Professor Anthony J Hedley, former Professor at the University of Glasgow,died on 19 December 2014, in the Isle of Man.

Professor Hedley joined the University in 1983 as Titular Professor of Community Medicine. He held the Henry Mechan Chair of Public Health from 1984 to 1988.

Professor Graham Watt worked with Professor Hedley during his time at The University of Glasgow.

He said:  "Tony Hedley had no second or third gear. Everything was approached with passion and rigour. He was a blaze of energy, who lit up academic public health wherever he went."

He trained in the medical schools of Aberdeen and Edinburgh universities.

He obtained his MD by research and was inducted as a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians (UK) in 1981.

' He was a blaze of energy, who lit up academic public health wherever he went'

Professor Hedley worked in general medicine, geriatrics, endocrinology and diabetes in Aberdeen, Dundee and Nottingham before moving into the field of epidemiology and public health.

In 1988, Hedley left the University to take up the post of Professor of Community Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, a post that he had held until his retirement. 

In recognition of his outstanding contributions to public health, Professor Hedley received a World Health Organization Medal and the HKSAR Bronze Bauhinia Star in 1999 and 2000 respectively.As a polymath in public health, Professor Hedley’s work spanned a wide spectrum of issues.

This included air pollution, tobacco control, life-course epidemiology, health services research and the control of infectious disease.

Professor, Jill Pell, Director of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing, said: “Professor Hedley's work on tobacco control made an invaluable contribution to advances in this area and his desire to engage with the public and policymakers was ahead of its time.

First published: 19 January 2015

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