Dr Myre Sim FRCP Edin

Dr Myre Sim was born in Edinburgh on October 2, 1915 to Julius and Sarah Sim, his grandparents having emigrated from Lithuania to Scotland at the end of the 18th Century. He was brought up and educated in his formative years in Edinburgh and graduated MBChB from Edinburgh University in 1938. Although he did not remain in Edinburgh to practice medicine, he retained a great fondness for the Edinburgh University Medical School and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

He obtained his Diploma in Psychological Medicine from the Royal College of London in 1946, before entering the Army where he served as Regimental Medical Officer and Officer Commanding the Army Psychiatric Hospital in Netley. He then returned to the University of Edinburgh in 1948 for his M.D. After receiving his M.D. he was appointed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in 1950, where he developed the Department of Psychological Medicine and began his extensive writing career. His most successful work was a medical textbook, Guide to Psychiatry, which reached its 4th edition. He also co-authored a second textbook, Basic Psychiatry, and published many articles in the British Medical Journal, the Lancet, the British Journal of Psychiatry and the Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry. He also wrote a monthly medical column for the Birmingham Post and the Liverpool Post.

In 1975, at the age of 60, he moved to Ottawa assuming the role of Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. He subsequently retired at 65, moving to Victoria, British Columbia where he continued a highly successful private practice in psychiatry for over 20 years. During these years, he helped countless individuals, acted as an expert witness in many legal actions and authored a number of medical publications including Compensation Claims, Insurance, Legal and Medical Aspects which he considered to be his best work.

Dr Myre Sim had strong interests and opinions on many matters both medical and non-medical. Many of his opinions can be found via the internet by searching for ‘Science Quotes by Myre Sim’. Perhaps two of his most well known are:

“I am concerned at the over-enthusiasm of unbridled reformers who initiate costly and frequently useless or even dangerous schemes. Progress is not synonymous with radicalism” quoted from ‘Myre Sim’, Gale, Contemporary Authors Online (2002)’.

“Sir Adolph Abrams, the physician, in lecture entitled Amanuensis, described a case history as an amalgam of false memories, rumour, innuendo and downright lies, and on these we are expected to make a diagnosis” quoted from book review, ‘Ending the Cycle of Abuse’, The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 1997; 42: 424.

He always accredited his successful career to his wife, Winnifred, who proof-read all of his publications. Sadly, Winnifred died in 2001 and following her death he lived alone until his failing health necessitated a move to St Charles Manor in 2008 where he was well cared for until his death.

Although Myre Sim was appointed a Fellow in 1970, the story of how the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh came to benefit from his donations started in 1984. Having previously contributed to the College Conference Centre Appeal, Myre Sim offered funds to set up a travel fund intended to support the professional development of Fellows and Collegiate Members. The College accepted readily. Further donations followed, leading to the establishment of the Myre Sim Education Fund. This fund had a wide remit which included support for symposia, lectures, workshops, the College Library, desk-top publishing and M.D. Theses. However, its main purpose was to encourage clinical research by doctors in non-academic positions. The Education Fund eventually transformed into the Myre Sim Charitable Trust, set up in Edinburgh but outwith the College. Later, in 1995, the Charitable Trust came under the management and trusteeship of the College. The Myre Sim Fund was formally established and has continued in that form to date, benefiting both Members and Fellows as well as medical students and medical graduates of the University of Edinburgh.

The Myre Sim Fund Committee meets twice a year and disburses the income generated by investments held as part of a wider portfolio. This is done through the award of grants to assist eligible individuals to further their professional competence and research activities; bursaries to students of the University of Edinburgh who elect to pursue a research project; and via direct support of College. The latter includes fund contributions towards the College Library, teaching symposia and on-line web casting of educational events. The Committee also oversees the award of the Collegiate Members’ prize. This prize, which is designed to encourage Collegiate Members to actively participate in research, is awarded biennially to the Collegiate Member who, in the opinion of the Committee, has published the best article in a high ranking peer-review journal.

In recent years, grants have been awarded to an international cohort of Fellows and Members and medical graduates of the University of Edinburgh for clinical research, for travel to worldwide meetings to present research work and to support the development of techniques of investigation and management of patients. Bursaries have been awarded to undergraduates of the University of Edinburgh for research in a diverse range of medical areas including the patient’s journey through healthcare and the effects of altitude and hypoxia in different countries, most recently in Peru.

Although the Fund is managed principally by the Committee, in accordance with its purposes, over the years Myre Sim has played a key part in steering and encouraging the Committee to broaden its scope. Consequently, the Fund has benefited a wide cohort of Fellows, Members and students and has retained a contemporary focus, demonstrated through the support of IT innovations such as CD production, e-learning initiatives and web-streaming. At this time, the capital reserve of the Fund, which is held in trust as a permanent endowment, is in the region of £600,000, giving an income of approximately £25,000 per annum. Despite Myre Sim’s passing, the activities of the Fund continue unabated under the careful management of the Myre Sim Committee.

Over the past 7 years, Professor Campbell as Convenor and Mr Nigel Owen, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Head of Finance of the College have remained in regular contact with Dr Myre Sim advising him of the activities and financial status of the Fund. Throughout this period Dr Sim has maintained a great interest in the College and how his fund has been used to benefit others. The College is grateful for his long-standing generosity and interest, which has seen many Members and Fellows advance their careers and enabled undergraduates of the Edinburgh University Medical School to seize the opportunity to pursue medical research in their formative years.