Dear AIVS delegates,
I am sorry to report a great loss for all of AIVS. Mr. John Thompson succumbed peacefully after a hard fight with malignancy today on February 25, 2021. “Thomo” was a great friend to all of us, a great contributor to the knowledge of medicine and vascular disease, and a devoted husband and father.
Some of his clinical background is summarised below.
John was senior consultant vascular surgeon at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. Appointed in 1993, he trained in London at Charing Cross Hospital and subsequently Southampton and Bristol, where he held an academic post as Lecturer in Surgery. He was a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and England and has a Masters Degree from Southampton University. John had been a Council member of the Vascular Society and was the first surgeon to be elected to the Council of the British Blood Transfusion Society for his work in bloodless surgery.
John has published two books, 35 chapters and over 100 peer reviewed papers. He had an international reputation for the treatment of upper limb vascular conditions, seeing patients from the whole of the UK and Eire. He was a regular invited speaker at national and international vascular meetings.
But, most importantly, he was a skilled surgeon, humorous and good friend to each of us, and we were so hopeful for his recovery and the opportunity to visit with him in England or in Austria.
John is survived by his wife, Fiona, and his three successful and caring children, Polly, Henry and Will. He will forever be missed by all of us.
Mark Adelman
Chairman, AIVS
