Professor Tim Evans, former medical director, deputy chief executive and director of research, passed away in November 2018. The news of his death was greeted with immense shock and sadness throughout the Trust.
Chief executive Bob Bell paid tribute to a greatly missed colleague who was also a mentor, an inspiration and a friend to many.
“As a physician Professor Evans was respected throughout the world and was a major driver in the maturation of critical care as an independent specialty in the UK, through influences at Royal College level, the Intensive Care Society, and more recently and importantly in founding the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine.
“A large number of doctors in critical care the world over have been influenced by him. Some rotated through Royal Brompton’s adult intensive care unit or respiratory medicine division, some had the benefit of him as research supervisor. Many of them have gone on to have successful careers in the UK and internationally, counting him as one of the most important influences in their lives.
“Professor Evans won many accolades for his clinical expertise. His interest in acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome, ARDS, which started in the mid-1980s, led to him rapidly becoming a world authority in ARDS. Research collaborations which followed were the start of Royal Brompton’s role as a national referral centre for severe acute lung failure and the reason why the Trust is now a major ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) centre.
“The respect of his peers pales into insignificance when compared to the regard in which Professor Evans was held by his patients. The relationship he had with many of his ‘long-term’ patients was the envy of colleagues.
“It was this genuine focus on patients that, in my view, made him such a brilliant medical director. Tim would never compromise on putting patients first and providing safe and high-quality care.
“It is difficult to summarise the immense contribution he made to the Trust: his clinical expertise and leadership, his passion for research and education, the significant contribution he made over several years on the Trust Board and other management bodies. He was also a highly valued and popular Trustee of the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity.
“Put simply, men like Professor Tim Evans come along once in a generation.“