أحمد محمد الحسن (أول استاذ في علم الأمراض)

Robert Kirk (1905-1962)[i] joined Sudan Medical Service in 1933, eventually becoming Director of the Wellcome and Stack Laboratories in Khartoum. In 1952, he was appointed the first Sudanese Professor of Pathology in the University College of Khartoum, and later (October 1954-March 1955) Dean of the MedicalSchool.[ii]He was succeeded in this post by Dr Mansour Ali Haseeb, the first Sudanese doctor to join SRL, in the post of assistant director of research.

Robert Kirk joined the UniversityCollege from the Stack Laboratories with a worldwide reputation as a research worker who had made outstanding contributions to the understanding of kala-azar, yellow fever and many other tropical diseases.

Prof. Kirk’s interests were wide and varied. Dermatology was not taught systematically in the Kitchener School of Medicine then. In fact, in the middle of the 1930’s, it was decided that a course of lectures would be inappropriate, as there would not be enough clinical material in Khartoum to illustrate the subject. A reassessment of this position made in 1952, showed that there was no dearth of material and that even a brief introduction to the subject would greatly assist the students when they qualify.

For many years before he joined the Faculty, Prof. Kirk was interested in the parasitological and pathological aspects of dermatology. Together with Prof. HV Morgan, he introduced dermatology teaching and set up the first skin clinic in the country in KhartoumCivilHospital in 1952. Prof. El-Hassan used to attend those clinics as a house physician and later he used to discuss the pathology of the cases of the week showing the microscopic slides. This was the basis for Prof. El-Hassan interest in dermatology. This discipline, he believes, demands clinical experience and pathology by both practicing dermatologist and pathologist. Working with both Prof. Kirk and Prof. Morgan, Dr Abdel Moneim Wasfi developed interest in dermatology and helped establish the discipline in the Ministry of Health.

Both deserve to be called the forefathers of Dermatology in Sudan. Indeed, a special issue of Al Hakeem Medical Students Journal containing a collection of Prof. Morgan’s articles on skin was dedicated to Prof. Kirk.[iii] The Editors of Al Hakeem rightfully commented that they commemorate the stimulus, which Robert Kirk gave to a branch of medicine, allied to, but different from the field in which he was pre-eminent, hoping that future developments of dermatology in Sudan will pay tribute to his genius.[iv]

Because of his contributions to tropical medicine, Prof. Kirk was awarded the Chalmers Medal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 1943.[v]

In 1955, Prof. Kirk took his last journey to Malaya, and thence to Hong Kong, where he died in 1962. In addition to the many papers, he authored and already documented[vi] a wide range of other papers and manuscripts relating to medical practice in Sudan were found among his effects after his death. They were presented to the Royal Commonwealth Societyin the United Kingdom by Prof. JB Gibson, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Hong Kong through Dr KE Robinson in February 1977.[vii]

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[i] McFadzean, AJS, Teoh, TB, Bell,GH. Robert Kirk (26 January 1905 - 16 December 1962). The Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology, 88, 2 (1964): pp 614-621.

[ii] The first Dean of the Khartoum Medical School was Dr. JS Aldridge (November 1944-November 1946), and was the last to occupy the office of Registrar (before it was upgraded to Dean post) of the Khartoum Medical School (November 1938-November 1944). The first Sudanese Dean was Professor Mansour Ali Haseeb (September 1963-September 1969) (See details in MA Haseeb. A Monograph on Biomedical Research in the Sudan. KhartoumUniversity Press: 1973.

[iii] Skin Problems of the Sudan. Al Hakeem Medical JournalSymposium, No. 18, January 1965.

[iv] Op. Cit. (Editorial)

[v] Bayoumi, A. The History of Sudan Health Services. Kenya Literature Bureau, 1979: pp 130-133.

[vi] Haseeb, MA. A Monograph of Biomedical Research in the Sudan. KhartoumUniversity Press: 1973.

[vii]Sudan Medical Papers of Robert Kirk, GPR/0115/RCMS 122, CambridgeUniversity Library: RoyalCommonwealth Society Library.