Richard Doll 1116776 224457853 2008-07-08T22:44:15Z CJ DUB 900937 image {{Infobox Scientist |name = {{PAGENAME}} |box_width = |image =Richard Doll.jpg |image_size =150px |caption = {{PAGENAME}} |birth_date = [[28 October]] [[1912]] |birth_place = [[Hampton, London|Hampton]] |death_date = [[24 July]] [[2005]] |death_place = [[Oxford]] |residence = |citizenship = |nationality = [[United Kingdom|British]] |ethnicity = |field = [[physiology]]<br/> [[epidemiology]] |work_institutions = |alma_mater = |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = [[British Doctors Study|Epidemiology of smoking]] |author_abbrev_bot = |author_abbrev_zoo = |influences = |influenced = |prizes = |religion = |footnotes = |signature = }}'''Sir William Richard Shaboe Doll''' [[Order of the Companions of Honour|CH]] [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] ([[28 October]] [[1912]]&ndash;[[24 July]] [[2005]]) was a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[physiologist]] who became the foremost [[epidemiologist]] of the 20th century, turning the subject into a rigorous science. He was a pioneer in research linking [[Tobacco smoking|smoking]] to health problems. With Ernst Wynder, Bradford Hill and Evarts Graham, he was the first in the modern world to prove that smoking caused [[lung cancer]] and increased the risk of [[heart disease]]. German researchers had established this association in the 1930s, although that work was not widely appreciated until recently (Robert Proctor, ''The Nazi War on Cancer'', 1999). He also did pioneering work on the relationship between radiation and [[leukemia]] as well as that between [[asbestos]] and [[lung cancer]], and [[alcohol]] and [[breast cancer]]. == Biography == Doll was born at [[Hampton, London|Hampton]] into an affluent family, though his father's work as a doctor was cut short by [[multiple sclerosis]]. Educated first at [[Westminster School]], Doll originally then intended (against the wishes of his parents that he become a doctor like his father) to study mathematics at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]. Doll failed the mathematics scholarship from the effects of drinking too much of the College's own-brewed beer the night before.<ref>{{cite web | author=McKie R | title=Profile: Richard Doll | publisher=The Observer | date=7 July 2002 | url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,750852,00.html | accessdate = 2006-12-13 }}</ref> He subsequently chose to study medicine at [[St Thomas' Hospital Medical School]], [[King's College London]] from where he graduated in [[1937]]. Doll was a socialist, and one of the significant figures in the [[Socialist Health Association|Socialist Medical Association]] whose campaign helped lead to the creation of Britain's postwar [[National Health Service]]. He joined the [[Royal College of Physicians]] after the outbreak of [[World War II]] and served for much of the war as a part of the [[Royal Army Medical Corps]] on a hospital ship as a medical specialist. After the war, Doll returned to St Thomas' to research [[asthma]]. In [[1948]] he joined a research team under Dr [[Francis Avery-Jones]] at the [[Central Middlesex Hospital]], run under the auspices of the statistical research unit of the [[Medical Research Council (UK)|Medical Research Council]]. Over a 21 year career in the unit, Doll rose to become its director. His research there initially consisted of disproving the then-held belief that [[peptic ulcer]]ation was caused by heavy responsibility, but instead stress. In [[1950]], he then undertook with [[Austin Bradford Hill]] a study of lung cancer patients in 20 London hospitals, at first under the belief that it was due to the new material [[tarmac]], or motor car fumes, but rapidly discovering that [[tobacco smoking]] was the only factor they had in common<ref>{{cite journal|author=Doll R, Hill AB|journal=BMJ|title=Smoking and carcinoma of the lung; preliminary report|year=1950|volume=ii|issue=4682| pages=739&ndash;48|pmid=14772469}}</ref>. Doll himself stopped smoking as a result of his findings, published in the [[British Medical Journal]] in [[1950]], which concluded; :"The risk of developing the disease increases in proportion to the amount smoked. It may be 50 times as great among those who smoke 25 or more cigarettes a day as among non-smokers." Four years later, in [[1954]] the [[British doctors study]], a study of some 40 thousand doctors over 20 years, confirmed the suggestion<ref>{{cite journal|author=Doll R, Hill AB|title=The mortality of doctors in relation to their smoking habits; a preliminary report|journal=BMJ|year=1954|volume=i|issue=4877|pages=1451&ndash;5|pmid=13160495|url=http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/328/7455/1529|doi=10.1136/bmj.328.7455.1529}}</ref>, based on which the government issued advice that smoking and lung cancer rates were related. In 1955 Doll reported a case controlled study that has firmly established the relationship between asbestos and lung cancer<ref>Doll, R. ''Mortality from lung cancer in asbestos workers''. BJM, 1955; 12:81.