Secretariat

Paul Murdock

Very sadly, Paul Murdock, Biological Safety Officer and Health and Safety Adviser, died on 4 June.

Paul joined the Safety Advisory Services in September 2004. He brought with him extensive experience as both a biomedical scientist and as a health and safety professional. Graduating in Biochemistry from the University of Surrey in 1983, he went on to hold a number of scientific appointments, including eleven years as Senior Clinical Scientist in the Haemophilia and Haemostasis Centre at the Royal Free Hospital in London. Here, as well as playing a full part in the Departments clinical diagnostic work, Paul served as departmental safety and radiation protection adviser. He also completed an MSc, awarded in 1983.

Paul left the Royal Free in May 2001 in order to take up a full-time post as Divisional Health and Safety Officer for the National Heart and Lung Institute within the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. In 2002 Paul joined Universal Safety Consultants, working principally with NHS Trusts in the London area to provide advice on general and biological safety. Accordingly, when Paul came to Leeds in September 2004, he was already an experienced professional with a wealth of relevant expertise. From the outset, he established himself as a highly capable colleague. His responsibilities covered the provision of advice and support on the control of biological hazards throughout the University, together with a similar function across the whole spectrum of health and safety matters for a number of faculties and schools. Typical of Pauls thoughtful interest in the wider implications of his work, he was a keen and effective member of the Committee on Ethics and Experimental and Practical Procedures. Drawing on his extensive network of contacts, Paul had recently been involved in the organisation of a meeting of the Northern Universities Biological Safety Officers, at which he had also presented a paper on the health and safety issues associated with Gene Therapy.

Pauls untimely death has come as an enormous shock to his many friends and colleagues throughout the University and beyond. Immensely likeable, astute and helpful, he built an enviable personal and professional reputation in his time at Leeds as someone who could always be relied upon for calm and authoritative yet supportive advice and guidance. His loss will have a profound and lasting impact on all who knew him; he will be greatly missed by all who worked with him.

Paul, whose family was very dear to him, is survived by his wife, Susan and their two daughters, Sally and Iona.