DOLL, Richard 1912-2005

(William Richard Shaboe Doll)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born October 28, 1912, in Hampton, England; died July 24, 2005, in Oxford, England. Epidemiologist, researcher, educator, and author. Considered by many to have been one of the giants in the field of epidemiology in the twentieth century, Doll studied the relationship of environmental factors on disease and was especially famous for linking smoking to lung cancer and other illnesses. Originally planning to be a mathematician, he entered Thomas's Medical School in London after flunking an entrance exam in math due to a hangover after a night of drinking with friends. That embarrassment fortunately led to a brilliant medical career. Doll completed a B.S. in 1937, shortly before England entered World War II. During the war, he served in the medical corps in Europe and North Africa until a bout of tuberculosis caused him to be discharged in 1944. Returning home, he completed his M.D. in 1945 and then worked for the Central Middlesex County Hospital and the Medical Research Council, directing the latter through most of the 1960s. It was also after the war that Doll became involved in lung-cancer research. At the time, no one understood the cause of the disease, and Doll himself thought it had something to do with car emissions. While working with Austin Bradford Hill at the Medical Research Council, however, he helped create hospital surveys of patients that began to show a link between smokers and cancer deaths. Politicians and tobacco-industry companies tried to hold back the reports, however, and by the time they were published in England other researchers had begun to establish similar links. Although Doll was not able to claim the discovery for his own, his continued research gathered mounting evidence on smoking's ill effects, which included not only lung cancer but also heart disease and other lethal health problems. On the other hand, Doll demonstrated that quitting smoking could significantly reverse the harmful effects of tobacco. In 1969, Doll joined the Oxford University faculty as Regius Professor of Medicine, a prestigious position appointed by the prime minister of England. He retired in 1979, but continued to work in various positions for many years. Among his later positions were warden of Green College from 1979 to 1983 and honorary director for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's cancer epidemiology and clinical trials Unit, where he also served as acting director in 1987. In addition to his research on smoking, Doll performed many other significant studies on the negative effects of such things as ultraviolet radiation on the skin, the risks of birth control pills in creating blood clots, the relationship between radon gas and lung cancer, and the benefits of fluoridated water and Vitamin D. Nominated several times for the Nobel Prize in medicine, Doll never won the prestigious award, though he was named a fellow of the Royal Society and was knighted in 1971 in recognition of his accomplishments. More recent honors included the National Award from the American Cancer Society in 1981, the Gold medal from the British Medical Association in 1983, the Wilhelm Conrad Röngen prize in 1984, the Johann-Georg-Zimmermann Prize in 1985, the Royal Society medal in 1986, the Gold Medal from the European Society of Cardiology in 2000, the Dr. Nathan Davis International award from the American Medical Association in 2001, and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in 2003. Doll was the author and editor of numerous medical books, including Prevention of Cancer: Pointers from Epidemiology (1967), The Geography of Disease (1984), and Trends in Cancer Incidence and Mortality (1994).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, July 25, 2005, section 4, p. 10.

Los Angeles Times, July 26, 2005, pp. A1, A6.

New York Times, July 26, 2005, p. C16.

Times (London, England), July 25, 2005, p. 47.

Washington Post, July 25, 2005, p. B6.