Dr John Pentland Alexander
Personal Details
Dr John Pentland Alexander TD MBBChBAO FRCPI FFARCS FFARCSI DA
29/05/1930 to 09/02/2019
Place of birth: Newcastle upon Tyne
Nationality: British
CRN: 491855
Education and qualifications
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General education |
Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, NI; Queen’s Universoty, Belfast (stroke & captain of first VIII - Irish senior champions, 1952) |
|---|---|
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Primary medical qualification(s) |
MBBChBAO, Belfast, 1954 |
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Initial Fellowship and type |
FFARCS by Examination |
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Year of Fellowship |
1960 |
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Other qualification(s) |
MRCPI, 1957 (F 1977); DA(RCPSI), 1957; FFARCSI, 1962 |
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Known as |
John |
Professional life and career
Postgraduate career
Details of early PG career not established, but acquisition of MRCPI in 1951 implies that he spent some time working in internal medicine. By 1960 he was a registrar in anaesthesia in the Mid Antrim Hospitals, and from 1962 was a consultant at Tyrone County Hospital, Omagh. In 1966, he moved to the Belfast City Hospital, a consultant post he held until retirement in 1995.
Professional interests and activities
A careful, skilful anaesthetist, who gave great support to colleagues, he published on a range of topics, but with some focus on intensive care (completing marathons to raise funds for his unit), orthopaedics and trauma work. He was a Fellowship examiner in Dublin for over 20 years, and gave long service to the TA’s 204 Field Hospital (TD 1981). He was deployed in a training role as a reservist during the second Gulf War, and his teaching of emergency care & resuscitation extended to the regular army. Rising to the rank of colonel, he was CO of his Field Hospital and Queen’s Honorary Surgeon (1984-7), later serving as honorary colonel (1996-2000). He was also a volunteer teacher of first aid to the public, and in 1998 was made a Commander of the Order of St John for this work.
Other biographical information
Married to Mildred, they had two children. In retirement he completed a Masters degree on medical ethics.
Author and sources
Author:
Prof Tony Wildsmith
Sources and comments:
[1] Obituary. BMJ 2019; 367: 335(16350) where a picture may be seen [2] Medical Directory [3] Records of 204 (NI) Field Hospital TA [4] Alumni organisation of Portora Royal School. Thanks to Brig John Graham, RAMC retd, for his assistance with obtaining information from the latter two sources.