Bryan Jennett
Encyclopedia
Bryan Jennett was a pioneering Professor of Neurosurgery
who established Glasgow
as a world centre in the speciality and made major advances in the care and management of patients. Under his leadership the city became a global centre for innovation in Neuroscience
and attracted a generation of international collaborators and trainees to the extent that his ‘Glasgow School’ has left an extraordinarily widespread legacy. He influenced not only fundamental improvements in treatment for head-injured patients but the methodology, philosophy and ethical approach of clinicians and academics alike in the wider medical field.
Born in Twickenham
to Scottish and Irish parents, Jennett flirted with agriculture before choosing medicine. Later, he was to discover that the Lanarkshire
based farming dynasty from which he was descended had produced no fewer than five Doctor Loudons including one who was physician to David Livingstone
the explorer. His early achievements at Liverpool Medical School included marrying his classmate Sheila Pope, finishing top of his year and becoming President of the national British Medical Students Association.
Jennett was drawn to Neurosurgery after attending the lectures of Henry Cohen, 1st Baron Cohen of Birkenhead
and he went onto take posts at Oxford, Cardiff and Manchester as well as a spell in the Royal Army Medical Corps
. However, his academic interests were not congruent with the times and he was turned down for promotion in Oxford, Manchester and Dundee. This was the early NHS era with a greater emphasis on patronage and where academic interests were sometimes perceived as a hindrance. Indeed, he was nearly lost to America after a year- long Rockefeller Fellowship at UCLA, but was headhunted in 1963 for a new combined NHS/University post in Glasgow. Here he joined a fledgling unit which operated from a converted wartime complex in the village of Killearn
. The Glasgow gamble was based as much on the attitudes and aspirations of his new colleagues and mentors as it was on the intangibles of long term potential. Over the coming decade, with the support of figures like Sir Charles Illingworth, he rose from Consultant to Professor and the Nissan Huts gave way to a purpose built unit at the Southern General Hospital. Meanwhile Jennett’s collaborative research programmes started to flourish.
Before arriving in Glasgow Jennett published a seminal work on Epilepsy and shortly afterwards his “Introduction to Neurosurgery” followed. This definitive handbook would run to five English and numerous foreign language editions over the following quarter century. In the quest to tackle enduring uncertainties the Jennett setup an unprecedented prospective computerised data bank to collect the features and outcome of injuries. Data was compiled from Glasgow, the United States, and the Netherlands
over a long period and led to a series of landmark papers in the 1970s including the near universally adopted Glasgow Coma Scale
(GCS) with Teasdale, and the deceptively simple Glasgow Outcome Scale with Bond. In 1972 working with Dr Plum of America, Jennett published The Persistent Vegetative State – defining a condition and coining a phrase which remains in widespread use today. His work with the Glasgow-based Neuropathologists Adams and Graham significantly reduced mortality and disability. Many international collaborative studies followed, comparing outcomes after different severity of injury and with alternative therapeutic regimes. Throughout the period his work was distinguished by his selfless partnerships with his peers and generous encouragement of his juniors - at one time over half the Neurosurgical Chairs in the UK were occupied by his trainees. This manifested his determination that his colleagues not encounter the same career obstacles that he had.
Jennett cut a distinguished if diminutive figure; a life-long taker of informed risks, this courage often sheltered under his confident style and calm tenor. He brought an infectious energy to his work and his inclusive, egalitarian approach brought his inspiration and support to many nurses, assistants, statisticians, administrators and others with whom he worked. For his part Jennett was always keen to promote the role of others in his team. All these qualities were underpinned by assured surgical and diagnostic skills and a frank but sympathetic approach at the bedside which lives on in the memory of hundreds of patients and their families.
The same expertise, conviction and clarity of thought and expression often placed him in the public spotlight. In 1976 there was furore over a BBC
Panorama
Programme which challenged the criteria used to establish ‘brain death’ in potential organ donors. Professor Jennett was in global demand as a speaker and in the UK contributed to many influential medical panels and was called to Court as an expert witness, most notably for the Tony Bland
case. However, his interest was not confined to the medical establishment; he was President of Headway – a national patients group - for seven years.
