Clinician and expert in genetic disorders

Born: June 25, 1941;

Died: July 9, 2018

PROFESSOR Sandy Raeburn, who has died aged 77, was an eminent clinician who worked with patients suffering from serious genetic disorders for more than 40 years. He practised and lectured in Scotland, England and spent several years in Oman and was recognised as a world authority on the treatment of hereditary illnesses especially cystic fibrosis and Down’s Syndrome.

Professor Raeburn also campaigned for an international agreement on the improvement of health issues. The rising burden of chronic diseases, he argued, posed a challenge for all public health systems. In 2014, he suggested that "the first step to reduce health inequalities would be to agree, internationally, to a world project to institute health care, globally."

Dr Niall Finlayson, past president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) was a contemporary of Raeburn’s at school and university. “Our paths diverged after qualifying but on retirement we were back in Edinburgh and we met regularly as Rotarians and at reunions. Sandy remained the same friendly, intelligent and honest person over all these years and I held him in high esteem.”

John Alexander Raeburn (always known affectionately as Sandy) came from a medical family – his father and both grandfathers were doctors. He was born in Adlington, Cheshire but from an early age his family lived in North Berwick where he attended North Berwick Primary School then Loretto School in Musselburgh. It was at Loretto where he enjoyed sports, played the flute in the orchestra and became a proficient bag piper.

He read medicine at Edinburgh University and was the captain of the University Fencing Team. He qualified in 1964 and then served as lecturer in therapeutics at Leiden University where he was appointed senior research assistant in the infectious diseases department and where he studied for his PhD in antibiotics and human phagocytic cells.

He returned as a senior lecturer in the human genetics department at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital in 1974 remaining in that post until 1990.

During Professor Raeburn’s work at the City Hospital and The Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, he researched the connection of infections to genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis and was appointed lecturer (later senior lecturer) at the department of human genetics at the Western General Hospital. He set up a new clinic for young adult cystic fibrosis at the Western and elsewhere in Scotland.

A member of the CF Trust remembered him with great affection. “Following an exacting regime at the Sick Kids, the adult CF patients could only continue their care in a children’s environment. We were grateful to Sandy when he started an adult CF clinic, the advice and personal care he gave to older patients was hugely appreciated.

"Sandy was a wise and caring doctor whose young patients were his primary concern. He ran camps (now discontinued) for the youngsters to experience outdoor activities, which many had thought not possible. He was a great friend to many.”

Professor Raeburn was chairman, from 1983 to 84, of the Scottish Down’s Syndrome Association and keen to ensure that children were integrated into mainstream education. He and his wife Arlene started a playgroup, which helped give practical advice for parents and children. In addition, Professor Raeburn was secretary of the Symposium Committee of the RCPE.

In 1990, Professor Raeburn was appointed professor of clinical genetics at Nottingham University where he set up a genetic counselling service for Trent Region NHS. He was responsible for clinical work, research and the teaching of clinical genetics to undergraduate and postgraduate students.

On his retirement in 2003, he was appointed professor of genetics at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences in the Sultan Qaboos University in Oman (2003-2008). His work required much diplomacy and tact and he established genetics as a speciality in Oman. He was particularly involved in planning training and setting up services including outreach clinics throughout Oman.

He was a keen member of the Territorial Army, rising to the rank of major in the Medical Corps. He resigned in 1990 when he took up the post of chair of clinical genetics at Nottingham University.

Professor Raeburn wrote several books on genetics and was published widely in medical journals. He was on the Genetics Research Group of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia advising on clinical genetic matters and insurance. He also served on the Boards of the Association of British Insurers, the European Journal of Clinical Investigation, the Journal of Intellectual Disability, the SQU Medical Journal and as an ex-officio editor at the RCPE.

He was admired by generations of students and patients young and old and had a particular soothing authority with young sufferers of CF whose health and care were of paramount importance to him.

Professor Raeburn had a wide variety of interests, all of which he pursued with typical enthusiasm: he was a keen golfer, angler and singer (a tenor in the Edinburgh Telephone Choir) and was a recent member of the Edinburgh Rotarians where its president Stuart Monro recalls his ebullient Address to the Haggis last year, which incorporated humorous references to genetics.

Sandy Raeburn is survived by his wife Arlene, two daughters and a son from his first marriage as well as two stepsons and eight grandchildren.

ALASDAIR STEVEN