Heritage Series Episode 4: The History of Military Anaesthesia Part 1

Peter was appointed as the foundation Defence Professor of Anaesthesia & Critical Care in 2008. He established the academic department and encouraged individuals to undertake research and higher degrees.

He deployed actively to ensure that research was closely linked with the needs of the operational military and was awarded the OBE, a QCVS and the US Military Bronze Star. He was promoted to CBE in 2015, became Emeritus Professor in 2016 and undertook ballistic research at Cranfield University. He moved across to Reserve Service in 2020 retiring from the reserves in 2022.

Current academic appointments include Visiting Chairs at Imperial College London (Centre for Blast Injury Studies) and Cranfield University

 He also works in the independent film industry as an Executive Producer and fight coordinator having gained instructor qualifications in Filipino Martial Arts.

Colonel (Retired) Soundararajan ‘Jag’ Jagdish served in the Defence Medical Services for nearly thirty years during which he deployed extensively including the two Gulf conflicts, the Balkans, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan.

With one of his subspecialty interests being chronic pain management, he had the privilege of helping personnel recovering from complex injuries.

He served as Chief of Staff, Defence Anaesthesia during the years of sustained high intensity military operations and, as a newly minted MBA, helped rationalise the supply chain and speed up the timely procurement of capital anaesthesia, critical care and pain management equipment. In retirement, ‘Jag’ is an independent medical history researcher with an MA (Research) in Military History and has authored various papers and presentations. He is currently the President of the Medical Society of London in its 250^th year.

Maria worked in the NHS throughout her professional career and spent 34 years as a consultant anaesthetist at Epsom General Hospital.  

She was a Member of Council of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, and ultimately Senior Vice-President. Thereafter, she held the post of Clinical Quality Adviser to the College. She is currently Chair of the Heritage and Archives Committee at the College. 

She has always had an interest in patient information and patient safety, and worked as a GMC Associate until 2022. 

Most of her publications have been concerned with standard setting, quality assurance and safety and she is the author or co-author of several national guidelines.