Whilst Dean of Medicine at Glasgow in the 1980s Jennett tackled issues which overarched medicine and society. Very much ahead of his time, he tackled the appropriate use of high cost technology in medicine - working with Barbara Stocking and Chris Ham of the King's Fund
to establish a series of Consensus Conferences. This form of technology assessment is now central to several health department initiatives. A Presidency of the International Society for Technology Assessment followed and in 1984 his paperback “High Technology Medicine: Benefits and Burdens” followed a series of BBC talks Doctors, Patients & Responsibilities which were widely praised. His approach is well illustrated by his response to a personal experience of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) which he attributed to cramped aircraft seating. Within a year he had located colleagues who had similar experiences and together they published a short paper in The Lancet
and first used the term “Economy-Class Syndrome” which stirred up opinion amongst the public and the airlines. The subsequent research and our current stance to the condition owe much to this original paper.
Following his retirement in 1991 he received the CBE
and an honorary DSc from St Andrews University. His continuing work included a 2002 monograph ‘The Vegetative State’ and his final publication appeared in the British Journal of Neurosurgery in the month before his death.
Neurosurgery
Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spine, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system.-In the United States:In...
who established Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
as a world centre in the speciality and made major advances in the care and management of patients. Under his leadership the city became a global centre for innovation in Neuroscience
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
and attracted a generation of international collaborators and trainees to the extent that his ‘Glasgow School’ has left an extraordinarily widespread legacy. He influenced not only fundamental improvements in treatment for head-injured patients but the methodology, philosophy and ethical approach of clinicians and academics alike in the wider medical field.
Born in Twickenham
Twickenham
Twickenham is a large suburban town southwest of central London. It is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and one of the locally important district centres identified in the London Plan...
to Scottish and Irish parents, Jennett flirted with agriculture before choosing medicine. Later, he was to discover that the Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...
based farming dynasty from which he was descended had produced no fewer than five Doctor Loudons including one who was physician to David Livingstone
David Livingstone
David Livingstone was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa. His meeting with H. M. Stanley gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr...
the explorer. His early achievements at Liverpool Medical School included marrying his classmate Sheila Pope, finishing top of his year and becoming President of the national British Medical Students Association.
Jennett was drawn to Neurosurgery after attending the lectures of Henry Cohen, 1st Baron Cohen of Birkenhead
Henry Cohen, 1st Baron Cohen of Birkenhead
Henry Cohen, 1st Baron Cohen of Birkenhead CH, FRCP was a British physician, doctor and lecturer. He was famous for his Harveian Oration at the Royal College of Physicians in 1970, on the motion of blood in the veins....
and he went onto take posts at Oxford, Cardiff and Manchester as well as a spell in the Royal Army Medical Corps
Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace...
. However, his academic interests were not congruent with the times and he was turned down for promotion in Oxford, Manchester and Dundee. This was the early NHS era with a greater emphasis on patronage and where academic interests were sometimes perceived as a hindrance. Indeed, he was nearly lost to America after a year- long Rockefeller Fellowship at UCLA, but was headhunted in 1963 for a new combined NHS/University post in Glasgow. Here he joined a fledgling unit which operated from a converted wartime complex in the village of Killearn
Killearn
Killearn is a small village of approximately 1700 people in the Stirling council area of Scotland. The village name stems from the Gaelic Cill Earnain, meaning Ernan's Church; the Ernan in question presumably being one of the canonised individuals of that name who were both relatives and followers...
. The Glasgow gamble was based as much on the attitudes and aspirations of his new colleagues and mentors as it was on the intangibles of long term potential. Over the coming decade, with the support of figures like Sir Charles Illingworth, he rose from Consultant to Professor and the Nissan Huts gave way to a purpose built unit at the Southern General Hospital. Meanwhile Jennett’s collaborative research programmes started to flourish.
