Background
He was born in Shetland in 1913, educated at Forfar Academy, and studied medicine at the Bute Medical School, University of Street Andrews, graduating with Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery in 1933.
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Douglas Black
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Education
University of Street Andrews.
Career
He conducted research in the field of public health and was famous as the author of the Black Report. He was also known for the Black Formula, a translation of the Pignet formula to British measurements. He conducted research into water loss and dehydration, first at Oxford University, and then at the University of Manchester, where he became professor of medicine in 1959.
In 1974 he became the first chief scientist at the Department of Health and Social Security of the United Kingdom government.
From 1977–1983 he was president of the Royal College of Physicians. He also served as the president of the British Medical Association and earned himself a lot of respect by taking an uncompromising stand against the apartheid regime in South Africa.
In the 1970s Black was asked by the Labour government of the United Kingdom to chair an expert committee to investigate health inequalities. The report produced by this committee, popularly known as "The Black Report" was published in 1980.
Although unpopular with the then Conservative government, it has had a major impact on knowledge on the subject of health inequality since that time, and was published by Penguin Books as Inequalities in Health: The Black Report and the Health Divide in 1982.
Later, Black chaired the United Kingdom government investigation into childhood leukaemia around the nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield, Cumbria, United Kingdom.
Achievements
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Born
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Died
2002 (aged 89) -
Political Party
Conservative