Dr. Alistair McKenzie
The WLM is pleased and honored to induct the 2024 Laureate of the History of Anesthesia, Alistair McKenzie, BPharm, MB, ChB, FRCA, FFPMRCA, MSc. as he presents the Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lecture on Sunday, October 20, 2024 at 9:15 a.m., in room 122B at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Dr. Alistair G. McKenzie served as the Curator of the Department of Anaesthesia Museum at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) for twenty years from 1999 to 2019. He retired from clinical work as Consultant Anaesthetist in 2019 but continued to tutor as an Honor Clinical Senior Lecturer for the University of Edinburgh for an additional two years. One of his career highlights occurred in 2011 when he successfully sought and secured funding from four separate Colleges and Societies for the restoration of the grave of Sir James Young Simpson in Edinburgh.
Dr. McKenzie is the Immediate-Past President of the History of Anaesthesia Society, which he joined in 1992. He has served on its Council in three separate periods, totaling over twelve years, and most notably he was Honorary Editor of the History of Anaesthesia Society Proceedings from 2006 to 2012. There he organized three summer Scientific Meetings of the HAS in Edinburgh: 2001, 2011 and 2018. Since 2017 he has encouraged trainees to get involved in the history of anaesthesia by implementing a mentorship system on the Society’s website, which is still running.
Additionally, Dr. McKenzie has been actively involved with the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI) and was appointed to the Archives, Library & Museum Committee in 2001, and became the Honorary Librarian the following year. In 2008 he was promoted to Honorary Archivist and was Chairman of the committee from 2008 to 2010. He remained Honorary Archivist when the name of the committee changed to “Heritage Committee” in 2013. Notably between 2003 and 2016 he organized 13 annual one-day seminars on various aspects of the history of anaesthesia, held at the Association’s premises in London, serving as co-speaker at each event. Dr. McKenzie’s enthusiasm about books led to the expansion of the Heritage Centre Library, which now has one of the best collections of British anaesthetic books in the world. In 2011 he received the Charles King Award of the AAGBI. He has made numerous contributions to Anaesthesia News and has organized history of anaesthesia sessions at the Association’s annual congress and winter scientific meeting. For over a decade, Dr. McKenzie has served on the panel of judges for essays by trainees and medical students for the Annual Anaesthesia History Prize (named Thomas Boulton Prize since 2017).
Dr. McKenzie has also been actively involved with the Royal College of Anaesthetists, Scottish Society of Anaesthetists, Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, European Society of Anaesthesiology, the Anesthesia History Association, and the International Symposia on the History of Anaesthesia.
