Spring 2023 (Volume 33, Number 1)
Tribute to Dr. Denys Ford
By Barry Koehler, MD, FRCPC;
and Graham Reid, MB, ChB, FRCPC
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1923–2022
Denys Ford had a long and
full life. His determined
commitment to research
in rheumatology spanned over 50
years at the University of British
Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver.
Along with Dr. Harold Robinson
and Mary Pack, he was a pioneer of
rheumatology in British Columbia.
Denys was born near Stoke-on-Trent, England. He spent his initial
two years of medical school
at Cambridge, completing his BA
in Medical Sciences and obtaining
a first. In 1944, on the recommendation
of his supervisor, he
attended Columbia University
on a Rockefeller Student Fellowship,
where he completed his third
and fourth clinical years. (His
trans-Atlantic passage was on the
Queen Mary, known for her ability
to avoid submarines.) He then spent four months at
McGill University as an intern, after which he returned
to England to spend three years as a house physician, his
last rotation being in Rehabilitation at London Hospital.
In 1949, his head of service, Dr. W.S. Tegner, arranged
for him to attend New York University on a fellowship to
study cortisone, along with future rheumatology greats
Currier McEwen, Morris Ziff and Joseph Bunim. He then
returned to London Hospital as a Registrar, where his lifelong
interest in the connection of infection and arthritis
continued; his MD thesis was a study on patients with
arthritis and urethritis, then termed “venereal arthritis.”
In 1953, he accepted a Research Fellowship in Clinical
Investigation at Vancouver General Hospital and continued
his studies in venereally-acquired arthritis, including
the association of non-gonococcal urethritis and arthritis,
and of arthritis following enteric infection. (His first lab
was located in the basement of his rooming house.)
In 1960, Denys was appointed the first Head of Rheumatology
at the University of British Columbia, a position
he occupied until 1983. He continued to pursue his interest
in the possible role of an underlying microbial origin
for the overlying autoimmune mechanisms in most cases
of rheumatoid arthritis. This included a number of publications
on Rubella-associated arthritis. His lab operated
until 1991. His scientific publications totaled 81, as well
as 8 book chapters. His last paper was published in 2003
at age 80. His last presentation to
the UBC Division of Rheumatology
educational rounds was in 2016
at age 93, when he summarized
his research over the years.
It was a frustration to him that
other centres reported failure to
reproduce his findings of synovial
fluid lymphocyte reactivity to
microbial antigenic stimulation.
However, Denys always processed
the synovial fluid on reception
in his lab, no matter the time of
day. Investigators in other centres
elected to freeze the specimens
for more convenient processing,
failing to recognize that freezing
the specimens altered lymphocyte
reactivity.
Some of his other publications
addressed his concerns regarding
government funding and, hence,
control of the delivery and the costs of health care. Well
into his eighties, he had continuing correspondence with
politicians, members of medical organizations, and of
the press. He lived to see how prescient his concerns were.
In 1993, he was named a Master of the American
College of Rheumatology and, in 2000, Senior Member
of the Canadian Medical Association.
Denys leaves his wife, Marguerite, to whom he was
married for 68 years, four children, seven grandchildren,
and five great-grandchildren.
On retirement, he volunteered many hours in his
community as a Meals-on-Wheels driver and with the
Disabled Sailing Association. His energy and enthusiasm
were evident throughout all aspects of his daily activities.
He continued playing tennis regularly into his eighties
and was a local eccentric legend.
His kind, generous and charitable persona is attested
to by his trainees (from the first, Manfred Harth, to the
last, Graham Reid), by his professional colleagues, and
by his community.
Barry Koehler, MD, FRCPC
Clinical Professor Emeritus, Division of Rheumatology,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia
Graham Reid, MB, ChB, FRCPC
Rheumatologist (retired), Vancouver, British Columbia
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