Collection of Professor Alexander Brown

Minutes of medical staff rounds at University College Hospital, Ibadan, 1965

Brown was born in 1910 in Falkirk, Scotland and studied medicine at Edinburgh University where he graduated MB ChB with honours in 1933. He was appointed clinical tutor at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1943. He spent his war service at a specialist physician and a Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He remained in the forces until 1947 during which time he visited Sierra Leone, making his first contact with West Africa.

He arrived in Ibadan in June 1948 at the inception of the University College Ibadan, Nigeria as the foundation Professor and Head of Medicine. He also acted as the Vice-Chancellor of the University, a member of its governing council and the Board of Management of the University College Hospital. He joined Professor Beatrice Joly (Foundation Professor and Head of Surgery and the Foundation Dean of the Faculty of Medicine) in starting the medical school at the Adeoyo General Hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria and helped structure medical education at the University College Hospital. He established the Department of Paediatrics, the Department of Radiology and the Medical Illustration Unit. In addition, postgraduate development in Cardiology, Neurology, Nephrology and the development of Nursing Education at the College Hospital were part of his contributions.

He facilitated the establishment of the Society of Health of Nigeria and the Association of Medical Schools in Africa. The Rockefeller Foundation supported the establishment of the Ibarapa Community Health Project at Igboora within reach of the people who needed it most.

He died in Ibadan on the 22nd of February, 1969 having served the institution for two decades. In recognition of his immense contributions an annual lecture and prize were endowed in his memory. The prize is to be awarded for the best essay on any aspect of Community Medicine by any undergraduate medical student in any Medical School in Africa.

[Source: The Pioneer Teachers at Ibadan and http://www.archivesofibadanmedicine.com/Alexander%20Brown.htm]

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