Administrative / Biographical History

MB ChB Manch 1934, MD 1943.

Known as Harvey Flack, he was born on 26 October 1912, the son of Isaac Flack, a GP in Radcliffe. Flack studied at Owens College Manchester and was editor of Manchester University Medical Students Gazette from 1931 to 1934. After qualifying, Flack was house surgeon at MRI and spent a short period in general practice with his father before joining the editorial staff of BMJ in 1935, becoming known under his pseudonym Harvey Graham. Flack wrote a number of popular medical history books, including Surgeons All and Eternal Eve. During the second world war, Flack was a major in the RAMC, largely serving in the Middle East. Flack returned to the BMJ but later became founder and editor of Family Doctor, first published in April 1951. This series of popular medicine publications was important in the development of public health education and provided clear medical advice in understandable language. Despite opposition from many doctors, Family Doctor was a great success, and Harvey Flack became very well known. He died of cancer on 8 September 1966.

Related Material

See also MMC/1/FlackIH .