Joseph Block Neurosurgeon MRCS, FRCS, MBChB Cape Town, MCPS SA, FRCS Edin, MCM SA¹

• Birth*: Joseph Block Neurosurgeon MRCS, FRCS, MBChB Cape Town, MCPS SA, FRCS Edin, MCM SA was born on 12 August 1921 at Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, South Africa, .¹
• Obituary: The obituary of Joseph Block Neurosurgeon MRCS, FRCS, MBChB Cape Town, MCPS SA, FRCS Edin, MCM SA was was published on 2 January 1995 at Angus, Scotland, . Block, Joseph (1921 - 1995)
  Identifier:
  RCS: E007828
  Full Name:
  Block, Joseph
  Date of Birth:
  12 August 1921
  Place of Birth:
  Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, South Africa
  Date of Death:
  2 January 1995
  Occupation:
  Neurosurgeon
  Titles/Qualifications:
  MRCS and FRCS 1949
  MB ChB Cape Town 1943
  MCPS South Africa 1952
  FRCS Edinburgh 1963
  MCM South Africa 1982
  
  Details:
  Joseph Block ('Joe') was born on 12 August 1921 in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, South Africa. Both his parents had emigrated from Switzerland and were graduates of Zurich University; his father became a lawyer and his mother a professor of languages. He was educated at President Brand School, Grey College and the University of Cape Town, graduating in medicine in 1943. His training hospital posts were in Durban and he served as captain in the South African Medical Corps from 1944 to 1946. To specialise, he came to England in 1949, taking the Fellowship in the same year. He worked at several hospitals, including the Crumpsall in Manchester and the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, at the latter working under Professor Norman Dott. On completion of his training in neurosurgery in 1954 he returned to South Africa, and was appointed neurosurgeon to Johannesburg General Hospital and Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto. The latter's renown in treatment of neurological trauma owes much to his pioneer work. For political reasons he returned to Britain in 1961, working first at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. In 1963 he moved to the Dundee Royal Infirmary, where he established the neurological service. He was an ideal choice: a strong inspirational leader and a natural manager, the easy rapport he had with both patients and staff determined the success of the unit. His publications, such as Stab wounds of the spinal cord (1962) reflected his experience in the management of trauma.
  
  Poor health necessitated early retirement but he retained his interest in sport, particularly bowls; he was a founder member of the Montieth Probus Club and a keen bridge player. He died on 2 January 1995, survived by his wife Sheelah, née Woods,whom he married in 1961, and their two daughters, Rose, an anaesthetist and Jennifer, a lawyer.
  Author:
  Royal College of Surgeons of England
  Sources:
  Dundee Courier and Advertiser 4 January 1995
  Rights:
  Copyright (c) The Royal College of Surgeons of England
  
  Image Copyright (c) Image provided for use with kind permission of the family
  Publication Date:
  2 September 2015
  Collection:
  Plarr's Lives of the Fellows.¹
• Death*: He died on 2 January 1995 at Angus, Scotland, , at age 73.¹

Notes

• (Awarded to) DGA Memorial Award*: Joseph Block Neurosurgeon MRCS, FRCS, MBChB Cape Town, MCPS SA, FRCS Edin, MCM SA was awarded the The Douglas Adamson Memorial Award in 1985 at Dundee, Angus, Scotland, . PRESS RELEASE AND CONTACT ARTICLE
  Douglas G. Adamson Memorial Prize 1985
  
  Mr Joseph Block, the well known Consultant Neurosurgeon at Dundee Royal Infirmary has been awarded the 1985 Douglas G. Adamson Memorial Prize in recognition of his contribution to patient care in Tayside.
  Mr Block, who is married with two daughters, was born in South Africa in 1921. He went to school in Bloemfontein and graduated with the degrees of MB ChB of the University of Capetown in 1943. He served as a volunteer in the South African Medical Corps during the last War and then came to the United Kingdom in 1947 for postgraduate studies, obtaining his Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (England) in 1949. He studied neurosurgery in Edinburgh under Professor Norman Dott until 1955 then returned to South Africa and worked as the Senior Neurosurgeon at Baragwanath Hospital, a large African hospital near Johannesburg.
  After five years he returned to Britain and spent a year in the neurosurgical department in Belfast before coming to Dundee as the first Consultant Neurosurgeon appointed by the then Eastern Regional Hospital Board. He supervised the planning and building of the D.R.I. Neurosurgical Department which opened in 1966, and also its subsequent organisation and development.
  Mr Block is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and a member of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons. He served as a member of Tayside Health Board from 1973-1981 and, before that, on the Board of Management for Ninewells and associated hospitals.
  FND/ADM 3/5/85 JDMG/PM.²