Leslie Ernest Hughes

In 1962 he was appointed cancer research fellow at King's College Hospital and developed his research interest. A university clinical department has three roles: provision of clinical services, education (both undergraduate and postgraduate), and research. Of these his book on benign breast disease (now in its third edition) is widely regarded as the definite work on this topic, and remains the principal textbook on this topic in the English language. 1 The esteem in which his research was held, at national level, was reflected in the invitation to give a Hunterian lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons and from the Surgical Research Society to become its president.