Coffee and herbal ‘cigarettes’ once popular treatments for asthma: talks from 90th Anniversary for the Postgraduate Medical Journal

Condition used to be regarded as psychosomatic and brought on by stress

Strong black coffee and herbal ‘cigarettes’ were once popular treatments for asthma, which used to be thought of as a psychosomatic condition, brought on by stress, reveals a review of the evolution of common respiratory diseases over the past century.

The review, presented by Peter Barnes, Professor of Thoracic Medicine and Head of Respiratory Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, is one of a series of historical perspectives on key aspects of health and medicine, and their relevance to future practice, delivered by distinguished clinicians at a symposium in London today for the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine (FPM).*

The lectures mark the 90th anniversary of Postgraduate Medical Journal, which began publishing in 1925, the year television pictures were first transmitted by Logie Baird and enclosed double decker buses were introduced to London’s streets.

In ancient times, asthma used to be treated with various herbal extracts, derived from horsetail, thorn-apple, and deadly nightshade (belladonna), and available as a tincture or in “asthma cigarettes.”

By the 1850s the use of strong black coffee was recommended to treat symptoms, and by the early 20th century adrenal gland extract, from which adrenaline is derived, emerged as an effective airway opener (bronchodilator) followed by the discovery in the 1920s that theophylline, which occurs naturally in tea, was similarly effective.

The adrenal gland was a source of another treatment for asthma—steroids, the precursor to the mainstay of treatment today. Glucorticosteroids were first extracted in the 1940s, when adrenaline also became available as an inhaled treatment for the first time.

During this period in history, asthma was thought of as a largely psychosomatic condition, brought on by stress. It wasn’t until the 1980s, when chronic inflammation was recognised as a key factor in the airway restriction that characterises the condition.

In 1925 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and bronchitis, were treated with the same bronchodilators used for asthma. Now long acting bronchodilators and their combination are the treatments of choice, although they don’t work as well in COPD as they do in asthma.

But oxygen was considered to be dangerous and only became available in the 1980s. New treatments for COPD that dampen down the underlying inflammation are urgently needed but have proved difficult to develop.

In another presentation, looking towards the future, Professor Karol Sikora, Medical Director of CancerPartnersUK, points out that cancer could well become a long term condition in 20 years’ time. But this promise critically depends on sustained investment in innovative diagnostics and therapies, such as robotics, genomics, biosensors, and personalised medicine.

He suggests that as the population continues to age, and the prevalence of cancer rises, the interaction of four factors will determine the future success of curbing deaths from the disease: new technology; society's willingness to pay; evolving healthcare delivery systems; and the financial mechanisms that underpin them.

Other speakers include Professor Dame Carol Black, principal of Newnham College Cambridge and past president of the Royal College of Physicians, who will talk about the opportunities to improve public health by focusing on workplace health; Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed, David Weatherall Chair in Medicine at the University of Liverpool who will outline progress in the use of personalised medicine; and Dr Paul Nunn, former Coordinator, WHO Tuberculosis Programme, who will cover  the epidemiology and treatment of TB.

Details of all the other speakers and the topics they will be covering are available here: http://fpostgradmed.blogspot.co.uk

Commenting on the relevance and significance of the symposium, FPM President, Professor Donald Singer said: “Today’s symposium showcases many of the tremendous advances in medicine over the past 9 decades. Yet many of the medical challenges present in the 1920s still need further research and more global investment in health systems in developed and less developed regions. “

He added “The Postgraduate Medical Journal continues to play an important role in publishing new medical research and in educating young doctors and their teachers around the world.”

Notes for editors:

*90th Anniversary of the Postgraduate Medical Journal: Medicine from 1925 to 2015 One Day Symposium - 1st October 2015, Medical Society of London

Postgraduate Medical Journal is one of more than 50 specialist journals published by BMJ, which publishes the title on behalf of the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine.

http://pmj.bmj.com

The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine, founded in 1918, pioneered educational programmes in all branches of postgraduate medicine. The FPM publishes 2 international journals: the Postgraduate Medical Journal since 1925 and Health Policy and Technology since 2012.

Further information (including contact details for the speakers)

Emma Dickinson, Media Relations Manager, BMJ, BMA House, London, UK

Tel: + 44 (0) 207 383 6529

Email: edickinson@bmj.com

Advances in medicine over past 9 decades showcased at PMJ at 90 Symposium

The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine is organising a Symposium in London on 1st October 2015 to mark the 90th Anniversary of its first official journal, the Postgraduate Medical Journal. The meeting will be held at the Medical Society of London.

