Ralph John Marshall was Director of Medical Illustration and Audio-Visual Services for the University of Wales College of Medicine and University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, until his retirement in 1993. Like many of his contemporaries, he began his career as a trainee medical photographer in London before moving to Cardiff in 1952 to establish a medical illustration service at Cardiff Royal Infirmary for the Welsh National School of Medicine and United Cardiff Hospitals. With the building of the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, which opened in 1971, Ralph had the opportunity to design a state-of-the-art medical illustration department, providing photography, graphics, and video services to the clinicians, academics and researchers of both the School of Medicine and National Health Service.
Having established a thriving department in the new University Hospital campus, Ralph worked closely with the department for Post-graduate Medical Education as they pioneered the use of teleconferencing to link post-graduate centres around Wales. He also worked with medical school colleagues on the use of video recording in the teaching of clinical and communication skills at undergraduate level. These approaches to learning and teaching, from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, might be seen as a precursor of what today we refer to as blended learning.
As a photographer, Ralph has been described as a ‘pioneer’ in the field of invisible radiation photography. His research into the use of infrared and ultraviolet photography formed the basis for a programme of study that would lead to the award of a PhD in 1977. Ralph was a prolific author, publishing, in peer-reviewed journals, the result of his own research and that of the academic groups he worked with.
He was member of medical illustration’s professional bodies; the British Institute of Professional Photographers and Royal Photographic Society on whose medical groups he served. His work was recognised by the Institute of Medical Illustrators in 1975 when he received their Norman K Harrison Award. International recognition came in 1988, when he received the Louis Schmidt Award, given by the mainly North American based Biological Photographic Association, the citation reading ‘for his outstanding contribution to the progress of biomedical communication’. In 1986, in recognition of his achievements in a life dedicated to his profession and service to the University of Wales, he was awarded a personal academic chair, so becoming Professor Ralph J. Marshall.
In the late 1960s, while struggling to recruit staff, Ralph negotiated with the then South Glamorgan Health Authority to establish a fully funded training course for medical photographers. For over 50 years, this programme, in its various manifestations, has been training and educating clinical photographers, many of whom have gone on to win awards for their work and take up senior positions within the medical illustration profession. Perhaps this is Professor Ralph Marshall’s greatest professional legacy.
Outside of work, Ralph was an avid theatre goer, took great pleasure in entertaining and had an interest in clocks, inherited from his father who was, in his spare time, an expert horologist. But he also suffered tragedy with the loss of both his wife Barbara and eldest daughter Sara. He is survived by his daughter Fiona and grandchildren, Anna and Fenella, Julia and Katherine.