</ref>. In 1966 Doll was elected to the [[Royal Society]]. The citation stated: <blockquote> Doll is distinguished for his researches in epidemiology & particularly the epidemiology of cancer where in the last 10 years he has played a prominent part in (a) elucidating the causes of lung cancer in industry (asbestos, nickel & coal tar workers) & more generally, in relation to cigarette smoking, and (b) in the investigation of leukaemia particularly in relation to radiation, where using the mortality of patients treated with radiotherapy he has reached a quantitative estimate of the leukaemogenic effects of such radiation. In clinical medicine he has made carefully controlled trials of treatments for gastric ulcer. He has been awarded the United Nations prize for outstanding research into the causes & control of cancer & the Bisset Hawkins medal of the Royal College of Physicians for his contributions to [[preventative medicine]] </blockquote> In [[1969]], Doll moved to [[University of Oxford|Oxford University]], to sit as the [[Regius Professor of Medicine]], succeeding the clinical researcher [[George Pickering|Sir George Pickering]]. Initially, epidemiology was held in low regard, but in his time at Oxford he helped reverse this. He was the primary agent behind the creation of [[Green College, Oxford|Green College]], from where he retired in [[1983]]. Doll also helped found the [[National Blood Service]], and was key in avoiding a system of paying donors for their blood, as had been adopted in the [[United States]]. His continued work into [[carcinogen]]s at the [[Imperial Cancer Research Centre]] at the [[John Radcliffe Hospital]], Oxford, working as part of the [[Clinical Trial Service Unit]], notably including a study undertaken with [[Richard Peto|Sir Richard Peto]], in which it was estimated that tobacco, along with infections and diet, caused between then three quarters of all cancers, which was the basis of much of the [[World Health Organisation]]'s conclusions on environmental pollution and cancer. Doll was [[Knight]]ed in [[1971]], and made a [[Order of the Companions of Honour|Companion of Honour]] in [[1996]] for "services of national importance". He was made a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]], awarded the Presidential Award of the [[New York Academy of Sciences]] as well as a [[UN Award]] for his research into cancer. In April [[2005]], he was awarded the [[Saudi Arabia]]n [[King Faisal International Prize for medicine]] jointly with Peto for their work on diseases related to smoking. In 2004, he was awarded the inaugural [[Shaw Prize]] for Life Sciences and Medicine for his contribution to modern cancer epidemiology. He was also awarded [[honorary degree]]s by thirteen different [[university|universities]]. He died on [[24 July]], [[2005]], at the [[John Radcliffe Hospital]] in [[Oxford]] after a short illness. ==Building== [[Image:RichardDollBuilding3.jpg|thumb|left|Richard Doll Building, Oxford]] The Richard Doll Building was named in his honour and opened shortly before his death. It currently houses the [[Clinical Trial Service Unit]], [[Cancer Epidemiology Unit]] and [[National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit]]. A plaque inside the building contains the following quotation from Doll: "''Death in old age is inevitable, but death before old age is not. In previous centuries 70 years used to be regarded as humanity's allotted span of life, and only about one in five lived to such an age. Nowadays, however, for non-smokers in Western countries, the situation is reversed: only about one in five will die before 70, and the non-smoker death rates are still decreasing, offering the promise, at least in developed countries, of a world where death before 70 is uncommon. For this promise to be properly realised, ways must be found to limit the vast damage that is now being done by tobacco and to bring home, not only to the many millions of people in developed countries but also the far larger populations elsewhere, the extent to which those who continue to smoke are shortening their expectation of life by so doing.''" ==Controversy== After his death, controversy arose over some of his work because his papers, held at the [[Wellcome Trust|Wellcome Foundation Library]], showed that for many years he had received consultancy payments from chemical companies whose products he was to defend in court. These include US$1,500 per day consultancy fee from [[Monsanto]] for a relationship which began in 1976 and continued until 2002. He also received fees from the Chemical Manufacturers Association, [[Dow Chemical Company|Dow Chemicals]], and [[ICI]]. Some donations, including a £50,000 gift from asbestos company Turner and Newall, were given in public ceremony to Green College Oxford where his wife was Warden, but most fees and payments remained undisclosed to the public, Oxford University and colleagues until his death. His defenders point out that his connections to industry were widely known by those in the field, that he did his work before formal disclosure of commercial interests became commonplace and that on occasion, he came to conclusions that were unpalatable to the companies who consulted him. His own view, as reported by Richard Peto, was that it was necessary to co-operate with companies for access to data which could prove their products to be dangerous.