William Sidney Charles Copeman CBE TD FRCP (1900 – 24 November 1970) was a British rheumatologist and a medical historian, best remembered for his contributions to the study of arthritic disease.[2]
As a rheumatologist, Copeman was influential in the running of the Heberden Society, the foundation and editorship of the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, and the first editor of the Textbook of the Rheumatic Diseases which was first published in 1948. He worked at the Arthur Stanley Institute for Rheumatic Diseases at Middlesex Hospital,[3] as well as being the consultant rheumatologist for the British Army and the Royal Star and Garter Home, Richmond.[2] In 1936, he set up the Empire Rheumatism Council, now known as Arthritis Research UK.[4]
As a medical historian, Copeman gave the Fitzpatrick Lectures at the Royal College of Physicians, which formed the content for his 1960 book Doctors and Diseases in Tudor Times. He also published a book on the History of Gout and Rheumatic Diseases which stemmed from lectures given at the University of California at Los Angeles. He was also elected a fellow of the International Academy of the History of Medicine.[5] He was president of the History of Medicine Society at The Royal Society of Medicine, London between 1964 and 1966.[6] During this time, he represented the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries when founding the British Society for the History of Medicine in 1965.[7]
He was the son of Dr Sydney Copeman, also a well-known physician. During World War I, he served as an officer with the Coldstream Guards.[2]
His son was the dermatologist Peter Copeman, also known as Dr Spot.[8]
Selected publications
edit- A Short History of the Gout and the Rheumatic Diseases (1964)
References
edit- ^ "Catalogue search". Wellcome Collection. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
- ^ a b c Porritt AE, Dudley Hart F (1992). "W S C Copeman: his importance in contemporary medicine". Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 51 (2): 283–5. doi:10.1136/ard.51.2.283. PMC 1005678. PMID 1550419.
- ^ Alan Ebringer (8 November 2012). Ankylosing spondylitis and Klebsiella. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-4471-4300-0.
- ^ "Our history and achievements | Arthritis Research UK". www.arthritisresearchuk.org. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
- ^ f.n.l.p (January 1971). "W. S. C. Copeman, C.B.E., T.D., M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P. (1900–1970)". Medical History. 15 (1): 96. doi:10.1017/S0025727300016203. PMC 1034123.
- ^ Penelope., Hunting (2002). The history of the Royal Society of Medicine. London: Royal Society of Medicine Press. ISBN 1853154970. OCLC 47271565.
- ^ "The British Society for the History of Medicine Foundation". Med Hist. 9 (4): 390–391. 1965. doi:10.1017/s0025727300031069. PMC 1033538.
- ^ "Dr Peter Copeman obituary". The Times. 3 August 2018. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 4 August 2018.