Abstract
David McKay Hart’s early years were spent in the family home at Royal Terrace, Glasgow. His father, also David McKay Hart, was a senior Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Stobhill General Hospital situated in the north of the city.
He was educated at The Glasgow Academy where he was a member of the Shooting team and learned to play the Bagpipes. His love of both continued as a member of the Territorial Army while he studied Medicine at the University of Glasgow. He was an excellent shot and competed regularly at Bisley. He continued shooting until his late seventies.
On occasion, he played the Pipes in public, once entertaining a group of tourists at Stonehenge and also at the British Menopause Society Dinner when the Annual Scientific Meeting was hosted in Glasgow.
After graduating, he took up training posts in Glasgow; his appointment as Surgical House Officer in Ward 32 of Glasgow Royal Infirmary resulted in meeting Staff Nurse Helen Fraser who he would marry in March 1963. Helen later was to take on the role of Research Sister in the Glasgow Osteo-Gyn clinic after completing her family.
After deciding to specialise in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, he trained in the Glasgow teaching units, at one time working with his father.
During his training, he completed MRCOG and passed the FRCS (Glasgow) examination. He was appointed as Senior Registrar in the Western Infirmary and the Queen Mother’s Maternity Hospital where Professor Ian Donald held the Regius Chair of Midwifery. In addition to his work developing Ultrasound in Obstetrics, Professor Donald, along with Professor Goldberg in the department of General Medicine, was looking to investigate the possibility of a link between fractures and surgical menopause in women. David was tasked with taking this forward within what was to become the Osteo-Gyn Clinic at the Western Infirmary. This was the first Clinic in the UK that cared for and carried out research into Menopausal women. Studies performed in collaboration with Dr Robert Lindsay and Dr Mark Aitken using Single Photon Absorptiometry (SPA) resulted in The Lancet publication of 1976 that clearly demonstrated the role of estrogen in preventing bone loss in women after bilateral oophorectomy. Further studies in other centres confirmed these findings.
After his appointment as Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist to Stobhill Hospital, Dr McKay Hart developed and expanded his interest in Menopause starting a second clinic at Stobhill. He formed close links with Bone Metabolism Clinicians, Biochemists, Pathologists, Clinical Psychologists and other Specialists throughout the city and further afield, establishing a thriving Research Group that produced publications on all aspects of Menopause care. This group was supported by grants from various sources and was probably the largest non-university research team in Glasgow at the time. A procession of Research Registrars contributed to studies on the health of post-menopausal women before moving on to Consultant positions throughout the UK and abroad; many established their own Menopause clinics and continued this research.
As the impact of estrogen deficiency on bone, and on other aspects of post reproductive women’s health, in particular on cardiovascular disease, became increasingly apparent, Dr Hart and the various members of the group travelled to and presented work regularly at both National and International meetings. He carefully perused Meeting Abstract Books noting the numbers of submissions from Research Groups in other centres.
He was a Founder Member of the BMS and looked forward to meeting up with his colleagues and his former Research Registrars at the Annual Meetings.
His lectures were always popular and entertaining. Before the days of Powerpoint, he and his team, kept the Medical Illustration Department in Stobhill fully occupied preparing slides and posters. His keen attention to detail led to many being re-done before being accepted for presentation.
Throughout his career, Dr McKay Hart continued to manage a heavy general workload in both Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Stobhill General Hospital and latterly back at the Queen Mother’s Hospital after reorganisation of Maternity services within Glasgow.
He was an excellent surgeon and patiently (at least outwardly) taught generations of trainees to perform a total abdominal hysterectomy through a suprapubic incision no longer than 8–10 cm in length – minimal access surgery without requirement for any of the technology.
Dr McKay Hart delivered the second (and first boy) “test tube” baby in January 1979. He had referred the mother to Patrick Steptoe for investigation and looked after her at Stobhill during her pregnancy when she returned to Glasgow. She required delivery at 36 weeks’ gestation, one hour before Steptoe and Robert Edwards reached the Maternity Unit at Stobhill.
After he retired from NHS practice in 1996, he continued to run the Western Infirmary Osteo-Gyn clinic on a part time basis until 2001. During that period of his career, he was invited to edit the standard textbook Gynaecology Illustrated in collaboration with Professor Jane Norman.
David McKay Hart will be fondly remembered for his quiet, unassuming nature and his dry understated sense of humour as well as for his consummate clinical skills and pioneering role in the care of menopausal women. For example, in a lecture to a large GP audience, he was discussing the influence on bone health of lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption, and concluded by recommending moderation in all things, including moderation!
He is survived by his wife Helen and their three sons, Colin, Euan, Andrew, six grandchildren and a great grand-daughter.