{{Short description|British clinical pharmacologist (1941–2023)}} {{about|the clinical pharmacologist|the ''EastEnders'' character|Michael Rawlins (EastEnders)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox medical person | honorific_prefix = Professor | name = Sir Michael Rawlins | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GBE|FBPhS|FMedSci}} | image = Professor Sir Michael Rawlins GBE, Kt.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Rawlins in 2014 | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name above --> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1941|03|28|df=yes}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|01|01|1941|03|28|df=yes}} | death_place = | death_cause = | nationality = <!-- use only when necessary per WP:INFONAT --> | citizenship = <!-- use only when necessary per WP:INFONAT --> | education = *Uppingham School *University of London *St. Thomas' Hospital | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = | relations = | website = | profession = Physician | field = Clinical pharmacology | work_institutions = University of Newcastle upon Tyne | specialism = | research_field = | notable_works = | prizes = | child = | module2 = {{Infobox officeholder | embed = yes | office = Chair of Committee on Safety of Medicines | term_start = 1993 | term_end = 1998 | office1 = Chair of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence | term_start1 = 1999 | term_end1 = 2013 | office2 = Chair of UK Biobank | term_start2 = 2012 | term_end2 = December 2019 | office3 = Chair of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency | term_start3 = 1 December 2014 | term_end3 = September 2020 }} }}
'''Sir Michael David Rawlins''' (28 March 1941 – 1 January 2023) was a British clinical pharmacologist and emeritus professor at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. During his medical career he chaired several executive agencies including the Committee on Safety of Medicines from 1993 to 1998, followed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for 14 years from its formation in 1999 and then the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for six years from 2014. From 2012 to 2014 he was president of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Rawlins delivered several eponymous lectures during his medical career including the 2008 Harveian Oration at the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), where he argued that there were other ways of collecting useful clinical evidence other than only randomised controlled trials and he encouraged a range of methods to provide a more holistic evaluation. For his contributions to protecting people from the side-effects of medicines he was knighted in 1999, and for his services to the safety of medicines, healthcare, and innovation he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in 2017.
== Early life and education == Michael Rawlins was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire on 28 March 1941.<ref name=Ferry2023>{{cite news |last1=Ferry |first1=Georgina |title=Sir Michael Rawlins obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/10/sir-michael-rawlins-obituary |access-date=12 January 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=10 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112194924/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/10/sir-michael-rawlins-obituary |archive-date=12 January 2023 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=HoMBRG>{{cite book|editor1-last=Reynolds|editor1-first=L. A.|editor2-last=Tansey|editor2-first=E. M.|title=Clinical Pharmacology in the UK, c. 1950–2000: Industry and Regulation|date=2008|series=Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine |volume=34 |publisher=Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL |location=London|url=http://www.histmodbiomed.org/sites/default/files/44864.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151024090329/http://www.histmodbiomed.org/sites/default/files/44864.pdf|url-status=usurped|archive-date=24 October 2015|page=98|isbn=978-085484-118-9}}</ref> His father was the Reverend Jack Rawlins, vicar of Northwood-on-Trent in Staffordshire, and his mother was Evelyn Daphne Douglas-Hamilton who following the death of his father later married a general practitioner.<ref name=Illman2023>{{cite journal |last1=Illman |first1=John |title=Michael Rawlins: founding chair of NICE |journal=British Medical Journal |date=6 January 2023 |volume=380 |page=36 |doi=10.1136/bmj.p36 |s2cid=255441025 |url=https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p36 |language=en |issn=1756-1833|url-access=subscription}}</ref> He attended Uppingham School, Rutland, with David Li and left there in 1959.