Professor Guy Vourc'h
Personal Details
Professor Guy Vourc'h MC, MD, DA, FFARCS, Hon. FFARCSI
02/03/1919 to 03/07/1988
Place of birth: Plomodiern, Brittany, France
Nationality: French
CRN: 723740
Education and qualifications
| General education | Baccalaureate in Philosophy at University of Rennes. Medical School in Paris, interrupting his studies in 1939 after the outbreak of WW2 to serve in the French Army; evaded capture by the German forces in 1940 and escaped to England and served in the Commandos until demobilised in 1946. Awarded the Military Cross, Croix de Guerre, Rosette of the Resistance and Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur, he then resumed his medical studies. |
|---|---|
| Primary medical qualification(s) | Diploma in Medicine, Paris, 1948 |
| Initial Fellowship and type | FFARCS by Election |
| Year of Fellowship | 1953 |
| Other qualification(s) | DA (RCP&S), 1951 M.D., Paris, 1951 |
Professional life and career
Postgraduate career
Vourc’h was awarded a British Council Scholarship in 1948 for training in anaesthesia under the aegis of Dr Bernard Johnson, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Anaesthetists, and he attended the basic science course at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. He then undertook several clinical attachments, including 3 months with Dr George Edwards at St George’s Hospital, and passed the first part of the DA. Next in 1950 he was appointed Senior Resident Anaesthetist at the Middlesex Hospital, and while there he passed the second part of the DA. After one year in this post he returned to France in 1951 and was appointed to the staff of the Hopital Foch at Suresnes, 6 miles from the centre of Paris. In 1958 he became the equivalent of Reader and in 1966 Professor of Anaesthesia, the first such chair in France. For many years he was also Director of the Institut d’Anaesthesiologie of the University of Paris. He remained on the staff of the Hopital Foch until his retirement due to ill health in the late 1980s.
Professional interests and activities
In 1954 he spent six months as a visiting Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital with Dr HK Beecher. He served on the scientific committees of the annual French Congress and on the editorial boards of specialist journals. In 1968 at the 4th World Congress of Anaesthesiologists in London he was elected one of the Vice-Presidents of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists for 1968-72. In 1977 he was appointed to chair the INSERM committee on anaesthetic mortality. He was a founder member of the European Academy of Anaesthesiology formed in 1978. At the Hopital Foch he developed a respected department and teaching centre, which attracted junior anaesthetists and distinguished visitors internationally. He published more than 200 papers ranging from neuropharmacology to anaesthesia for laser surgery of the larynx. Numerous honours were bestowed on him including: election to the Academie Nationale de Medicine (1984), Hon. FFARCSI (1984), Hon. Member of the European Academy of Anaesthesiology.
Other biographical information
Vourc’h was admired for both his military and professional careers, especially for his courage and patriotism exhibited at the D-day landing where he was wounded and later landings at Flushing and Schouven. A man of strong views, he nevertheless had a warm personality and was held in great affection by many. He was an advocate of classical education and a collector of the arts. Sustained by a happy marriage he bore his last illness with courage, passing away at the age of 69, survived by his wife Brigitte and their five children.
Author and sources
Author:
Dr Alistair McKenzie
Sources and comments:
[1] Dinnick OP. Professor Guy Vourc’h, MC, MD, FFARCS, Hon. FFARCSI 1919-1988 (with photograph). Anaesthesia News 1990; 31: 4. [2] Dr Jacques Hotton, personal communication. [3] Royal College of Physicians: DA (2nd part) results. [4]Gullo A, Rupreht J (Eds.) World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists 50 Years. Milan: Springer, 2004; 68.