Austin Bradford Hill

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Sir Austin Bradford Hill
Epidemiologist

statistician
Known for
AwardsGuy Medal (Gold, 1953)

Sir Austin Bradford Hill

epidemiologist who pioneered the modern randomised clinical trial and, together with Richard Doll, demonstrated the connection between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. Hill is widely known for pioneering the "Bradford Hill" criteria for determining a causal association.[4][5]

Early life

Blue plaque commemorating the family home in Loughton

Hill was born in London, son of Sir

London University
.

Career

In 1922, Hill went to work for the Industry Fatigue Research Board. He was associated with the medical statistician Major Greenwood and, to improve his statistical knowledge, Hill attended lectures by Karl Pearson. When Greenwood accepted a chair at the newly formed London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Hill moved with him, becoming Reader in Epidemiology and Vital Statistics in 1933 and Professor of Medical Statistics in 1947. In 1947, he was appointed Honorary Director of the Medical Research Council's Statistical Research Unit.[4]

Hill had a distinguished career in research and teaching and as author of a very successful textbook, Principles of Medical Statistics, but he is famous for two landmark studies. He was the statistician on the Medical Research Council Streptomycin in Tuberculosis Trials Committee and their study evaluating the use of streptomycin in treating tuberculosis,

British doctors study
). Fisher was in profound disagreement with the conclusions and procedures of the smoking/cancer work and from 1957 he criticised the work in the press and in academic publications.

In 1965, built upon the work of Hume and Popper, Hill suggested several aspects of causality in medicine and biology, which have remained in use by epidemiologists to date.

On Hill's death in 1991, Peter Armitage wrote, "to anyone involved in medical statistics, epidemiology or public health, Bradford Hill was quite simply the world's leading medical statistician."

Honours

In 1950–52, Hill was president of the Royal Statistical Society.[7] He was awarded its Guy Medal in Gold in 1953,[8] and the Harben Gold Medal of the Institute of Public Health and Hygiene.[4] The Society awards a medal in the field of medical statistics in Hill's name.[9]

Hill was made a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1954. Fisher was one of the proposers. The certificate of election read:

Has, by the application of statistical methods, made valuable contributions to our knowledge of the incidence and aetiology of industrial diseases, of the effects of internal migration upon mortality rates, and of the natural and experimental epidemiology of various infections, for example of the risks of an attack of

prophylactic
agents.

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1951 Birthday Honours[10] and knighted in the 1961 Birthday Honours.[11]

Bibliography

  • "Principles of Medical Statistics" (1937) London: The Lancet, 1937.
  • Doll, R.; Hill, A. B. (1 September 1950). "Smoking and Carcinoma of the Lung".
    PMID 14772469
    .
  • Doll, R.; Hill, A. B. (1954). "The mortality of doctors in relation to their smoking habits; a preliminary report". British Medical Journal. 1 (4877): 1451–1455.
    PMID 13160495
    .
  • Hill, A. B. (1965). "The Environment and Disease: Association or Causation?".
    PMID 14283879. [1]
  • Chalmers, I. (2003). "Fisher and Bradford Hill: Theory and pragmatism?".
    PMID 14681246
    .
  • .
  • Doll, R. (2003). "Fisher and Bradford Hill: Their personal impact". International Journal of Epidemiology. 32 (6): 929–931, discussion 931–8.
    PMID 14681248
    .
  • "Fisher and Bradford Hill: A discussion". International Journal of Epidemiology. 32 (6): 945–948. 2003. .

Notes

  1. ^ Note that Austin Bradford Hill's surname was Hill and he went by the name "Tony".[1][2] He published under the name "A.B. Hill" in early articles, "A. Bradford Hill" beginning in the 1930s (to distinguish himself from A.V. Hill), and "Sir Austin Bradford Hill" after he was knighted in 1961. He is often referred to as Bradford Hill, sometimes with a misleading hyphen as in "Bradford-Hill criteria."

References

  1. .
  2. .
  3. .
  4. ^ .
  5. .
  6. .
  7. ^ "Past presidents". RSS. Royal Statistical Society. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  8. ^ "Previous recipients of Gold Medals" (PDF). Royal Statistical Society. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  9. ^ "Bradford Hill Medal". RSS. Royal Statistical Society. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  10. ^ "No. 39243". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 1951. p. 3071.
  11. ^ "No. 42370". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1961. p. 4144.

External links