PMJ at 90 Programme

Speakers and discussants will include FPM Fellows Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed who will discuss Progress in Personalised Medicine and Professor Peter Barnes FRS, who will speak on Advances in Respiratory Medicine, Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge and Past-President of the Royal College of Physicians who will discuss opportunities to improve public health through a focus on health in the workplace, and pioneers neuroscience Lord Walton of Detchant and of allergy Dr William Frankland, who introduced the pollen count to help people with asthma and other allergies.

Sir Munir Pirmohamed was awarded a Personal Chair in Clinical Pharmacology at The University of Liverpool in 2001, and in 2007, was appointed to the NHS Chair of Pharmacogenetics.  He was appointed the Head of the Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Liverpool in 2010.  

Peter Barnes has been Professor of Thoracic Medicine since 1987 and is Head of Respiratory Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute and Honorary Consultant Physician at Royal Brompton Hospital, London. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2007, the first respiratory researcher to be elected FRS for over 150 years.  

Other speakers will include Peter Ashman, Publishing Director at BMJ, who will discuss the future for publishing medical journals, FPM Fellow cardiac surgeon Wade Dimitri (Coventry) who will discuss early development of heart surgery, vascular surgeon Professor Alison Halliday (Oxford) on carotid surgery to prevent stroke,  Professor Melanie Davies (Leicester) on progress in managing diabetes, FPM Fellow Andrew Marsh, who will discuss new approaches drug discovery, Dr Paul Nunn (London), former Director of the WHO Tuberculosis Programme, on advances in managing tuberculosis, Professor Dudley Pennell (London) on advances in imaging the heart, FPM Fellow Professor Munir Pirmohamed (Liverpool) who will discuss Progress in Personalised Medicine, Dr June Raine (MHRA, London) on vigilance and risk management of medicines, Emeritus Professor Terence Ryan (Oxford) on Sir William Osler,  Professor Karol Sikora (London) on cancer - a disease of our time, FPM President Professor Donald Singer on preventing heart disease, and Dr David Wilkinson, President of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (London) on development of anaesthesia over the past 90 years.
 
The Postgraduate Medical Journal publishes topical reviews, commentaries and original papers on themes across the medical spectrum. It provides continuing professional development for all doctors, from those in training, to their teachers, and active clinicians, by publishing papers on a wide range of topics relevant to clinical practice.

Papers published in PMJ describe current practice and new developments in all branches of medicine; describe relevance and impact of translational research on clinical practice; provide background relevant to examinations; and papers on medical education and medical education research.  

The FPM is a British non-profit organisation founded in the autumn of 1919 as a merger of the Fellowship of Medicine and the Postgraduate Medical Association, with Sir William Osler as its first president. Its initial aims were the development of educational programmes in all branches of postgraduate medicine. 

The FPM now organises clinical and research meetings and publishes two journals. The FPM has since 1925 published the international journal, the Postgraduate Medical Journal. In 2012 the Fellowship launched a new international journal, Health Policy and Technology, published on the Fellowship's behalf by Elsevier.

FPM Symposium on Immunopsychiatry - 2nd November 2015 in London

A symposium is being organised by Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine to reflect the emergence of an exciting new area of research into the aetiology of psychiatric disorders, new advances with potentially large clinical implications. 

There has been a recent rapid increase in the understanding of the potential role of immune dysfunction in CNS disorders –  via both ‘acquired’ (antigen-specific) and ‘innate’ (relatively non-specific) immune processes – affecting ‘higher’ functions resulting in cognitive and behavioural symptoms. 

Download Programme

Register for the Symposium

These developments complement the already well-established role of the immune system in neurological disease, as  reflected in the investigation, diagnosis and treatment of many syndromes to the point of immune dysfunction (mostly via autoimmunity) being a differential diagnosis for almost any neurological disorder.

There is now increasing evidence that the immune system is implicated in many disorders at the interface of neurology and psychiatry (E.g. encephalitis, Tourette’s and dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease) and there is even evidence that ‘core’ psychiatric disorders such as OCD, schizophrenia and even depression might have a significant immune contribution to the disorder. 

