J. John Brand

After receiving a Grammar School education in the north of England, J. John Brand succeeded in gaining a State Scholarship in History, French, and English Literature. This enabled him to proceed to the University of London to read Medicine in the steps of his grandfather. He attended King's College Strand and Kings College Hospital Medical School, 1951-1597, receiving the Burridge Prize in 1956 and qualified L.R.C.P., M.R.C.S., 1956; and M.B., B.S., 1957. He was an enthusiastic hockey and cricket player. After some two years of internships in medicine, surgery, and paediatrics, he became liable for military service and elected to enter the Royal Navy as Acting Surgeon Lieutenant. He saw service in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Indian Ocean and East Africa. Returning to the U.K., he began research at the Royal Naval Medical School under the aegis of the M.R.C. and R.N.P.R.C. and at a submarine base in the U.K. as MOSETT, and later served on fishery protection vessels in the North Atlantic. Having then developed an interest in the physiology and pharmacology of anti-motion sickness drugs, he left active service with the rank of Surgeon Lieutenant Commander, but pursued similar research activities in conjunction with the Dept. of Pharmacology, Edinburgh University, [Prof. W.L.M. Perry] supported by MRC Research grants, and afterwards at the R.A.F. Institute of Aviation, Farnborough. This led to the publication of various papers on allied subjects, and he proceeded to M.D. [Lond.] in 1968. He published a book, Motion Sickness, with Jim Reason, in 1975. After assisting in further hospital-based research on a different topic, involving the use of hyperbaric oxygen, he returned to full-time clinical work as a Primary Care Physician in Gosport Hants with a special interest in occupational medicine and remained there until retirement from full-time work. However, he has continued to maintain a clinical interest by doing locum work for the M.O.D. until fairly recent years.