Content area
Full Text
Editor who raised the standards and status of theBritish Journal of Surgery ; director of surgery in Bristol who tried to mediate as concerns about paediatric heart surgery emerged
John Farndon, professor and head of surgery in Bristol, who died from a heart attack on 6 February, had a gift for medical editing and was an incisive referee. As editor of the British Journal of Surgery from 1992, he had an eye for the best material, putting together a good journal every month and moving it up the international league table until it was second only to Annals of Surgery . He chose papers that would be widely cited, increased the number of randomised controlled trials, and cut back on case reports. He was firm, fair, and strong minded. In January he stepped down as editor and was, as chairman of the British Journal of Surgery Society, to have furthered the journal's development. He wrote and edited textbooks on endocrine and breast surgery, operative surgery, and a guidebook for house surgeons.
An excellent operating surgeon, his main interest was in his endocrine work, specialising in thyroid and parathyroid surgery. He improved the way in which patients with phaeochromocytoma were prepared for surgery by characterising the way in which...