History of the British Atherosclerosis Society
The Society evolved from, and maintains the traditions of, the British Atherosclerosis Discussion Group (ADG) which was established in 1958 as an intimate forum for free-ranging and detailed discussions on all aspects of the pathology of atherosclerosis.
(BAS) is a not-for-profit organisation founded in its current form in 1997 with the aim of promoting atherosclerosis research in the UK.
The BAS continues the tradition of the British Atherosclerosis Discussion Group (ADG) – what was essentially a debate club – of promoting full and rank discussion of presented papers and ideas: all speakers are encouraged to keep at least one third of their allotted time for discussions, which are typically lively.
The broad-based nature of our membership, which includes many prominent cardiologists, principal investigators, and scientific opinion leaders in the field of atherosclerosis and vascular disease, ensures diverse and critical debate. The ADG also led to the foundation in 1963 of the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS), of which the BAS is now affiliated. The BAS hosted the EAS Congress 2015 in Glasgow.
British Atherosclerosis Society era (1997-onwards)
September 2008 at Queens’ College, Cambridge. From left to right: Back row officers past and present – Steve Humphries; Sarah Jane George (secretary); Anne Soutar; Peter Weissberg; Tom Sanders; Dorian Haskard (chairman); Jeremy Pearson; Philippa Talmud; Paul Miller; Keith Channon; Chris Newman (treasurer); Front row BADG founders – John Hampton; Michael Oliver; Elspeth Smith; Gustaf Born; Gilbert Thompson
British Atherosclerosis Discussion Group era (1958-1997)
The inaugural meeting of the new group, comprising 27 members, was held in the autumn of 1958 at the old MRC headquarters in London, the topic being ‘Interrelationships of dietary fat, blood lipids and atherosclerosis’. Baron Florey, as he became, was the first chairman and Michael Oliver the first secretary of the Atherosclerosis Discussion Group (ADG), This was renamed the British Atherosclerosis Society in 1997 during Gilbert Thompson’s chairmanship of the ADG.
French invited Oliver to come to Oxford to meet his boss, Australian Sir Howard Florey, who, having won the Nobel Prize for his work on penicillin, had now become interested in vascular pathology. At their meeting Florey told French to make a list of those working in the field of atherosclerosis and asked Oliver to raise enough money to hold an inaugural meeting. With the help of a friendly contact at Glaxo, Oliver raised the required £250 and French produced a list of people to invite.
Origins of the society
In Britain, there were a few pathologists and an occasional epidemiologist interested in atherosclerosis in the mid-1950s but virtually no physicians. In 1957, while working in Edinburgh, Michael Oliver wrote to the pathologist John French at the Dunn School of Pathology in Oxford, expressing concern that there was no organization in Britain interested in the relationship of lipid metabolism, blood flow and platelets to experimental atherosclerosis.