<ref name=OU2014>{{cite journal |title=Who, what, where |journal=OU Magazine |date=2014–2015 |issue=42 |page=6 |url=https://issuu.com/uppinghamschool6/docs/a60069_ou_uppingham_mag_p6_5aa514b1d67249 |access-date=5 January 2023}}</ref> In 1962 he graduated first class from University of London.<ref name=IBE2022>[https://www.infectedbloodinquiry.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/WITN6406001%20-%20Written%20statement%20of%20Professor%20Sir%20Michael%20Rawlins%3B%2024%20March%202022.pdf "Written statement of Sir Michael Rawlins"]. Infected blood enquiry, 24 March 2022</ref> He obtained his medical degree from St Thomas' Hospital in 1965.<ref name=JMA>{{cite web |title=Prof Sir Michael Rawlins – 2011 – Jewish medical association |url=https://jewishmedicalassociationuk.org/previous-events/henry-cohen-visiting-professorship/prof-sir-michael-rawlins/ |website=jewishmedicalassociationuk.org |access-date=3 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103115125/https://jewishmedicalassociationuk.org/previous-events/henry-cohen-visiting-professorship/prof-sir-michael-rawlins/ |archive-date=3 January 2023}}</ref>
== Career == Rawlins completed his house jobs in 1967; firstly, in surgery at St Thomas' and then in medicine at Portsmouth.<ref name=IBE2022/> His subsequent senior house job was at the Brompton Hospital, London.<ref name=IBE2022/> The following year he gained membership of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) of London.<ref name=IBE2022/> After spending a year lecturing at St Thomas' he took up a senior register post at the Hammersmith followed by a year as visiting research fellow at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.<ref name=HoMBRG/> In 1973, he was appointed the Ruth and Lionel Jacobson professor of clinical pharmacology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.<ref name=HoMBRG/> There, he delivered his inaugural lecture in 1974, on "Variability in Response to Drugs", and remained at Newcastle until 2006.<ref name=HoMBRG/>
From 1977 to 1983 he was a member of the National Committee on Pharmacology.<ref name=HoMBRG/> In 1980 he became a member of the Committee on Safety of Medicines and was appointed its chairman in 1993; a position he retained until 1998.<ref name=HoMBRG/> He was a member of the Committee on Toxicity from 1989 to 1992, and the Standing Group on Health Technology Assessment from 1993 to 1995.<ref name=HoMBRG/> In 1998, he was appointed chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and served it until 2008.<ref name=NICE2023/>
Rawlins was chair of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) from its foundation in 1999 until April 2013.<ref name=HoMBRG/><ref name=NICE2023>{{cite web |title=Tributes paid following the death of founding NICE chairman Professor Sir Mike Rawlins {{!}} News {{!}} News |url=https://www.nice.org.uk/news/sir-mike-rawlins-founding-nice-chairman-passes-away-aged-81 |website=NICE |access-date=3 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103200939/https://www.nice.org.uk/news/sir-mike-rawlins-founding-nice-chairman-passes-away-aged-81 |archive-date=3 January 2023}}</ref> There, one of his early roles was the decision not to approve wide use of Relenza for flu.<ref name=Illman2023/> Earlier he had clarified the difference of cost-effectiveness from affordability.<ref name=Cass2006>{{cite book |last1=Cass |first1=Hilary |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4UbnJfq4yWEC&pg=PA189 |title=The NHS Experience: The "snakes and Ladders" Guide for Patients and Professionals |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-33671-6 |location=Abingdon, Oxford |language=en |chapter=6. Testing times|page=189}}</ref>
In 2010, he helped establish the all-party parliamentary group for Huntington's disease in the UK Parliament, supported by more than 40 MPs and peers.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rawlins|first=M|title=Huntington's disease out of the closet?|journal=Lancet|date=23 October 2010|volume=376|issue=9750|pages=1372–3|pmid=20594589|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60974-9|s2cid=205959363}}</ref> From 2012 to 2019 he was chair of UK Biobank.<ref name=NCL>{{cite web |title=Staff Profile - Executive and Governance Office - Newcastle University |url=https://www.ncl.ac.uk/executive/profile/rawlinsmichael.html |website=www.ncl.ac.uk |access-date=4 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230104175215/https://www.ncl.ac.uk/executive/profile/rawlinsmichael.html|archive-date=4 January 2023}}</ref><ref name=RSM2023>{{Cite web |title=Obituary: Professor Sir Michael Rawlins |url=https://www.rsm.ac.uk/latest-news/2023/professor-sir-michael-rawlins/ |access-date=3 January 2023|website=The Royal Society of Medicine |date=3 January 2023 |language=en-gb|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230104175645/https://www.rsm.ac.uk/latest-news/2023/professor-sir-michael-rawlins/|archive-date=4 January 2023}}</ref> In November 2014 the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced the appointment of Rawlins as its new chair, succeeding Gordon Duff.