgow’s Medical School in 1956.

Following National Service in Germany and South East Asia, he trained in endocrinology at Glasgow Royal Infirmary under Dr Eric Oastler and in Boston with Professor Irving Goldberg. John was appointed Senior Lecturer in Medicine at Glasgow Royal infirmary in 1967 with a special interest in endocrinology. For many years he also provided the endocrinology service to the Royal Samaritan Hospital for Women. He was promoted to Reader in Medicine in 1981.

Throughout his career John was first and foremost a dedicated and gifted clinician. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of general medicine and endocrinology and a remarkable ability to elicit clinical signs that others had missed. He was also an inspiring teacher who was generous in sharing his knowledge and insights with medical students and postgraduate trainees.

Over the years he was a challenging but supportive mentor to UK graduates and to trainees from many parts of the world. John encouraged general physician trainees to remember ‘hormones’, to question the status quo from the beginning of any clinical problem, and to remember Occam’s Razor – the principle that the simplest explanation is often the correct one. A very senior clinical academic, who had trained in general medicine under JAT, remarked that “it was a comprehensive medical education to simply attend his ward rounds.”

John published extensively on clinical and laboratory aspects of endocrinology. He worked closely with the former president of this college, Sir Graham Teasdale, on the outcomes of transsphenoidal microsurgery for prolactin secreting microadenomata. They showed that infertile women with this condition could have their fertility restored post operatively. His other areas of interest included adrenal disease, gonadal disorders and immunological aspects of thyroid disease. Having obtained an MD during his training, John successfully used his research work to gain a PhD mid career.

John was a stalwart of the MRCP(UK) examination. He frequently hosted the clinical component of the exam for this College or acted as the Glasgow representative elsewhere in the UK and abroad. For many years he sat on local and UK committees arranging the Part 1 exam. Following his retirement in 1998 he was a regular attender at meetings of the Senior Fellows’ Club and the Wednesday library conversations.

John married Fiona Reid in 1960 and they remained a devoted and family centred couple until Fiona’s death in 2016. He is survived by their four children, nine grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Professor Jim McKillop and Dr Harry Gray

Category: College