Dr Peter King: A half-century of service in the School of Pathology
- By Professor Martin Hale
On Friday 6 August 2010 a tea party was held in the Adler Museum at Medical School to commemorate Wits benefactor Dr Peter King's (MBBCh 1958) 50 years of service in the Division of Anatomical Pathology in the School of Pathology.
Invited guests included then Dean of the Faculty, Professor Helen Laburn (BSc, BSc Hons 1973, PhD (Science) 1977), Head of the School of Pathology, Professor Ahmed Wadee (BSc Hons 1975, MSc (Medicine) 1979, PhD (Medicine) 1982) and the Academic Registrar, Mrs Sandra Benn.
Dr Peter King has served the Division of Anatomical Pathology with distinction since 1 August 1960 when he joined the Department of Anatomical Pathology of the then South African Institute for Medical Research.
Professor Charles Isaacson (MBBCh 1951, PhD (Medicine) 1979), Emeritus Professor and previous head of the Department of Anatomical Pathology, recalls that when he first got to know Dr King in August 1960 he recognised that he had all the qualities for becoming a top-flight pathologist. He was intensely conscientious and had an obsessional attention to detail, a quality that has continued as a golden thread throughout his professional career.
Dr King is a renowned undergraduate and postgraduate teacher and provided the foundation and stabilising influence for all the teaching activities in the Division of Anatomical Pathology during his tenure.
Over the years he has embraced and introduced new technology into his teaching methods ranging from the creation of posters depicting pathological processes (that still line the walls of the pathology practical demonstration laboratory), to computerised technology. The most recent example of the latter being the purchase of a virtual microscope, resulting in the reintroduction of a microscopy slide box, be it a digitized version, into the undergraduate medical programme.
At a postgraduate level, Dr King has been a doyen of autopsy pathology for registrars in the division and his autopsy technique and methodology have been extended to all the medical schools in South Africa.
Wits recognised Dr King’s remarkable teaching abilities by awarding him the Philip V Tobias award for distinguished preclinical undergraduate teaching (1985) and the Francois Daubenton prize (1990), awarded to a lecturer/staff member “who has made the greatest contribution to the student body both in curricular and extracurricular activities”.
Most Anatomical Pathologists have a special area of interest that they develop over the years and Dr King is no exception, having a particular interest in cardiovascular pathology.
Teaching and medical education have become hobbies to Dr King over the years, but those few spare hours that are available to him, he devotes to culinary pursuits and the department recalls with affection many special occasions where Peter has tantalised the taste buds of staff, including at Christmas lunches and for invited overseas guests.
We would like to congratulate Peter for achieving this milestone and thank him for his selfless dedication to the department.
Professor Martin Hale
Head of Department of Anatomical Pathology at Wits and the National Health Laboratory Service
Story and images source: HS Review, August 2010