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Paul Brand dead

By Our Staff Reporter

VELLORE July 15. Paul Wilson Brand, who pioneered the use of reconstructive surgery to ease the ravages of leprosy and diabetes on hands and feet and who set up the first Hand Surgery Unit in the Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, died in Seattle, United States, last week.

Dr. Brand (88), who was born in a missionary family in India, went to England at the age of nine and had his early education there.

He graduated from the medical school at London University in 1943. Dr. Brand along with his wife, Margaret Brand (who was his classmate), came to India to serve the CMC in 1946 and continued his work for 17 years.

He received worldwide acclaim for his pioneering work in leprosy reparative surgery. His achievements in this long-neglected field have played an important role in the rehabilitation of the "outcasts".

Dr. Brand came to India initially in response to a need at the CMC for a surgeon qualified as FRCS (Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons) to enable the CMC to get recognition by the Madras University for its MBBS course. During his stint in the CMC, Dr. Brand specialised in orthopaedic and hand reconstructive surgery and set up the first hand surgery unit in the college in 1951. He personally treated a large number of patients from the composite North Arcot district and other parts of south India.

The couple retired in mid-1980s and moved to Seattle, where he became an emeritus clinical professor of orthopaedics at the University of Washington.

In 1960, Paul Brand received the Albert Lasker Award for leadership and service in rehabilitation of the handicapped. He was named a commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1961.

Dr. Brand is survived by his wife and six children.

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