This has major potential ramifications for the management of these disorders with potential for a wide range of new diagnostic tests and new both disease-modifying  (immunomodulation) and even preventative treatments.

This evidence, and future directions, will be reviewed at a level accessible to the generalist to bring them up to date with this fast moving field. The speakers include a genuinely world-class list of authorities on these subjects.

This seminar is aimed at psychiatrists, and clinicians in other related areas (especially neurology & immunology), interested in this emerging area. Neuropsychiatrists, Early Intervention Psychosis Psychiatrists & Old Age Psychiatrists should be particularly interested in these developments. It will also be of appeal to neuroimmunologists and related scientists.

Register for 90th Anniversary Symposium for the Postgraduate Medical Journal

The FPM is organizing a symposium to mark the 90th Anniversary of the PMJ.

Venue: Medical Society of London  Date:  Thursday 1st October, 2015

Speakers:  Peter Ashman, Publishing Director at BMJ, Professor Peter Barnes FRS, London, Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, FPM Fellow Cardiac Surgeon Wade Dimitri, Professor Alison Halliday, Oxford, Professor Melanie Davies, Leicester, FPM Fellow Professor Andrew Marsh, Dr Paul Nunn, London, former Director of the WHO Tuberculosis Programme, Professor Dudley Pennell, Imperial College, London, FPM Fellow Professor Munir Pirmohamed, Liverpool, Dr June Raine, MHRA, London, Professor Terence Ryan, Oxford, Professor Karol Sikora, London, FPM President Professor Donald Singer, Dr David Wilkinson, President, World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists, London.

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Early Registration (to 1st Sep) including lunch, coffee and tea
£25 for trainees in clinical or academic health-related disciplines (£40 after 1st Sep)
£50 for senior delegates in clinical or academic health-related disciplines (£70 after 1st Sep)
£100 for other delegates (£120 after 1st Sep)

Your registration is not confirmed until you have completed the Registration form below
and paid for your registration on our EventBrite button.

Scroll down inside the box and click submit at the foot of the form to register for the meeting.



 Privacy statement

The data on your entry form relates to your registration for the FPM PMJ Symposium to be held in London on 1st October, 2015. The date and time of your submission, your identity and the work you have submitted will all be stored, but will not be used for any purpose other than administering and recording your submission and for informing you about future FPM- and PMJ-related events and activities.

Symposium to mark 90th Anniversary for the Postgraduate Medical Journal

The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine is organising a Symposium in London on 1st October 2015 to mark the 90th Anniversary of its first official journal, the Postgraduate Medical Journal. The meeting will be held at the Medical Society of London.

Places are limited for the day. Register online for the Symposium
 

Early Registration (to 1st Sep) including lunch, coffee and tea
£25 for trainees in clinical or academic health-related disciplines (£40 after 1st Sep)
£50 for senior delegates in clinical or academic health-related disciplines (£70 after 1st Sep)
£100 for other delegates (£120 after 1st Sep)
Speakers on the day will comment on what medicine was like in the 1920s, current progress in their field, and what is in prospect over the next 90 years.

Speakers will include FPM Fellows Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed who will discuss Progress in Personalised Medicine and Professor Peter Barnes FRS, who will speak on Advances in Respiratory Medicine.

Sir Munir Pirmohamed was awarded a Personal Chair in Clinical Pharmacology at The University of Liverpool in 2001, and in 2007, was appointed to the NHS Chair of Pharmacogenetics.  He was appointed the Head of the Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Liverpool in 2010.  

Peter Barnes has been Professor of Thoracic Medicine since 1987 and is Head of Respiratory Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute and Honorary Consultant Physician at Royal Brompton Hospital, London. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2007, the first respiratory researcher to be elected FRS for over 150 years.  

Other speakers will include Peter Ashman, Publishing Director at BMJ, who will discuss the future for publishing medical journals, Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge and Past-President of the Royal College of Physicians who will discuss opportunities to improve public health through a focus on health in the workplace, FPM Fellow cardiac surgeon Wade Dimitri (Coventry) who will discuss early development of heart surgery, vascular surgeon Professor Alison Halliday (Oxford) on carotid surgery to prevent stroke,  Professor Melanie Davies (Leicester) on progress in managing diabetes, FPM Fellow Andrew Marsh, who will discuss new approaches drug discovery, Dr Paul Nunn (London), former Director of the WHO Tuberculosis Programme, on advances in managing tuberculosis, Professor Dudley Pennell (London) on advances in imaging the heart, FPM Fellow Professor Munir Pirmohamed (Liverpool) who will discuss Progress in Personalised Medicine, Dr June Raine (MHRA, London) on vigilance and risk management of medicines, Emeritus Professor Terence Ryan (Oxford) on Sir William Osler,  Professor Karol Sikora (London) on cancer - a disease of our time, FPM President Professor Donald Singer on preventing heart disease, and Dr David Wilkinson, President of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (London) on development of anaesthesia over the past 90 years.
 
