N. H. Ashton

Who was N. H. Ashton?

Norman Henry Ashton CBE FRCP FRCPATH FRS was a British ophthalmologist and pathologist.

He studied medicine at King's College London, doing his practical work at Westminster Hospital Medical School, and qualified in 1939 with a specialisation in pathology. In 1941 he became a pathologist for Kent and Canterbury Hospital, leaving in 1945 to serve in the Royal Army Medical Corps. After demobilisation in 1947 he was invited to become Director of Pathology at the Institute of Ophthalmology, a position he held for 30 years. During this time he did key research on retinopathy, and was one of the scientists who connected the delivery of oxygen to premature babies with retinopathy of prematurity. He established the European Pathology Society, becoming its first president, and after helping found the Fight for Sight charity in 1965 he became its president in 1980. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1971, and was appointed CBE in 1976. He won the Buchanan Medal of the Royal Society in 1996 and served as president of five different ophthalmological associations before his death on 4 January 2000.