Michael Anthony Cawthorne 1941-2015

Updated Monday 27 July 2015

Funeral arrangements are as follows:

Tuesday, 4 August at 11:30 at The Oak Chapel, Crownhill Crematorium, Dansteed Way, Crownhill, Milton Keynes, MK8 0AH, followed by lunch at The Tanlaw Mill, University of Buckingham, Hunter Street, Buckingham, MK18 1EG.

If desired, donations in Mike’s memory, should be made payable to Heritage & Sons, Funeral Directors, 1a Bristle Hill, Buckingham, MK18 1EZ +44 (0)1280 813188, for the benefit of ‘Medical Research at The University of Buckingham’ and ‘The British Heart Foundation’. Unless specified, the money will be divided equally between the two.

Professor Mike Cawthorne, Dean of Postgraduate Medicine and Sciences, has passed away.

He died peacefully on Tuesday, with his partner Liz by his side. Dean of The University of Buckingham School of Medicine, Karol Sikora, pays tribute to him:

Mike was one of the most inspirational people I have had the privilege to meet. His soft Yorkshire accent and his gentle manner were a great cover for his determination to get things done. To the end he behaved like a young man – he was in his prime as long as I’ve ever known him. Indeed only two days before his untimely farewell we were all enjoying a glass of champagne in the sun with his beloved partner Liz in the magnificent gardens of Winslow Hall. We were at a Sunday afternoon performance of La Traviata – a powerful but tragically beautiful story of love and death. We both really enjoyed it tremendously even though neither of us knew much about opera.

Born in Wath, South Yorkshire he excelled early at junior school and went to Rotherham Grammar. His family were not affluent but the young Cawthorne recognised the importance of education and was absolutely fascinated by science. He chose to read chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Liverpool where he earned a very distinguished degree.

After graduation he became a research biochemist at E.R. Sqibb in Liverpool but was soon headhunted by Smith Kline Beecham, now Glaxo Smith Kline, where he worked in various roles culminating in a global role as Director of Diabetes and Obesity Research.

Mike worked in the pharmaceutical industry for much of his career, leading drug discovery programmes in obesity and type two diabetes. He was awarded the Society of Medicine Research award for drug discovery in 2001 for his leadership of the research programme at Beecham Pharmaceuticals that recognised the need to target insulin resistance as a therapeutic goal for type 2 diabetes and the discovery and development of the drug rosiglitazone. He was a non-executive Director or Scientific Advisory Board member of a number of biotech companies. He contributed to the UK Government Foresight report on obesity, highlighting the opportunities and challenges for development of pharmacological therapies.

He was quick to embrace the emerging importance of molecular biology (among other technologies) and its potential place in traditionally pharmacology based drug discovery departments – he sent his senior staff on one year sabbaticals to the molecular biology departments round the world – his rationale was “In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king”. He also engendered a real genuine excitement in all things science.

He led the team that discovered rosiglitazone (Avandia). This heralded a set of drugs that sensitised tissue to the beneficial effects of insulin. Patients with late onset diabetes simply run out of insulin production so enhancing the effectiveness of any produced avoids the need for insulin. It also improves the quality of blood sugar control. Many lives continue to be saved worldwide by the discovery of this new class of drug. The subsequent withdrawal of rosiglitazone from the European market and the restrictions imposed in the US were never justified, a view endorsed by the US regulator when they subsequently reviewed the clinical trial data. But the damage had been done and the drug disappeared but others of the same class are benefiting patients daily.

Mike first came to The University of Buckingham in 1992 where he set up the Clore Laboratory. He created a fantastically enthusiastic group of young scientists at Buckingham many of whom gained MSc and PhD degrees under his guidance. Mike published 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers plus numerous book chapters, patents and abstracts. He had the knack of attracting huge amount of research money to the lab though his pharmaceutical contacts.

In 2006 the medical school at Buckingham was becoming a serious proposition. Mike was a leading proponent and it really is true that without his persuasion, diplomacy and charisma it would never have happened. He created and chaired our very successful postgraduate medical school based out of Ealing Hospital and a network of leading NHS centres. He was at his best persuading my clinical colleagues to do things they didn’t want to do but he knew were right.

Mike Cawthorne’s life and career were punctuated by tragedies. His first wife, Ray Evans, whom he married in 1965, had been a school teacher, but she died of liver failure when their two children were still young. Mike’s second wife, Monique Heald, whom he married in 1992, had been a research assistant with whom he had worked many years earlier and she also died unexpectedly early, of a stroke. In later life he found profound joy with Liz Riseborough – they were very much an item.

He was such a capable and loyal colleague. We were all so saddened by our loss but cherish the memories of the time we shared together. The leafy river slowly winding around the Buckingham campus provides a peaceful memorial to a brilliant scientist, a wonderful human being and a great friend.