The Postgraduate Medical Journal publishes topical reviews, commentaries and original papers on themes across the medical spectrum. It provides continuing professional development for all doctors, from those in training, to their teachers, and active clinicians, by publishing papers on a wide range of topics relevant to clinical practice.

Papers published in PMJ describe current practice and new developments in all branches of medicine; describe relevance and impact of translational research on clinical practice; provide background relevant to examinations; and papers on medical education and medical education research.  

The FPM is a British non-profit organisation founded in the autumn of 1919 as a merger of the Fellowship of Medicine and the Postgraduate Medical Association, with Sir William Osler as its first president. Its initial aims were the development of educational programmes in all branches of postgraduate medicine. 

The FPM now organises clinical and research meetings and publishes two journals. The FPM has since 1925 published the international journal, the Postgraduate Medical Journal. In 2012 the Fellowship launched a new international journal, Health Policy and Technology, published on the Fellowship's behalf by Elsevier.
 

Professor Bernard Cheung appointed as new Editor-in-Chief for the Postgraduate Medical Journal

The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine is pleased to announce the appointment from 1^st August 2015 of Professor Bernard Cheung as the next Editor-in-Chief of the Postgraduate Medical Journal, which is published on behalf of the FPM by the BMJ publishing house.

Professor Cheung said: "The PMJ has a long and illustrious history.  I would like to see it go from strength to strength. I have two main aims: to make the journal interesting and useful both to recent graduates and to established health professionals; and by publishing articles on the state-of-the-art care of common diseases, to make the PMJ also appeal to a broad range of readers, including the informed general public, and journalists who are looking for authoritative up-to-date information. 

The FPM expresses its grateful recognition and thanks to the outgoing Editor-in-Chief Dr Fiona Moss for all her efforts over the past 8 years to nurture and develop the PMJ.
 

Professor Cheung has wide experience in senior roles of editing national and international journals. His main research interest is in cardiovascular diseases and risk factors, such as hypertension and the metabolic syndrome.  He is a principal investigator of the Hong Kong Cardiovascular Risk Factor Prevalence Study.  He is ranked among the top 1% of researchers in his field.  

Professor Cheung is the Sun Chieh Yeh Heart Foundation Professor in Cardiovascular Therapeutics and heads the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics in the Department of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong.  Professor Cheung is an Honorary Consultant Physician of Queen Mary Hospital and the Medical Director of the Phase 1 Clinical Trials Centre.  He is also the Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Science and Medicine, and the President of the Hong Kong Pharmacology Society.  

Professor Cheung read Medicine at Magdalene College, Cambridge.  He was a British Heart Foundation Junior Research Fellow at Cambridge before taking up lectureships at the University of Sheffield and the University of Hong Kong.  In 2007-2009, he held the chair in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of Birmingham, England.

The Postgraduate Medical Journal, an international journal now in its 90^th year of

publication, provides topical reviews, commentaries and original papers on themes across the medical spectrum. It provides continuing professional development for all doctors, from those in training, to their teachers, and active clinicians, by publishing papers on a wide range of topics relevant to clinical practice.

The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine is organising a Symposium in London on 1st October 2015 to mark the 90th Anniversary of the Postgraduate Medical Journal. Speakers on the day will comment on what medicine was like in the 1920s, current progress in their field, and what is in prospect over the next 90 years.

The Postgraduate Medical Journal was launched in 1925 in the era of the discovery of insulin and penicillin, pioneering examples of development and introduction of life-saving and life-changing medicines during the latter three-quarters of the 20th Century.

The FPM organises clinical and research meetings and publishes two journals. The FPM has since 1925 published the international journal, the Postgraduate Medical Journal. In 2012 the Fellowship launched a new international journal, Health Policy and Technology, published on the Fellowship's behalf by Elsevier.

