Barrie Vernon-Roberts

Barrie Vernon-Roberts, an outstanding researcher into bone and joint pathology, spinal disease, and inflammation has died in Adelaide aged 80.

The second of four brothers, he was born and brought up in rural north Wales. He was educated at Ruthin School, where he won many academic prizes as well as excelling as a rugby player and middle distance runner. An outstanding medical student, he won prizes including the Llewellyn scholarship as the outstanding graduate of the year. He was captain of the athletics and golf teams as well as representing the hospital at rugby.

After house jobs at Charing Cross he took the post of anatomy lecturer at King’s College with a view to a career in surgery. However, under Professor Nicol he quickly became involved in research into the influence of hormones on the reticuloendothelial system, publishing his first paper in 1963. The work led to a PhD degree in 1965 and MD in 1966. In 1972 he was invited to write a monograph, The Macrophage, that was published by Cambridge University Press in 1972.

In 1969 he was appointed senior lecturer in the Department of Morbid Anatomy at the Royal London Hospital …