Celebrated Allergy Doctor dies aged 96

The Anaphylaxis Campaign is sorry to announce that Dr Harry Morrow Brown, has died aged 96.

Harry passed away on Thursday 22^nd August at the Royal Derby Hospital after a short battle with recurrent heart-related illness.

He was one of the key figures who inspired the Anaphylaxis Campaign when it was launched in early 1994.

David Reading, co-founder of the Anaphylaxis Campaign, recalls fond memories of how he first met Harry and the profound influence he would have on shaping the Campaign in its early days.

“I first met him in a hotel in Liverpool the night before we were due to be interviewed together on the daytime television programme This Morning, hosted then by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan.” David said.

“It was clear from the start that he was an outstanding presence in the world of asthma and allergy and someone the Campaign should look towards for guidance. In those early, crucial weeks of the Campaign’s history, Harry Morrow Brown helped the Campaign founders to develop the sensible, fact-based approach that it has followed ever since.”

One of Harry’s biggest professional achievements was in the development of treatments for asthma. It was due to his pioneering research that oral steroids became available to treat asthma in the early 1950’s. Their use was not widely accepted by the medical profession, but Harry showed that patients with asthma who had a particular pattern of inflammation responded impressively to oral steroids. In the 1970’s Harry went on to prove that inhaled steroid enabled patients to take control of their asthma without the side effects that could be an issue with oral steroids. The drug was developed further and marketed as Becotide.  Inhaled steroids are now the most important treatment available for asthma around the world.

Harry retired from the NHS in 1982, but carried on running a clinic at his home in Derby until recently. He wrote on his website, Allergies Explained: “I continue in active clinical practice not only because I enjoy seeing patients and solving their problems, but because there are so few allergy specialists. It is a paradox that while Britain has the highest incidence of allergic disease in the world, it also has the most inadequate allergy service.”

Harry will be greatly missed, both personally and professionally. He is survived by his two children, Nicolas and Caroline and two grandchildren. His wife, Freda, died in 2011.