Obituary
Council (MRC). This work taught him how the detailed
Jean H James
William Philip Trehearne James
Leading authority on nutrition and obesity
research. He was born in Liverpool, UK, on
June 27, 1938 and died of chronic
bronchiectasis with congestive cardiac failure
in London, UK, on Oct 5, 2023 aged 85 years.
“When I embarked on a career in medicine,” wrote Professor
Philip James in a 2021 memoir, “I assumed that I would
become a useful physician who might write the odd paper
specifying some improved method of treating a particular
group of patients.” As the Director of the University of
Aberdeen’s Rowett Institute, UK, for some 17 years, James
did indeed prove himself “useful”, but not in the way he had
envisaged. Within a few years of graduating he found himself
working in nutrition, “of which”, he admitted, “I originally
knew nothing”. But over the decades he tackled issues of
nutrition and public health, inspired the development of
the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA), reviewed global
malnutrition on behalf of the UN, and became an authority
on the assessment, management, and prevention of obesity.
As Wendy Russell, Professor of Molecular Nutrition at the
Rowett Institute and one of James’s mentees, puts it: “He
became a key figure in the area of diet and health, recognised
internationally by many awards.”
After an unorthodox admission process to London’s
University College London School of Medicine (he missed
the entry examination but was nevertheless accepted by
an ad-hoc interview panel of three Nobel Prize winners),
James graduated in 1962, found that doctoring in the UK
held little appeal, and decided that he wanted to go abroad.
He was offered a post in Jamaica doing research about
malnourished children through the UK’s Medical Research
22
physio­logical understanding of a nutritional problem can
transform its treatment and even shape public health
policies. Having found his vocation, James spent a year
at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA,
USA, before returning to the UK for a similar period at the
MRC’s Gastroenterology Unit in London. In 1970 he joined
the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine: “a
whirlwind of teaching, research, and clinical work”, as James
described it, “including establishing the first obesity clinic
in a UK teaching hospital”.
In 1974 James became Assistant Director of the MRC Dunn
Nutrition Unit in Cambridge, UK, where he and colleagues
researched obesity, salt and blood pressure, dietary fibre,
and much else. He also ran a national referral centre for
patients with obesity. It was in 1982 that James moved to
Aberdeen to take up the directorship of the Rowett Institute.
As Russell points out, “The Rowett had been focused on
agriculture since the days of the first Director, John Boyd
Orr. Phil moved it in the direction of human nutrition.” This
change of emphasis was important. Alexandra Johnstone,
now Professor of Human Nutrition at the Rowett Institute,
witnessed the changeover. “He nudged us towards human
nutrition”, she says. “He was able to guide the institute
in translating expertise, skills, equipment, and staff from
working on animal models to humans.” The Rowett Institute
also moved to a new building and integrated with the
medical school. The outcome was one of the largest nutrition
research establishments in Europe. There was nothing
remote about James as a boss, says Johnstone. “I have fond
memories of him coming into the lab to have an informal
chat to find out what was going on, what we were doing.”
As Russell adds, “One of the things you could recognise in the
laboratory was his natural curiosity.”
Shortly before retiring from the Rowett Institute, James
was asked by the then UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to
examine issues of food and nutrition in the UK. His report led
to the creation of the FSA. “He was pivotal in establishing it”,
says Russell. Notable among the many national and global
bodies on which James served was the International Obesity
Task Force that he established in 1996. “He was in right
at the beginning of the recognition of the importance of
addressing obesity”, according to Russell. This was followed
by the International Association for the Study of Obesity, of
which he was President from 2010–14 and which went on to
merge with the Obesity Task Force to form the World Obesity
Federation. “A strong character, very articulate, and very
outspoken on things that were important”, says Russell. “He
was a powerhouse”, Johnstone adds. “He had the energy, the
passion, and the drive to support his staff in doing the best
possible science they could.” James is survived by his wife
Jean, daughter Claire, and son Mark.
Geoff Watts
www.thelancet.com Vol 403 January 6, 2024