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A tribute to the life and accomplishments of a true Yorkshireman: Leslie Norman Pyrah
32nd Annual EAU Congress, 24-28 March 2017, London, United Kingdom
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A tribute to the life and accomplishments of a true Yorkshireman: Leslie Norman Pyrah Eur Urol Suppl 2017; 16(3);e891
Khan F., Kimuli M., Biyani C.S., Cartledge J. St James University Hospital, Dept. of Urology, Leeds, United Kingdom INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVES: Leslie Pyrah, (1899-1995), was one of the most eminent surgeons in British urology, who greatly changed the paradigm of the subspeciality and whose work achieved international recognition. MATERIAL & METHODS: Time related sources in medical and historical literature were reviewed including publications from the Wellcome Trust History of Medicine Collection and the Royal Society of Medicine, London. RESULTS: Pyrah was born in Farnley, near Leeds. He served in the army during the final stages of the first world war and then read medicine at Leeds University. On qualification in 1924, he worked in a variety of training posts, notably with Berkley Moynihan at Leeds General Infirmary, where he became surgical tutor. Following appointment as consultant surgeon to St James's Hospital in 1940 and to the Infirmary in 1944 he built up a large general surgical practice. An important turning point in Pyrah's career came in 1950 when he decided to forsake general surgery and to concentrate his efforts in urology. In 1948 he was elected to the council of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS), which had only formed three years earlier. In 1956 he was appointed to the first Professorial Chair in Urological Surgery in Britain, at Leeds University, setting a standard of excellence that attracted urological trainees and scientists from around the world. In the same year he became director of the Medical Research Council Unit in Leeds and set up the first renal haemodialysis unit in the UK with Dr. Frank Parsons as its head. Pyrah did outstanding and tireless work in promoting urology and urological specialist centres throughout Britain. He was President of the Urological Section of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1958; President of BAUS from 1961 to 1963; a member of College Council from 1960 to 1968 and was appointed CBE in 1963. Outside medicine, he was a gifted pianist and keen tennis player. CONCLUSIONS: Pyrah contributed abundance to British urology. In addition to his immense surgical achievements, he was appointed Weild Lecturer at the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow in 1955, the Ramon Guiteras Lecturer to the American Urological Association in 1957 and the Litchfield Lecturer at Oxford University in 1959. A true Yorkshireman, affectionately known as 'Poppah Pyrah' he had a somewhat portly figure and, even in the hottest climate, he always wore a mackintosh and a crumpled grey felt hat.
Eur Urol Suppl 2017; 16(3);e891 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
516
A tribute to the life and accomplishments of a true Yorkshireman: Leslie Norman Pyrah Eur Urol Suppl 2017; 16(3);e891
Khan F., Kimuli M., Biyani C.S., Cartledge J. St James University Hospital, Dept. of Urology, Leeds, United Kingdom INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVES: Leslie Pyrah, (1899-1995), was one of the most eminent surgeons in British urology, who greatly changed the paradigm of the subspeciality and whose work achieved international recognition. MATERIAL & METHODS: Time related sources in medical and historical literature were reviewed including publications from the Wellcome Trust History of Medicine Collection and the Royal Society of Medicine, London. RESULTS: Pyrah was born in Farnley, near Leeds. He served in the army during the final stages of the first world war and then read medicine at Leeds University. On qualification in 1924, he worked in a variety of training posts, notably with Berkley Moynihan at Leeds General Infirmary, where he became surgical tutor. Following appointment as consultant surgeon to St James's Hospital in 1940 and to the Infirmary in 1944 he built up a large general surgical practice. An important turning point in Pyrah's career came in 1950 when he decided to forsake general surgery and to concentrate his efforts in urology. In 1948 he was elected to the council of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS), which had only formed three years earlier. In 1956 he was appointed to the first Professorial Chair in Urological Surgery in Britain, at Leeds University, setting a standard of excellence that attracted urological trainees and scientists from around the world. In the same year he became director of the Medical Research Council Unit in Leeds and set up the first renal haemodialysis unit in the UK with Dr. Frank Parsons as its head. Pyrah did outstanding and tireless work in promoting urology and urological specialist centres throughout Britain. He was President of the Urological Section of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1958; President of BAUS from 1961 to 1963; a member of College Council from 1960 to 1968 and was appointed CBE in 1963. Outside medicine, he was a gifted pianist and keen tennis player. CONCLUSIONS: Pyrah contributed abundance to British urology. In addition to his immense surgical achievements, he was appointed Weild Lecturer at the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow in 1955, the Ramon Guiteras Lecturer to the American Urological Association in 1957 and the Litchfield Lecturer at Oxford University in 1959. A true Yorkshireman, affectionately known as 'Poppah Pyrah' he had a somewhat portly figure and, even in the hottest climate, he always wore a mackintosh and a crumpled grey felt hat.
Eur Urol Suppl 2017; 16(3);e891 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)