The FPM is a British non-profit organisation founded in the autumn of 1919 as a merger of the Fellowship of Medicine and the Postgraduate Medical Association, with Sir William Osler as its first president. Its initial aims were the development of educational programmes in all branches of postgraduate medicine. 

Register for Symposium on Immune Mechanisms for Neurological Disease - London, Monday 2 Nov 2015

The FPM is organizing a symposium on immune mechanisms for neurological and psychiatric disease.

Venue: Medical Society of London

Date:  Monday 2nd November, 2015

Registration including lunch, coffee and tea
£50 for trainees
£80 for senior delegates

Go to EventBrite button to pay for your registration

Please scroll down inside the box and click submit at the foot of the form to register for the meeting.


 Privacy statement

The data on your entry form relates to your registration for the Symposium Immune Mechanisms for Neurological Disease to be London, Monday 2 Nov 2015. The date and time of your submission, your identity and the work you have submitted will all be stored, but will not be used for any purpose other than administering and recording your submission and for informing you about future FPM-related events and activities.

The future of publishing medical journals: 90th Anniversary symposium for the Postgraduate Medical Journal

The Postgraduate Medical Journal was launched in 1925 in the era of the discovery of insulin and penicillin, pioneering examples of development and introduction of life-saving and life-changing medicines during the latter three-quarters of the 20th Century.

A Symposium is being organised on 1^st October 2015 in London by the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine to mark the 90th Anniversary of its first official journal, the Postgraduate Medical Journal.

Speakers include Peter Ashman, Publishing Director at BMJ, who will discuss the future for publishing medical journals.  
 

As in the 1920s when the PMJ was launched, medical journals continue to be used by

Peter Ashman

established clinicians to keep up-to-date on clinical practice, by trainees for new learning, and by clinical and other researchers to find out about new and previous research and to describe and disseminate the results of their own research. Key new challenges for publishers, editors, authors and readers include matching the desire for with the need to fund Open Access to what has been published, and how to make the most of opportunities for innovation presented by new electronic media, both in established health care systems and in low resource settings.

Peter Ashman joined BMJ in 2007 and has strategic responsibility for The BMJ, BMJ Careers and BMJ's specialty journal publishing programme, which has grown from 28 journals in 2007 to over 60 titles today. Much of BMJ's growth has come from society publishing contracts and from Open Access journal launches including BMJ Open. Peter sits on BMJ's Executive Committee. Prior to joining BMJ, Peter was Publishing Director at Nature Publishing Group and VP of Publishing at The Lancet in New York. Peter served 6 years on the Board of STM Association and is Chair of the body which represents the interests of scholarly society publishers - the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers alpsp.org

Speakers on the day will comment on what medicine was like in the 1920s, current progress in their field, and what is in prospect over the next 90 years. 

Other speakers will include FPM Fellow Professor Peter Barnes FRS, London, who will speak on evolution of asthma and COPD over 90 years, Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge and Past-President of the Royal College of Physicians who will discuss opportunities to improve public health through a focus on health in the workplace, FPM Fellow cardiac surgeon Wade Dimitri (Coventry) who will discuss early development of heart surgery, vascular surgeon Professor Alison Halliday (Oxford) on carotid surgery to prevent stroke,  Professor Melanie Davies (Leicester) on progress in managing diabetes, FPM Fellow Andrew Marsh, who will discuss new approaches drug discovery, Dr Paul Nunn (London), former Director of the WHO Tuberculosis Programme, on advances in managing tuberculosis, Professor Dudley Pennell (London) on advances in imaging the heart, FPM Fellow Professor Munir Pirmohamed (Liverpool) who will discuss Progress in Personalised Medicine, Dr June Raine (MHRA, London) on vigilance and risk management of medicines, Emeritus Professor Terence Ryan (Oxford) on Sir William Osler,  Professor Karol Sikora (London) on cancer - a disease of our time, and Dr David Wilkinson, President of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (London) on development of anaesthesia over the past 90 years.

Contact the organisers 

Diabetes - from the 1920s to new advances: 90th Anniversary symposium for the Postgraduate Medical Journal

Personalised medicine has evolved from the ethics of the Hammurabi Code and Hippocrates, judgements of the apothecary and uromancer, and good bedside manner, to modern application of genetics to guiding development, selection and monitoring of medicines. The Postgraduate Medical Journal was launched in 1925 in the era of the discovery of insulin and penicillin, pioneering examples of development and introduction of life-saving and life-changing medicines during the latter three-quarters of the 20th Century.

