In Memoriam: Aubrey Sheiham

It is with immense sadness to say that our friend, mentor and colleague Aubrey Sheiham died on Tuesday 24th November.

In July he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. His condition deteriorated very quickly in the last few days. This is an enormous shock for us all. Aubrey transformed and changed all our lives through his immense kindness and generosity of spirit and ideas.

Cochrane UK Director Martin Burton said “Aubrey Sheiham was a longstanding supporter of Cochrane activities in the UK and worldwide.  We are sorry to hear of his death and send our condolences to Helena and the family”

Aubrey Sheiham BDS, PhD, DHC was a dental epidemiologist and a emeritus professor of Dental Public Health, School of Life and Medical Sciences, University College London who was inspired and encouraged by Archie Cochrane to question many of the practices in medicine and dentistry. His main commitment is to improving the health of populations in underdeveloped countries and challenging dental establishments to be far more critical. The misuse of health care resources has more serious ethical and health implications in underdeveloped countries because they are generally inadequate. Prof. Sheiham considers that supporting and training key health personnel in the concepts of Cochrane will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of health care. Since 2001, through Dr Sheiham’s generosity, Cochrane researchers from low- and middle-income countries have been funded and supported each year to complete a Cochrane Review on a topic relevant to their region, and to cascade relevant knowledge about Cochrane and evidence-based health care (EBHC) to their local networks.

Photo: Aubrey with his wife Helena.