Walter Holland was an exceptional leader in epidemiology. He died in the hospital where, in 1954, he had earned his medical degree, and where he had worked for much of his productive and influential life. Arriving in England from German-speaking Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia in the wake of Kristallnacht, he excelled at Rugby School and then as a medical student at St Thomas’ Hospital. During his long association with St Thomas’, he contributed to mainstream epidemiology in the areas of smoking and respiratory disorders, screening, applied epidemiology in multidisciplinary health services research, and in conjoint general practice research and education.
He served on the Council of the International Epidemiological Association (IEA) for many years and as President from 1987 to 1990. He edited its Bulletin and was Founding Editor of this Journal from 1971 to 1974. He was active in the formation of the Faculty of Community Medicine, subsequently the Faculty of Public Health Medicine in the Royal College of Physicians (UK), later to become the Faculty of Public Health. Among his many appointments, Walter chaired the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Social Medicine at St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School from 1968, becoming Professor in 1974.
It was in April 1974—on the day that a new, large-scale administrative re-organization of the UK NHS was implemented—that I came to work with him. The department was spread over two campuses: St Thomas’ Hospital and, two kilometres away, in a four-storey building in Sancroft Street, Lambeth. Walter maintained his St Thomas’ office while most of the department were in Lambeth. He wore a white coat, carried a stethoscope and lunched with senior clinicians in the doctors’ dining room. I believe that this was done largely to keep epidemiology on their radar. He was a persuasive and formidable advocate for applying research findings to the provision and management of health care services. He was a fearless writer of letters, often to parliamentarians just across the Thames.
Perhaps Walter’s most lasting legacy is the many epidemiologists whom he taught and mentored, and whose careers he fostered. Protégé Richard Heller remembers:
Walter’s greatest pleasure was seeing the development of the junior people who worked with him, and he worked hard to promote our careers. Walter taught us not only academic skills, but also management, policy and advocacy.
Roger Detels, who succeeded Walter as IEA President, writes:
If one is lucky in life, one meets extraordinary people. At the top of my list is Walter Holland. In addition to being a great epidemiologist, scientist and educator, he was my role model, friend and colleague. He was a dedicated teacher and particularly proud of his former students, many of whom became leaders in public health. He was the founding editor of the Oxford Textbook of Public Health, still the standard text in our field and now in its seventh edition. I am very grateful that he had the kindness to invite me as a co-editor, as this greatly expanded my knowledge and understanding of the breadth and importance of public health.
Richard Southby, Dean Emeritus, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, comments:
My friendship with Walter started when he was a Visiting Professor in our very new Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Walter was one of my strongest mentors for more than four decades, throughout my academic career in Australia and later in the United States. His wise counsel and practical advice were especially helpful while I was involved in planning and launching our new school of public health in Washington.
Les Irwig, Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sydney University, recalls:
Walter was responsible for giving many of us the opportunity to grow and develop: by providing research positions, creating a robust environment for multidisciplinary discussion and encouraging educational advancement. So many of us owe to Walter Holland our early inspiration and the opportunity to spread our wings and test out our skills and ideas. It is remarkable that a 1974 article on breast cancer screening that I wrote under Walter’s guiding hand has stood the test of time.
Charles Florey, a colleague of Walter’s at St. Thomas’, President of the IEA from 1999 to 2002 and former Editor of the IJE contributes:
The IEA Council, urged on by Walter, agreed in 1971 that its membership had grown to such an extent that an international journal should be started. I joined Walter’s department in that year and found myself closely allied to Walter as one of his assistant editors. He already had the responsibility for one of the UK’s foremost and largest health services research units, yet his devotion to the IEA drove him to succeed in creating what has become one of the most admired epidemiological journals. It was a remarkable achievement. My own career owed much to his generosity in sharing the responsibilities of editorship.
After retiring from St Thomas’, Walter became Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science and turned his attention to the history of epidemiology. He remained active till near the end of his life, contributing (with Richard Southby) an obituary for Basil Hetzel to the IJE in 2017 and commenting, as recently as January this year, on an article soon to be published. He is sorely missed.
