It is with great sadness that we report the death of Dr AJ (Jan) Jouhar, at his home in Aylesbury on 10 April from cancer of the prostate, at the age of 67.

Jan studied at St George’s Hospital Medical School, London, qualifying MB BS in 1956. He was a gifted student, remarkably winning every one of the academic prizes offered at that time by the School, on the way to qualifying. After completing house appointments at St George’s, he took a short service commission in the Royal Air Force Medical Branch, finishing his service in 1961 with the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

On leaving the Air Force, he went into the pharmaceutical industry, becoming a Medical Advisor to Duncan Flockhart in Edinburgh. He occupied a variety of positions in the industry over the next 20 years, culminating in his appointment as Medical Director of Bristol Myers, UK.

From 1982 onwards he practiced successfully as an independent consultant, a position which he held until he became ill.

Throughout his professional life Jan was a strong supporter, and promoter, of the discipline of pharmaceutical medicine. From the time of his first industry appointment he was an active member of AMAPI, and occupied the position of Chairman in 1971. Already at that time, he proposed the need for a Diploma, to mark the emergence of pharmaceutical medicine as a specialty in its own right. It was a concept typical of his innovative mentality, and it should be recorded that he was, arguably, the first person to consider and enunciate such an idea.

He then went on to conceive, and organize, together with two of his AMAPI colleagues, the First International Meeting of Medical Advisors, held in London in 1972. It was at this meeting that the first steps were taken that led, in 1975, to the creation of the International Federation of Associations of Pharmaceutical Physicians (IFAPP).

It would thus be appropriate to remember Jan as one of the founding fathers of IFAPP, which stands as a memorial to his creative intelligence and his dedication to his profession.

Jan was a dedicated family man. It gave him and his family great joy that he was able to hold his newest grandson, who was born only days before Jan died.