<ref name=TPJ2014>{{cite web |title=UK medicines regulator appoints Michael Rawlins as chairman |url=https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/news/uk-medicines-regulator-appoints-michael-rawlins-as-chairman |website=The Pharmaceutical Journal |publisher=The Royal Pharmaceutical Society |access-date=4 January 2023 |date=2 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230104180359/https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/news/uk-medicines-regulator-appoints-michael-rawlins-as-chairman|archive-date=4 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.mhra.gov.uk/NewsCentre/Pressreleases/CON471139 |title=Professor Sir Michael Rawlins appointed Chair of Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency |publisher=Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency |date=3 November 2014 |access-date=20 December 2014}}</ref> The appointment was renewed for a further three years in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=8 August 2017|title=Professor Sir Michael Rawlins re-appointed Chair - GOV.UK|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/professor-sir-michael-rawlins-re-appointed-chair|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230104175421/https://www.gov.uk/government/news/professor-sir-michael-rawlins-re-appointed-chair|archive-date=4 January 2023|access-date=2018-03-27|website=www.gov.uk|language=en}}</ref>
==Eponymous lectures== Rawlins delivered several eponymous lectures at the RCP, including the Bradshaw Lecture in 1986.<ref name=Rawlins2008>{{cite book |last1=Rawlins |first1=Michael |title=De Testimonio: on the evidence for decisions about the use of therapeutic interventions |date=2008 |publisher=Royal College of Physicians |location=London |isbn=978-1-86016-347-0 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281837859}}</ref> In 1994 he gave the RCP's William Withering lecture.<ref name=Rhodes2006>{{cite book |last1=Breckenridge |first1=Alasdair |author-link=Alasdair Breckenridge|editor1-last=Rhodes |editor1-first=Jonathan M. |title=Horizons in Medicine 18: Updates on Major Clinical Advances |date=2006 |publisher=Royal College of Physicians |location=London |isbn=978-1-86016-292-3 |pages=299–301 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=52-ERI9Gw5oC&pg=PA299 |language=en |chapter=William Withering's legacy - for the good of the patient}}</ref> In it, contrary to the widely held belief that digitalis would unlikely pass modern day licensing regulations, he said of Withering's 1785 ''An account of the foxglove and some of its medical uses'' ... "Its contents would do justice to an expert report accompanying a Product Licence application to the drug regulatory authority of any state in the European Union".<ref name=Rhodes2006/> In 2006 he gave the RCP'S Samuel Gee Lecture.<ref name=Rawlins2008/>
===''De Testimonio''=== In his 2008 Harveian Lecture, titled "De Testimonio: on the evidence for decisions about the use of therapeutic interventions", while acknowledging the value of good quality trials, he argued that there were also other ways of collecting useful clinical evidence other than only randomised controlled trials (RCT) and he encouraged a range of methods to provide a more holistic evaluation.<ref name=Zafar2021>{{cite journal |last1=Zafar |first1=Rayyan |last2=Schlag |first2=Anne |last3=Phillips |first3=Lawrence |last4=Nutt |first4=David J. |title=Medical cannabis for severe treatment resistant epilepsy in children: a case-series of 10 patients |journal=BMJ Paediatrics Open |date=1 December 2021 |volume=5 |issue=1 |article-number=e001234 |doi=10.1136/bmjpo-2021-001234 |s2cid=245224872 |language=en |issn=2399-9772|doi-access=free |pmc=8689159 }}</ref> The lecture called for abandoning hierarchy of evidence at a time when Rawlins headed NICE, the UK's main independent agency whose purpose was to assess scientific evidence of medical treatments.