Dr George Meakin

Citation for Dr George Meakin: Honorary Member of the APA 2011

Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to give the citation for Dr George Meakin

George graduated in medicine from Manchester University in 1971 and after a short spell in general practice he started anaesthetic training in Rochdale and then Plymouth. After passing the Fellowship in 1976, he undertook a year’s training in Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia in Brisbane, Australia, before moving to Canada in 1977 to take up a one-year Clinical and Research Fellowship in Paediatric Anaesthesia at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. He was then appointed to the University of McGill as a Staff Anaesthetist and Assistant Professor of Paediatric Anaesthesia, remaining in Montreal for a further three years.

Returning to the UK in 1983, George was appointed Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetist at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital (RMCH). Early achievements in his consultant career included implementing full monitoring in all operating theatres at RMCH (well ahead of any national guidelines) and establishing resident cover for the anaesthetic service and paediatric intensive care unit. He also obtained a grant to start research into muscle relaxant drugs in infants and children, which led to a Senior Lecturer appointment at the University of Manchester in 1989 and an MD degree in1992.

During a distinguished career, George served as an examiner for the Royal College of Anaesthetists from 1991 to 2003, was President of the European Federation of Associations of Paediatric Anaesthetists (FEAPA) from 2005-2009 and APA President from 2007 to 2009. During his FEAPA Presidency, George led the reforms that culminated in the foundation of the European Society for Paediatric Anaesthesiology. While Secretary and later President of the APA, he was a strong supporter of diversifying the membership of the APA, which now provides a home for all anaesthetists involved in the care of children regardless of where they work (as evidenced by the attendance at the ASM here in Torbay today). He also proposed changing the APA into a Charitable Limited Company, a change which he completed at the very end of his Presidency at the AGM in Brighton 2009.

I would also like to share with you three lesser well-known facts about George. Firstly he has a melodious voice and serious passion for music (some of you will recall, no doubt, his operatic contributions to previous annual dinners). Secondly, he has a great sense of timing; for example, on an overland trip from Australia to Canada George managed to arrive in Kabul on the same day as the Russians! Thirdly, he is phenomenally resourceful. It seems that, as a medical student, George helped finance his studies by running an old van and wheeling and dealing in second hand white goods obtained at auction! Perhaps in addition to honorary membership of the APA we should also be awarding him honorary membership of Trotters Independent Traders!

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the very considerable role of Lynne, George’s wife, to the success of the ‘Meakin Machine’. Whenever I meet them together there is absolutely no doubt that it is she really is his lynchpin, both professionally and personally.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure and honour to present Dr George Meakin for Honorary Membership of the APA.