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Ralph Edwards: RARE EVENTS

The Inside Story of a Worldwide Quest for Safer Medicines

  • Book
  • © 2023

Overview

Authors:
  1. Ian Hembrow

    1. Oxford Centre for Life Writing, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

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  • Reveals the delicate balance and knife-edge decisions involved in making medicines as safe as they can be
  • Presents a unique behind-the-scenes mix of science, biography and history populated by influential people
  • Contains powerful lessons for those seeking to make global change

Part of the book series: Springer Biographies (SPRINGERBIOGS)

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Table of contents (22 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxxix
    Download chapter PDF

  2. The Science, the Director and the Centre

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-2
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    2. The Voyage to Medicines Safety

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 3-10

    3. A Unique Vision

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 11-24

    4. Made in Sweden

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 25-46

    5. Going Global

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 47-60

  3. A Man Changed by Medicine

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 61-61
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    2. ‘Just Do It, Ralph’

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 63-89

    3. Learning for Life

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 91-110

    4. Forged in the City of Steel

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 111-132

    5. Doctor Fixer

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 133-145

    6. A New Africa

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 147-168

    7. The Whole World in Two Islands

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 169-188

  4. Making Medicines Safer

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 189-190
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    2. Forging Ahead

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 191-207

    3. A Deep, Dark Mystery

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 209-225

    4. The Problems with Drugs

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 227-250

    5. Science and Sharing

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 251-282

    6. From Analogue to AI

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 283-297

    7. Pillars of Wisdom

      • Ian Hembrow
      Pages 299-312
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Keywords

About this book

Medical treatments designed to help people can also be harmful or fatal. Around 2.5 million people die this way each year. So if any kind of medicine makes someone unwell, they or their doctor should report it. Those reports, from nearly every country in the world, go to the Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC) in Sweden. 


As the Centre’s first director, Professor Ivor Ralph Edwards transformed it from a tiny operation with limited horizons into an internationally acclaimed scientific organization at the heart of the World Health Organization’s Programme for International Drug Monitoring. He was then succeeded by his wife, Dr Marie Lindquist.

This is the story of how a new science developed and a passionate and dedicated pursuit of worldwide medicines safety, with an unerring focus on the welfare of patients. The pioneering work of Ralph, Marie and their collaborators on every continent protected the lives of millions of people. It may yet improve the lives of billions more. 


Reviews

‘To describe Ralph Edwards as a scientist, a doctor, a drug safety leader or an entrepreneur would be to undervalue the man. For he is all of these and more. This fascinating book reveals Ralph’s huge impact on the development and use of drugs, and how he built the Uppsala Monitoring Centre into the jewel in the crown of the World Health Organization’s Programme for International Drug Monitoring. It’s a colourful and compelling account of one man’s legacy delivered through his intelligence, determination, clarity of vision and an unfaltering passion for human health.’

Peter Arlett, Head of Pharmacovigilance and Epidemiology, European Medicines Agency

Authors and Affiliations

  • Oxford Centre for Life Writing, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Ian Hembrow

About the author

Ian Hembrow is a visiting scholar at the Oxford Centre for Life Writing at Wolfson College, University of Oxford, UK. Since 2016, he has been involved in research and writing about global medicines safety (pharmacovigilance), especially the monitoring work carried out on behalf of the World Health Organization at the Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC) in Sweden. His 2018 book MAKING MEDICINES SAFER told the 40-year history of UMC, following which he was commissioned to write this account of the life and career of its founding director, Ralph Edwards.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Ralph Edwards: RARE EVENTS

  • Book Subtitle: The Inside Story of a Worldwide Quest for Safer Medicines

  • Authors: Ian Hembrow

  • Series Title: Springer Biographies

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14981-8

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Medicine, Medicine (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-14980-1Published: 21 January 2023

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-14983-2Published: 21 January 2024

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-14981-8Published: 20 January 2023

  • Series ISSN: 2365-0613

  • Series E-ISSN: 2365-0621

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXXIX, 473

  • Number of Illustrations: 65 b/w illustrations, 197 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Drug Safety and Pharmacovigilance, Sociology, general, Epidemiology, Pharmacology/Toxicology, Behavioral Therapy, Behavioral Therapy

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