Sir Robert Shields (1930-2008)
Object numberED.CS.2010.255
TitleSir Robert Shields (1930-2008)
Creator Alan (1931- ) Sutherland (Delineator)
DescriptionSir Robert Shields (1930-2008), Fellow 1959, President 1994-1997
Oil on canvas, 1997, by Alan Sutherland (1931- 2019 )
Robert Shields was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire and was educated at John Neilson Grammar School, Paisley. He graduated MB ChB, with medal in surgery, in 1953 at the University of Glasgow. After house officer posts in the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, he was Regimental Medical Officer with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders for his National Service. He trained in surgery in the Western Infirmary under Sir Charles Illingworth and at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA. He was a consultant surgeon and reader in surgery with Sir Patrick Forrest in the Welsh National School of Medicine in Cardiff from 1963 to1969. He graduated Doctor of Medicine with Gold Medal and Honours of the University of Glasgow in 1965 and was awarded the Moynihan Medal and Prize of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland in 1966. He was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science of the University of Wales in 1990.
From 1969 to 1966, he was Professor of Surgery of the University of Liverpool and Consultant Surgeon at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. He was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of that University from 1982 to 1985. He was President of the Surgical Research Society (1986-7), of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (1987), of the British Society of Gastroenterology (1990-91), and of the James IV Association of Surgeons (1993-1996). He was President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 1994 to 1997. He served on numerous national committees including the General Medical Council and the Medical Research Council. He was knighted in 1990 and was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Merseyside in 1991.
Sir Robert’s surgical interests and publications are on surgical gastroenterology. His Department in Liverpool pioneered the treatment of portal hypertension and bleeding oesophageal varices and was noted for its contributions to surgical physiology. He is interested in medical writing and was an editor of the Scottish Medical Journal and vice chairman of the British Journal of Surgery.
His interests outside medicine included sailing and military affairs- he was in the Territorial Army and Honorary Colonel of the Officer Training Corps of the University of Liverpool.
Production date 1997
Production periodTwentieth century, late
Object nameRobert Shields (1930-2008)
Object categoryArtworks