Before arriving in Glasgow Jennett published a seminal work on Epilepsy and shortly afterwards his “Introduction to Neurosurgery” followed. This definitive handbook would run to five English and numerous foreign language editions over the following quarter century. In the quest to tackle enduring uncertainties the Jennett setup an unprecedented prospective computerised data bank to collect the features and outcome of injuries. Data was compiled from Glasgow, the United States, and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
over a long period and led to a series of landmark papers in the 1970s including the near universally adopted Glasgow Coma Scale
Glasgow Coma Scale
Glasgow Coma Scale or GCS is a neurological scale that aims to give a reliable, objective way of recording the conscious state of a person for initial as well as subsequent assessment...
(GCS) with Teasdale, and the deceptively simple Glasgow Outcome Scale with Bond. In 1972 working with Dr Plum of America, Jennett published The Persistent Vegetative State – defining a condition and coining a phrase which remains in widespread use today. His work with the Glasgow-based Neuropathologists Adams and Graham significantly reduced mortality and disability. Many international collaborative studies followed, comparing outcomes after different severity of injury and with alternative therapeutic regimes. Throughout the period his work was distinguished by his selfless partnerships with his peers and generous encouragement of his juniors - at one time over half the Neurosurgical Chairs in the UK were occupied by his trainees. This manifested his determination that his colleagues not encounter the same career obstacles that he had.
Jennett cut a distinguished if diminutive figure; a life-long taker of informed risks, this courage often sheltered under his confident style and calm tenor. He brought an infectious energy to his work and his inclusive, egalitarian approach brought his inspiration and support to many nurses, assistants, statisticians, administrators and others with whom he worked. For his part Jennett was always keen to promote the role of others in his team. All these qualities were underpinned by assured surgical and diagnostic skills and a frank but sympathetic approach at the bedside which lives on in the memory of hundreds of patients and their families.
The same expertise, conviction and clarity of thought and expression often placed him in the public spotlight. In 1976 there was furore over a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Panorama
Panorama (TV series)
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
Programme which challenged the criteria used to establish ‘brain death’ in potential organ donors. Professor Jennett was in global demand as a speaker and in the UK contributed to many influential medical panels and was called to Court as an expert witness, most notably for the Tony Bland
Tony Bland
Anthony David Bland was a supporter of Liverpool F.C. injured in the Hillsborough disaster. He suffered severe brain damage that left him in a persistent vegetative state whereby the hospital, with the support of his parents, applied for a court order allowing him to 'die with dignity'...
case. However, his interest was not confined to the medical establishment; he was President of Headway – a national patients group - for seven years.
Whilst Dean of Medicine at Glasgow in the 1980s Jennett tackled issues which overarched medicine and society. Very much ahead of his time, he tackled the appropriate use of high cost technology in medicine - working with Barbara Stocking and Chris Ham of the King's Fund
King's Fund
The King's Fund is a charitable foundation in England. Founded as the Prince of Wales Hospital Fund for London in 1897, the fund changed its name in 1902 to King Edward's Hospital Fund after the accession to the throne of King Edward VII...
to establish a series of Consensus Conferences. This form of technology assessment is now central to several health department initiatives. A Presidency of the International Society for Technology Assessment followed and in 1984 his paperback “High Technology Medicine: Benefits and Burdens” followed a series of BBC talks Doctors, Patients & Responsibilities which were widely praised. His approach is well illustrated by his response to a personal experience of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) which he attributed to cramped aircraft seating. Within a year he had located colleagues who had similar experiences and together they published a short paper in The Lancet
The Lancet
The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
and first used the term “Economy-Class Syndrome” which stirred up opinion amongst the public and the airlines. The subsequent research and our current stance to the condition owe much to this original paper.
Following his retirement in 1991 he received the CBE
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
and an honorary DSc from St Andrews University. His continuing work included a 2002 monograph ‘The Vegetative State’ and his final publication appeared in the British Journal of Neurosurgery in the month before his death.