| Description Of Item | No one made a greater contribution to the control of tuberculosis than John Wenman Crofton (1912–2009). His early post-war work at the Postgraduate Medical School, London and the Brompton Hospital with the Medical Research Council trials of streptomycin was followed by his inspirational leadership of the Edinburgh team which established the proper use of combination anti-tuberculous chemotherapy.
Born in Dublin, Crofton was educated at Cambridge University and St Thomas's Hospital where he graduated in 1937. He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Second World War as a medical specialist in France, Greece and the Middle East and was mentioned in dispatches. Appointed to the Chair of Respiratory Diseases and Tuberculosis at Edinburgh in 1952, he became Dean of the Faculty in 1963 and Vice-Principal of the University in 1969. He pursued his crusade against tuberculosis worldwide and was a founding member of Action for Smoking and Health in its campaign against cigarette-induced disease.
Artist: Alexandra Gardner |