<ref name=Barkham2010>{{cite book |last1=Barkham |first1=Michael |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1wi0MbNvSDAC&pg=PA30 |title=Developing and Delivering Practice-Based Evidence: A Guide for the Psychological Therapies |last2=Styles |first2=William B. |last3=Lambert |first3=Michael J. |last4=Mellor-Clark |first4=John |date=2010 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-03235-0 |editor-last=Barkham |editor-first=Michael |location=Chichester, West Sussex |page=30 |language=en |chapter=2. Building a rigorous and relevant knowledge base for the psychological therapies |editor-last2=Hardy |editor-first2=Gillian E. |editor-last3=Mellor-Clark |editor-first3=John}}</ref> The problem with RCTs, he stated, is that they are too generalised.<ref name=Sacristán>{{cite journal |last1=Sacristán |first1=José A. |title=Patient-centered medicine and patient-oriented research: improving health outcomes for individual patients |journal=BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making |date=8 January 2013 |volume=13 |article-number=6 |doi=10.1186/1472-6947-13-6 |pmid=23294526 |pmc=3575265 |issn=1472-6947 |doi-access=free }}</ref> He pointed out that science includes the not so exact but important "judgement".<ref name=Solomon2015>{{cite book |last1=Solomon |first1=Miriam |author-link=Miriam Solomon|title=Making Medical Knowledge |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-873261-7 |pages=7, 139 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__dsBwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1 |language=en}}</ref> Rawlins quoted William Blake's observation .. "God forbid that truth should be confined to mathematical demonstration",<ref name=Barkham2010/> and said in his lecture: <blockquote>The notion that evidence can be reliably placed in hierarchies is illusory. Decision makers need to assess and appraise all the available evidence irrespective of whether it has been derived from randomized controlled trials or observational studies; and the strengths and weaknesses of each need to be understood if reasonable and reliable conclusions are to be drawn.<ref name=Solomon2015/></blockquote>
According to philosopher John Worrall, if other physicians in the field of evidence based medicine held similar views to Rawlins, his [Worrall's] own philosophical work on evidence based medicine might not be required.<ref name=Solomon2015/>
== Honours and awards == Rawlins became a Fellow of the RCP London in 1977, and 10 years later became Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.<ref name=IBE2022/> He gained Fellowship of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine in 1989 and of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1998.<ref name=IBE2022/>
He was awarded the Hutchinson Medal in 2003, and the Galen Medal in 2010.<ref name=ICT2013>{{cite web |title=Intra-Cellular Therapies Appoints Professor Sir Michael Rawlins to its Board of Director |url=https://ir.intracellulartherapies.com/news-releases/news-release-details/intra-cellular-therapies-appoints-professor-sir-michael-rawlins |access-date=7 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230107093541/https://ir.intracellulartherapies.com/news-releases/news-release-details/intra-cellular-therapies-appoints-professor-sir-michael-rawlins |archive-date=7 January 2023 |date=14 March 2013}}</ref> In 2012 he received the Prince Mahidol Award for his contribution to medicine.<ref name=Mahidol2012>{{cite web |title=The {{as written|Annouc|ement [sic]}} for the Prince Mahidol Award 2012 {{!}} Royal Thai Embassy in Prague |url=http://thaiembassy.cz/th/news-detail.php?id=11&item=231 |website=thaiembassy.cz |access-date=3 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230104182731/http://thaiembassy.cz/th/news-detail.php?id=11&item=231|archive-date=4 January 2023}}</ref> Zenith Global Health awarded him their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.<ref name=Zenith2019>{{cite web |title=Sir. Michael Rawlins To Receive Lifetime Achievements Award at Zenith Global Health 2019 – Zenith Global Awards |url=https://zenithglobalhealth.com/sir-michael-rawlins-to-receive-lifetime-achievements-award-at-zenith-global-health-2019/ |access-date=5 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105095350/https://zenithglobalhealth.com/sir-michael-rawlins-to-receive-lifetime-achievements-award-at-zenith-global-health-2019/ |archive-date=5 January 2023 |date=3 August 2019}}</ref>
Rawlins was knighted in the 1999 New Year Honours for services to the improvement of patient protection from the side-effects of medicines, and was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to the safety of medicines, healthcare, and innovation.<ref name=LG2017>{{London Gazette|issue=61962|supp=y|page=B7|date=17 June 2017}}</ref>
==Personal and family== In 1963 he married Elizabeth Hambly, a nurse; they divorced in 2005.<ref name=Ferry2023/> In 1981 he became the first chairman of the Newcastle upon Tyne SDP and played an active part in the founding and development of the new party.