A Symposium is being organised in London on 1^st October 2015 by the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine to mark the 90th Anniversary of its first official journal, the Postgraduate Medical Journal, with speakers to include Professor Melanie Davies (Leicester) on progress in managing diabetes

Professor Davies is Professor of Diabetes Medicine at the University of Leicester

Professor Melanie Davies

and Honorary Consultant Diabetologist in the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. She is Co-Director of the Leicester Diabetes Centre which has 140 research staff and is hosted by the University of Leicester and University Hospitals of Leicester. She trained in Sheffield, Cambridge, Ipswich and Leicester. Her research work concerns cause of Type 2 diabetes, screening and prevention of Type 2 diabetes mellitus, and self management, structured education and new therapies including the incretin-based therapies.

She is an NIHR Senior Investigator, one of only a handful in diabetes in the UK, Director of a Clinical Trial Unit, Director of the Diabetes Research Network in the South East Midlands and Principal Investigator I on a number of large global studies in the field of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.  She has been an expert for NICE on a number of its guidelines groups and has published over 300 original articles including in the Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine and the BMJ. She has over 350 published abstracts and 10 book chapters and co-edited the diabetes section in the ‘Oxford Textbook of Endocrinology and Diabetes’ in 2011.

Speakers on the day will comment on what medicine was like in the 1920s, current progress in their field, and what is in prospect over the next 90 years. 

Other speakers will include FPM Fellow Professor Peter Barnes FRS, London, who will speak on evolution of asthma and COPD over 90 years, Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge and Past-President of the Royal College of Physicians who will discuss opportunities to improve public health through a focus on health in the workplace, vascular surgeon Professor Alison Halliday (Oxford) on carotid surgery to prevent stroke,  FPM Fellow cardiac surgeon Wade Dimitri (Coventry) who will discuss early development of heart surgery, FPM Fellow Andrew Marsh, who will discuss new approaches drug discovery, Dr Paul Nunn (London), former Director of the WHO Tuberculosis Programme, on advances in managing tuberculosis, Professor Dudley Pennell (London) on advances in imaging the heart, FPM Fellow Professor Munir Pirmohamed (Liverpool) who will discuss Progress in Personalised Medicine, Dr June Raine (MHRA, London) on vigilance and risk management of medicines, Emeritus Professor Terence Ryan (Oxford) on Sir William Osler,  Professor Karol Sikora (London) on cancer - a disease of our time, and Dr David Wilkinson, President of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (London) on development of anaesthesia over the past 90 years.
More on the Symposium, the Postgraduate Medical Journal and the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine.

From the new bedside teaching to genetics to guide prescribing: 90th Anniversary of the Postgraduate Medical Journal

Personalised medicine has evolved from the ethics of the Hammurabi Code and Hippocrates, judgements of the apothecary and uromancer, and good bedside manner, to modern application of genetics to guiding development, selection and monitoring of medicines. The Postgraduate Medical Journal was launched in 1925 in the era of the discovery of insulin and penicillin, pioneering examples of development and introduction of life-saving and life-changing medicines during the latter three-quarters of the 20th Century.

A Symposium is being organised in London on 1^st October 2015 by the Fellowship of

Professor Munir Pirmohamed

Postgraduate Medicine to mark the 90th Anniversary of its first official journal, the Postgraduate Medical Journal, with speakers to include FPM Fellow Professor Munir Pirmohamed who will discuss Progress in Personalised Medicine. 

