It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Dr Mary Newton. Mary was a founder Council Member of the Society of Anaesthetists in Radiology and was at our inaugural meeting in November 2011 in London. She qualified at St. George’s and was appointed as a consultant at Bart’s in 1990, and subsequently at Queen Square in 1997.

Setting up a new specialist society is fraught with challenges with surprisingly little support from the national organisations. We knew how important it was, at the outset, to encourage a known educator and team worker for this role. Mary was ideal and enthusiastically stepped forward. A lot of our work is carried out under sedation and Mary was not only an expert, being anaesthetic lead in anaesthesia for interventional radiology at Queen Square, but also a leader and go-to person for setting standards for safe sedation with the Royal College. She was an effective networker and lectured on our behalf at the BSIR just two years later. Her skills and enthusiasm were immense and invited speakers found it difficult to resist her requests to attend, usually without any fee. She has left an enduring legacy so that the Society is the respected organisation that it is today.

Mary had a particular interest in promoting access to medicine for disadvantaged students, which is very much a current topic. In 2018, the Royal College published a document for the public and the profession entitled, “The anaesthetist by your side when it matters.” It was entirely fitting that Mary was selected among 22 anaesthetists across the country to tell their story. As she says in the text, “It begins with a smile when you introduce yourself.”

Dr Michael Boscoe

Past-President