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Obituary to Professor Pauline Hall.

Professor Pauline De La Motte Hall died in Brisbane, Australia on 27 June 2007 as a result of disseminated melanoma. With her passing, the study of the pathology of the liver lost one of its most capable, dedicated, and enthusiastic researchers.

A highly professional woman with a unique talent, Pauline Hall was born on 15 January 1935. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Melbourne, Australia in 1959 and moved to Adelaide in the mid 1960's when she commenced training in Pathology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. From the time of her initial training in Pathology, she was captured by this discipline for life. She transferred to Flinders Medical Centre in 1976 and served as a Consultant Pathologist through to 1998, becoming a full professor in 1997.

During the time at Flinders she built an outstanding career, maintaining a tradition of excellence in teaching and mentoring many post-graduate students. Her research and scholarly studies resulted in two books. Alcoholic Liver Disease, Pathobiology, Epidemiology and Clinical Aspects was published in 1985 with a second edition appearing in 1994. She co-authored a second book, Fatty Liver Disease, NASH and Related Disorders was published in 2004 just prior to the onset of her illness.

Her initial interest in South Africa spanned three months as a visiting Professor during 1996 and 1997, and in July 1998 she left Australia and joined the University of Cape Town as a Professor of Pathology and as Director of Hepatobiliary Disease and Director of Research.

From the time of her arrival in South Africa in July 1998, it was immediately apparent that Pauline Hall would become a force to be reckoned with and someone one could do business with. She was an active member of the Liver Research Centre and during her tenure, supervised five PHDs, one MSc, and nine MMed post-graduates. She was a member of the University Senate and the Faculty Board, and was Acting Director of the Animal Unit for a two year tenure and a member of the MRC/UCT Liver Research Centre.

Her infectious enthusiasm sparked the formation of a Liver Interest Group, of which she was a founding member and which she ran for a number of years. This involved a number of continuing medical educational programmes directed at pathologists, hepatologists, radiologists and surgeons. This was an exciting time in South Africa for all those interested in Hepatology. This led to an association with liver transplantation and, ultimately, laid the seed for the Gastroenterology Foundation of South Africa, which was inaugurated in 2006.

In 2005, at the age of seventy years, Pauline Hall returned to Australia and was appointed a Consultant in Brisbane with an appointment at the University of Queensland. She was overall co-ordinator of the Anatomical Pathology Registrar training where she made enormous contributions, receiving the inaugural teaching award from the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.

In the early part of 2007 her health deteriorated but she continued her active involvement in all programmes that she had initiated. Up until just a few days before her death she was still willingly offering advice on numerous projects and research studies.

Pauline Hall is survived by her children Ross and Elisa and her sister Claudia.

C Kassianides
AC Paterson
MC Kew