John M. Last

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John Murray Last, public health educator, is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Ottawa.

Education

Born in Australia in 1926, John Last obtained his MB BS in 1949 and his MD (by thesis) in 1968, from the University of Adelaide. In the interim he undertook 5 years of hospital-based training, 5 years in general practice, and served as a ship's surgeon. In 1960 he obtained a DPH from the University of Sydney, and was then appointed Visiting Fellow, Medical Research Council Social Medicine Research Unit, London Hospital Medical College, England (1961–62). He earned specialty recognition in Australasia (FRACP 1973; FRACPHM 1990), the United States (FACPM 1980; FACE 1981), the United Kingdom (FFCM 1982), and Canada (FRCPC 1987).

Career

Last has made substantive contributions to public health higher education, especially in the public health reference literature, including the dissemination of methods for public health research, and to clarifying related ethical issues. He has held academic posts at the University of Sydney, the University of Vermont, and the University of Edinburgh, and has been professor of epidemiology and community medicine at the University of Ottawa since 1969.

Perhaps his most enduring early contribution was a description of the “iceberg”: a common phenomenon in the natural history of disease where only a relatively small proportion of cases of a given disease, “the tip of the iceberg”, comes to the attention of the health care system. The “submerged part” goes undiagnosed and unreported. The proportion of missed cases varies with the disease and its severity.[1] This contribution (including a table on clinical and subclinical disease) was incorporated (and duly referenced) by Jerry Morris, a long-standing colleague of Last, in his textbook on Uses of Epidemiology.[2]

Last led the International Epidemiological Association initiative to develop guidelines on ethical conduct of epidemiological research, practice, and teaching (1987–93); he was a member of the Working Group of the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences that drafted International Guidelines for Ethical Review of Epidemiological Studies (1991).

He has made numerous contributions to the public health reference literature, especially in the capacity of a scientific editor. He edited four editions of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (1980, 1986, 1991, 1998), eponymously known as "Maxcy-Rosenau-Last" and is editor-emeritus of the 15th edition in 2008.[3] As founding editor, he produced four editions of the Dictionary of Epidemiology (1983, 1988; 1995, 2001);[4] this dictionary has been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Persian, Serbian, Slovakian, Russian and Ukrainian. He co-edited the Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine 3rd edition (2001)[5] and An Encyclopedia of Public Health (2002).[6] He was contributing editor on public health sciences and practice for Stedman's Medical Dictionary (1990, 1995, 2000, 2005)[7] and the New Oxford American Dictionary (2001).[8] He was scientific editor of the Canadian Journal of Public Health 1981-1991, editor of the Annals of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada 1990-1998, and interim editor of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in 1988-89. Author of Public Health and Human Ecology (1987, 1996),[9] he continues to contribute to the field: as editor of a Dictionary of Public Health (2006),[10] and as coauthor of Global Public Health - Ecological Foundations (2013).[11]

His main scholarly interests today are the interactions of ecosystem health with human health: he has served in related advisory capacities, including as a reviewer (1998–99) for the Health Sector Working Group of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Honours and Awards

John Last's honors include MD Honoris Causa of Uppsala University, 1993, and MD Honoris Causa of Edinburgh University, 2003. He was Wade Hampton Frost lecturer, American Public Health Association, 1989; Scholar in Residence, Rockefeller Foundation's Villa Serbelloni Study and Conference Center, Bellagio, 1992. In recognition of lifetime achievements, he received the Duncan Clark Award of the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine in 1994, the Abraham Lilienfeld Award of the American College of Epidemiology in 1997, the Defries Award, highest honour of the Canadian Public Health Association in 2006, and the Sedgwick Memorial Medal of the American Public Health Association in 2008. He is an honorary life member of the International Epidemiological Association, the American College of Epidemiology, the American Public Health Association, the UK Society for Social Medicine, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the British Medical Association.

In 2012 John Last was admitted as an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of his service to public health sciences.

References

  1. ↑ Last JM. The Iceberg: completing the clinical picture in general practice. Lancet. 1963;2:28–31.
  2. ↑ Reference 54 in: Chapter V Completing the Clinical Picture. In: Morris JN. Uses of Epidemiology. 2nd Edition. Edinburgh: Livingstone, 1964.
  3. ↑ Maxcy-Rosenau-Last. Public Health and Preventive Medicine. 15th edition. New York. McGraw Hill. 2008.
  4. ↑ Last JM (editor) A Dictionary of Epidemiology (4th Edition). New York. Oxford University Press. 2001.
  5. ↑ Lock S, Last JM, Dunea G. Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine 3rd edition. Oxford. Oxford University Press. 2001.
  6. ↑ Breslow L (editor) Goldstein B, Green LW, Keck CW, Last JM. McGinnis M (associate editors) An Encyclopedia of Public Health. New York. Macmillan. 2002.
  7. ↑ Stedman’s Medical Dictionary. 28th edition. 2005. Philadelphia. Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. 2006.
  8. ↑ New Oxford American Dictionary (2001). New York. Oxford University Press. 2001
  9. ↑ Last JM. Public Health and Human Ecology. 2nd Edition. Stamford CT. Appleton & Lange. 1998
  10. ↑ Last JM (editor) A Dictionary of Public Health. Oxford University Press. New York. 2006.
  11. ↑ White, Franklin; Stallones, Lorann; Last, John M. (2013). Global Public Health: Ecological Foundations. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-975190-7. 

External links

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