==Death== Rawlins died in Darlington from sepsis and heart failure on 1 January 2023, at the age of 81.<ref name=Illman2023/><ref name=Volpe2023>{{cite news |last1=Volpe |first1=Sam |title=Tributes to North East 'medical hero' who fought to protect patients |url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/health/sir-michael-rawlins-tributes-hero-25901792 |access-date=8 January 2023 |work=ChronicleLive |date=5 January 2023 |language=en}}</ref> At the time of his death he was honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of London, and emeritus professor at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.<ref name=NICE2023/> Rawlins is survived by his daughters Vicky, Lucy, and Suzannah, and eight grandchildren.<ref name=Illman2023/>
==Selected publications== ===Articles=== * {{cite journal |last1=Rawlins |first1=MD |title=Variability in Response to Drugs |journal=British Medical Journal |date=12 October 1974 |volume=4 |issue=5936 |pages=91–94 |doi=10.1136/bmj.4.5936.91 |pmid=4607336 |pmc=1612144 }} *{{cite journal |last1=Rawlins |first1=MD. |title=Spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Medicine |date=June 1986 |volume=59 |issue=230 |pages=531–534 |pmid=3749447 |issn=0033-5622}} * {{cite journal |last1=Rawlins |first1=MD |title=Pharmacovigilance: paradise lost, regained or postponed? The William Withering Lecture 1994. |journal=Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London |date=January 1995 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=41–9 |doi=10.1016/S0035-8819(25)00659-2 |pmid=7738878 |pmc=5401160 }} *{{cite journal |last1=Rawlins |first1=MD |title=De Testimonio: on the evidence for decisions about the use of therapeutic interventions |journal=Clinical Medicine |date=December 2008 |volume=8 |issue=6 |pages=579–588 |doi=10.7861/clinmedicine.8-6-579 |pmid=19149278 |pmc=4954394 |issn=1470-2118}}
===Books=== *{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Stephen Edward |last2=Rawlins |first2=Michael David |title=Variability in Human Drug Response |date=1976 |publisher=Butterworths |isbn=978-0-407-43301-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O9hsAAAAMAAJ |language=en}} *{{cite book |title=Delivering Quality in the NHS 2005 |date=2005 |publisher=Radcliffe Publishing |isbn=978-1-85775-742-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z_qrNJN074oC |language=en}} *{{cite book |title=Therapeutics, Evidence and Decision-Making |date=2011 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-85315-947-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bIj8SCvGbBoC |language=en}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite journal |last1=Rawlins |first1=M. |title=Professor Sir Michael Rawlins--chairman of NICE. National Institute of Clinical Excellence. Interviewed by Sue Silver |journal=The Lancet. Oncology |date=October 2000 |volume=1 |pages=113–117 |doi=10.1016/s1470-2045(00)00026-7 |pmid=11905663 |issn=1470-2045}}
== External links == * [http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2011/03/07/were-not-playing-god-an-interview-with-nice-chairman-professor-michael-rawlins/ Interview on Cancer Research UK's science update blog] (Cancer research UK) * {{cite web|title=NIH indexed articles authored by M Rawlins|url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=%22Rawlins%20M%22|work=PubMed|access-date=30 July 2011}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawlins, Michael}} Category:1941 births Category:2023 deaths Category:Fellows of the Royal Statistical Society Category:Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Category:Presidents of the Royal Society of Medicine Category:British pharmacologists Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Category:Fellows of King's College London Category:Clinical pharmacologists Category:People educated at Uppingham School