ROY WELLER

After my house jobs at Guys, I embarked on a career in Neuropathology, first at Guys, then in New York at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. I returned to England and after another brief spell at Guys and the Institute of Psychiatry, I was appointed to a post in the new Southampton University School of Medicine.
     
 The job was a fascinating mixture of clinical neuropathology, research, teaching and management. It was so fascinating that I remained in Southampton until I retired, as did David Barker and John Carruth. I managed to fulfil my quota of conferences in exotic places each year, thus justifying the collective noun of an “absence” of Professors. I spent periods engaged in research and teaching in Berlin, Zurich, Singapore, Dehli, Zimbabwe and Beijing.

 My research passed through a number of phases but for the last decade or so I have concentrated upon Alzheimer’s disease possibly as an insurance policy for my old age. I am still dovetailing research with retirement activities and discovering the beauties of my home town of Winchester, its magnificent cathedral with its surrounding countryside.

 Holidays are spent mainly in Europe and in West Wales with my wife, Francine, our daughter and two of our four grandchildren. My Welsh is progressing; I can almost say Cardiff in Welsh but not to the satisfaction of my son-in-law.

                                                                         

The accompanying photograph was taken last summer at the top of the Campanile in Florence with the Duomo in the background. I submitted it just to prove that I can still climb the 80 metres and 400 steps.           Roy Weller.