RCSEd would like to pay respect to John Ferguson Gould, former RCSEd Faculty of Dental Surgery Dean during 1989-1992, who sadly passed away.
John was qualified in medicine (1949) and later in dentistry (1959), becoming a Fellow of both RCSI and RCSEd in 1966, where he was subsequently awarded Fellowship in Dental Surgery Without Examination in 1970.
As Oral Surgery was not a specialty at that time, John's FRCS was in General Surgery and this required John to be seconded to a general surgery ward. John took on the challenge of working in a surgical ward and having recently married his wife Frances, they began family life with young children.
Throughout his whole career, John was a strong supporter of the College. John had been Secretary to the Dental Faculty overlapping Laurie Finch and William (Montie) Oliver during their tenure as Dean before becoming Dean himself. Uniquely, John also served on College Council for a separate term. John was highly respected by all who knew him as he had a passion for sharing his wealth of knowledge. John was a skilled surgeon, a good colleague to many and a wonderful teacher in Edinburgh.
As Dean, John took the Fellowship in Dental Surgery Part 1 examination to Riyadh and was part of the inaugural inter-faculty discussions in relation to intercollegiate specialty assessments in dentistry. Furthermore, during John's deanship, he encouraged the development of the Diploma in Orthodontics examination and its rapid transition to the Membership in Orthodontics examination. John instigated a major revision of the Membership in General Dental Surgery examination, which continues in a modified form, three decades later. John continued to develop the programme of Faculty engagement with many countries including Kenya, India, Malaysia, Bahrain and Singapore for Fellowship examinations supervised by visiting Council members along with conferences for RCSEd Fellows and their spouses.
John's lasting legacy lives on within the College in many of the activities and relationships he developed, but overall his fellowship and friendship for everyone associated with RCSEd is remembered fondly. John is survived by his wife, Frances.