Gordon Signy Fellowship
Dr. Gordon Signy
Shortly after its founding, the World Pathology Foundation established Gordon Signy Foreign Fellowships in honor of Gordon Signy, a notable supporter of the World Association, who died in London in 1972. He qualified in Medicine at Guy's Hospital, London, in 1926 and became a clinical pathologist in the widest sense, his professional career spanning nearly a half century of astounding advances in all branches of pathology, anatomic and clinical. Over 28 years he established and developing the prestigious (British) Journal of Clinical Pathology. He helped to establish and was a Foundation Vice-President of the Royal College of Pathologists. He was involved in research into hospital sepsis, rheumatic fever, and many other scientific fields. An expert fencer, he was the non-playing captain of a British Olympic Fencing Team and a witty raconteur. He had special regard for pathology trainees from less developed countries and worked strenuously to find them training places in the United Kingdom.
At the same time, The Gordon Signy Fellowships were established under the umbrella of the WPF to honor Dr. Gordon Signy and to provide support for young pathologists who were seeking to spend short period in a center of excellence in a foreign country in order to further their skills in Pathology on their return home. These Fellowships were intended to be financed as a completely separate fund within the WPF, but over the years the general WPF account and the Gordon Signy Fellowship account have been gradually fused and administered as a single fiscal unit. By 2010 the WPF no longer maintained any separation of its assets in separate funds and the Trustees adopted operating rules for the Gordon Signy Fellowships and the Barrie Murphy Traveling Lectureship in Munich.
Gordon Signy Fellowships enable young pathologists from countries with limited resources to visit centers of renowned excellence in other countries and to learn laboratory techniques that will be of benefit to the services provided from their laboratories when they return home. These Fellowships consist of financial support and, from 1975 to 2017, forty-nine young pathologists from 24 countries have received a Fellowship.
In 2014 the citizens of Islington borough, the place in which he lived, honored him with The Islington People's Plaque which was placed on the home in which he died in 1972. Pictured on the right by Dr. Signy's house on Alwyne Road are Dr. Signy's children (from left Adam Signy, Mark Signy [holding plaque], Michael Signy, and Ruth Davies).
Certificates are given to all Fellows who have completed their training and presented reports of their experiences. Any previous Fellows who have not received certificates and wish to have one should contact the Foundation.
