Geoffrey Fleming

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Biography of Geoffrey Fleming

Geoffrey Balmano Fleming

Geoffrey Balmano Fleming (1882-1952) was Leonard Gow Lecturer on the Medical Diseases of Infancy and Childhood (1924-30) and held the Samson Gemmell Chair of Child Health (1930-47).

Fleming was educated at Haileybury College followed by King's College, Cambridge. He graduated BA (1903), MB (1908) and MD (1914) from the University of Cambridge. He also undertook postgraduate study in Vienna. After graduating MB, he held resident posts in the Western Infirmary and Ruchill Fever Hospital in Glasgow.

During the First World War Fleming served in East Africa in the Royal Army Medical Corps and was mentioned in despatches. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was awarded an MBE for his services. On his return to Glasgow he became interested in paediatrics. He was appointed Assistant Physician and later Physician to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill.

During Fleming's time as Professor of Child Health, paediatrics increased in importance for medical students and in 1935 became a part of the final examination in medicine. Fleming carried out research on basal metabolism and caloric requirements in infancy. He was a frequent contributor to medical journals.

Fleming was a founder member of the British Paediatric Association of which he was President in 1946. He was President of the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow from 1946 to 1948. He retired from the University in 1947 and was awarded the degree of LLD the following year.

Fleming's father and grandfather were both surgeons at the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow. He gifted a sum of money to the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow to inaugurate a trust fund for postgraduate medical education.

Summary

Geoffrey Fleming
Physician and Paediatrician
Born 20 February 1882.
Died 16 April 1952.
University Link: Alumnus, Professor
GU Degree: LLD, 1948;
Occupation categories: paediatricians; physicians
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Record last updated: 19th Aug 2009