<ref>''The Guardian'' (Sarah Boseley) [http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1967386,00.html Renowned cancer scientist was paid by chemical firm for 20 years] 8 December 2006</ref><ref>BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6220440.stm Industry 'paid top cancer expert'] 8 December 2006</ref><ref> ''The Guardian'' (Sarah Boseley) [http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1967377,00.html Expert revered for painstaking work that proved link between smoking and cancer]</ref> ==References== <references/> ==Bibliography== *{{cite book | last = Doll | first = Richard | coauthors = and F. Avery Jones | year = 1951 | title = Occupational Factors in the Aetiology of Gastric and Duodenal Ulcers, With an Estimate of Their Incidence in the General Population | publisher = H.M. Stationery Office | location = London}} *{{cite journal | last = Doll | first = Richard | coauthors = | year = 1955 | month = December | title = Mortality from lung cancer in asbestos workers | journal = British Medical Journal | issue = |pages = 1281}} *{{cite journal | last = Doll | first = Richard | year = 2002 | month = Fall | title = Proof of causality: deduction from epidemiological observation | journal = Perspectives in Biology and Medicine | volume = 45 | issue = 4 | pages = 499–515 | pmid = 12388883 | doi = 10.1353/pbm.2002.0067}} *{{cite journal | last = Doll | first = Richard | coauthors = et al. | date = [[26 June]] [[2004]] | title = Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years' observations on male British doctors | journal = British Medical Journal | volume = 328 | issue = 7455 | pages = 1519 | pmid = 15213107 | url = http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/328/7455/1519 | doi = 10.1136/bmj.38142.554479.AE}} *{{cite book | last = Proctor | first = Robert N. | year = 1999 | title = The Nazi War on Cancer | publisher = Princeton University Press | location = Princeton, N.J. | id = ISBN 0-691-00196-0}} *{{cite book | last = Davis | first =Devra | year = 2007 | title = The Secret History of the War on Cancer | publisher = Basic Books |}} <references/> ==Source== *[http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqSearch=RefNo=='EC/1966/05'&dsqDb=Catalog Royal Society nomination] ==External links== * [http://www.preventcancer.com/losing/other/doll.htm Richard Doll, An Epidemiologist Gone Awry] * [http://www.nicholashare.co.uk/education/486_key.htm ''Richard Doll Building by Nicholas Hare Architects LLP''] * ''BBC News'' obituary [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3826939.stm Sir Richard Doll: A life's research] * BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4092919.stm Experts Examined - Sir Richard Doll] * [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-1707232,00.html ''The Times'' obituary] * [http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-obit-doll,0,5216886.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines ''Associated Press'' obituary] * [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article301629.ece ''The Independent'' obituary] * [http://health.dailynewscentral.com/content/view/0001342/31//richard_doll_father_of_anti-smoking_movement_dies.html Godfather of Anti-smoking Movement Dies At 92] * [http://www.cancerworld.org/CancerWorld/getStaticModFile.aspx?id=269 Interview with Richard Doll] * Richard Horton in The New York Review of Books [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=21056] * [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?search=ss&sText=Sir+Richard+Doll+&LinkID=mp05251 Images from The National Portrait Gallery] * ''The Guardian'' (Sarah Boseley) [http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,1967402,00.html Company paid for published review] * ''The Guardian'' (Sarah Boseley) [http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,1967381,00.html Intervention in Vietnam inquiry] {{Shaw Prize}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Doll, Richard}} [[Category:1912 births]] [[Category:2005 deaths]] [[Category:Old Westminsters]] [[Category:Alumni of King's College London]] [[Category:Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford]] [[Category:Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour]] [[Category:Epidemiologists]] [[Category:English statisticians]] [[Category:Royal Army Medical Corps officers]] [[Category:Biostatisticians]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]] [[Category:English humanists]] [[Category:Knights Bachelor]] [[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:People from Hampton, London]] [[de:Richard Doll]] [[fr:Richard Doll]] [[it:Richard Doll]] [[lt:Ričardas Dolas]] [[nl:Richard Doll]] [[sv:Richard Doll]] [[ur:سر رچرڈ ڈول]] [[zh:理查德·多尔]]