Professor Munir Pirmohamed is currently David Weatherall Chair in Medicine at the University of Liverpool, and a Consultant Physician at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.  He is also the Associate Executive Pro Vice Chancellor for Clinical Research and Head of Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology.  He also holds the only NHS Chair of Pharmacogenetics in the UK, and is Director of the M.R.C. Centre for Drug Safety Sciences, and Director of the Wolfson Centre for Personalised Medicine.   He is also an inaugural NIHR Senior Investigator, and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in the UK. He has authored over 370 peer-reviewed publications.
Professor Pirmohamed's research focuses on individual variability in drug response (including anti-cancer drugs), both safety and efficacy, with a view to evaluating the mechanisms, and identifying strategies to personalise healthcare in order to optimise drug efficacy and minimise toxicity. The work spans the whole spectrum from discovery to implementation with laboratory based studies being linked translationally to patient studies, with the aim being to develop the evidence base that can move discoveries from the lab to the clinic, and from clinic to application.  Professor Pirmohamed has received a number of honours including most recently, the William Withering Medal from the Royal College of Physicians.
Speakers on the day will comment on what medicine was like in the 1920s, current progress in their field, and what is in prospect over the next 90 years. 
Other speakers will include FPM Fellow Professor Peter Barnes FRS, London, who will speak on evolution of asthma and COPD over 90 years, Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge and Past-President of the Royal College of Physicians who will discuss opportunities to improve public health through a focus on health in the workplace, Professor Melanie Davies (Leicester) on progress in managing diabetes, vascular surgeon Professor Alison Halliday (Oxford) on carotid surgery to prevent stroke,  FPM Fellow cardiac surgeon Wade Dimitri (Coventry) who will discuss early development of heart surgery, FPM Fellow Andrew Marsh, who will discuss new approaches drug discovery, Dr Paul Nunn (London), former Director of the WHO Tuberculosis Programme, on advances in managing tuberculosis, Professor Dudley Pennell (London) on advances in imaging the heart, Dr June Raine (MHRA, London) on vigilance and risk management of medicines, Emeritus Professor Terence Ryan (Oxford) on Sir William Osler,  Professor Karol Sikora (London) on cancer - a disease of our time, and Dr David Wilkinson, President of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (London) on development of anaesthesia over the past 90 years.
More on the Symposium, the Postgraduate Medical Journal and the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine.

TB of the lung: from the 1920s to current treatment

In 1923, in England and Wales over 32,000 people died of tuberculosis of the lung and over 8,000 people from tuberculosis affecting other parts of the body. 

To understand the significance of these figures, it is important to know what survival rates were

for tuberculosis  at the time. Some idea can be gained from data from the Frimley sanatorium for patients admitted there with tuberculosis. For the decade up to 1914, for mild tuberculosis, 10 year survival was 2 out of 3 for men and 6 out of 7 for women, for moderate (Stage 2) disease, 10 year survival was less than 1 in 5 for men, and one in 2 for women, and for severe (Stage 3) tuberculosis, only 1 in 10 man and women survived for 10 years. The focus of treatment in the 1920s involved a combination of rest, in a sanatorium if affordable, surgery to remove affected tissue, or to rest the lung, and a range of often toxic medicines. Despite major advances in understanding, prevention and treatment of tuberculosis, it remains a serious global problem, with, in 2013, according to the World Health Organisation, 9 million people falling ill with TB and 1.5 million dying from the disease.

A Symposium is being organised by the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine to mark the 90th Anniversary of its first official journal, the Postgraduate Medical Journal. 
 

See a paper on the physician’s view of TB of the lung from the first year of publication of the Postgraduate Medical Journal.

Speakers will include 
- Dr Paul Nunn, former Director of the WHO Tuberculosis Programme, who will speak on tuberculosis: the White Plague, 1925-2015: a world of two halves
- FPM Fellow Professor Peter Barnes FRS, London, who will speak on evolution of asthma and COPD over 90 years
- Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge and Past-President of the Royal College of Physicians who will discuss opportunities to improve public health through a focus on health in the workplace,  
- Professor Melanie Davies (Leicester) on progress in managing diabetes, 
-  vascular surgeon Professor Alison Halliday (Oxford) on carotid surgery to prevent stroke,  
- FPM Fellow chemical biologist Andrew Marsh (Warwick) who will discuss advances in drug discovery, 
-  FPM Fellow cardiac surgeon Wade Dimitri (Coventry) who will discuss early development of heart surgery  
- FPM Fellow Professor Munir Pirmohamed (Liverpool) who will discuss Progress in Personalised Medicine,  
- Emeritus Professor Terence Ryan (Oxford) on Sir William Osler  
- Professor Karol Sikora (London) on cancer - a disease of our time
- Dr James Wilkinson (London), President of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists on on development of anaesthesia over the past 90 years

The Symposium will be held at the Medical Society of London on 1st October 2015. Speakers on the day will comment on what medicine was like in the 1920s, current progress in their field, and what is in prospect over the next 90 years. 

More on the Symposium, the Postgraduate Medical Journal and the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine.