Derek Doyle

Biography

Dr Derek Doyle was a missionary surgeon who founded St Columba’s Hospice and the Journal of Palliative Medicine. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, Doyle worked with the Church of Scotland from 1957 to 1966 and became a missionary surgeon in South Africa, living there through some of the worst years of apartheid. After running a hospital in South Africa for almost ten years, Doyle returned to Edinburgh and worked in both his own practice and Corstorphine Hospital. In 1977, he founded and was appointed to run the first hospice in Scotland – St. Columba’s. Along with teaching palliative medicine to students and doctors, Doyle founded and became the first chairman of the Association for Palliative Medicine and founded the Journal of Palliative Medicine.

Details

• Date of interview: 2006
• Archive reference: OBJ/ORA/1/11
• Interviewer: Morrice McCrae