GN

After JVO retired, the second chairman of my department was GN: a gentle and quiet man from New Zealand - in the eyes of a third-year medical student.

Those were the days when medical sub-specialties were less well defined, and GN certain sat on the border of many: he was an endocrinologist, cardiologist, nephrologist ... and what not.

That was also the time when the chairman was in charge of both clinical service and university affairs, and every morning GN went up the (post-call) ward and had a chat with the sisters - usually before medical officers started their morning round. (As the old proverb says, I know, because I was there.)

And he was the first to recognize we need some handy reference for the on-call doctor, and bought a set of Oxford Textbook of Medicine and British National Formulary for each ward - rather than calling another meeting to put up our own guidelines.

PS. AW told me a story of GN when we dined in Kuala Lumpur: When the university planned to send some of our medical students to the hospital that AW is working at, our second chairman was responsible for the liaison, and he quickly recognized - and offered - what the others needed to get them going (alas, house officers and the title of honorary lecturer).

"He knew what's going on." AW said. I took that as a compliment - and a sincere one, too.