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Archie Cochrane
Archibald Leman Cochrane CBE (12 January 1909 – 18 June 1988) was a Scottish physician noted for his book, Effectiveness and Efficiency: Random Reflections on Health Services, which advocated the use of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to improve clinical trials and medical interventions. His advocacy of RCTs eventually led to the creation of the Cochrane Library database of systematic reviews, the UK Cochrane Centre in Oxford and Cochrane (previously known as the Cochrane Collaboration), an international organization of review groups that are based at research institutions worldwide. He is known as one of the fathers of modern clinical epidemiology and is considered to be the originator of the idea of evidence-based medicine. The Archie Cochrane Archive is held at the Archie Cochrane Library at University Hospital Llandough, Penarth.
Cochrane was born in Kirklands, Galashiels, Scotland, into the wealthiest mill owning family in Galashiels. He was acquainted with death from an early age. His father was killed whilst serving with the King's Own Scottish Borderers during World War I. His family nurse and his young brother Walter died from tuberculosis.
Cochrane was academically gifted from an early age. He initially won a scholarship to Uppingham School. Then he acquired a scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, where he achieved a Double First in the Natural Sciences Tripos. Later, in 1930, he completed two MB studies in physiology and anatomy. He qualified in 1938 at University College Hospital, London.
Like his sister, Cochrane inherited porphyria, which caused health problems throughout his life. Medical help in the UK was unavailable. Consequently he emigrated to Germany where, starting in 1931, he received psychoanalysis which was undertaken by Theodor Reik, initially in Berlin, then in Vienna and eventually in the Hague with the increasing threat to Reik from the Nazis. While receiving psychoanalysis, Cochrane undertook medical research in Vienna and at the University of Leiden. He eventually became dissatisfied with psychoanalysis. However he became fluent in German, which became extremely useful to him when he later served as a doctor in a prison of war camp. During this period, Cochrane acquired a hatred of fascism and became convinced of the importance of anti-fascism. But crucially, in a precursor of his landmark contribution to medicine:
His sojourn in Europe in the early 1930s also instilled in him a hatred of fascism and a sceptical attitude to all theories (including psychoanalysis) which had not been validated in experiments.
In 1936 the Spanish Medical Aid Society was formed in London in response to a request for help from republicans who were fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Cochrane volunteered his services to the committee and subsequently worked in the First British Hospital and in the 35th Medical Division Unit.
Cochrane joined the British Army in World War II. He was captured during the Battle of Crete in June 1941. Subsequently he worked as a Medical Officer in prisoner of war camps at Salonika (Greece) and Hildburghausen, Elsterhorst, and Wittenberg an der Elbe (Germany). His experience in the camp led him to believe that much of medicine did not have sufficient evidence to justify its use. During his time in Salonica, he carried out a randomised controlled trial giving either vitamin C or yeast to his fellow prisoners.
He said, "I knew that there was no real evidence that anything we had to offer had any effect on tuberculosis, and I was afraid that I shortened the lives of some of my friends by unnecessary intervention." As a result, he spent his career urging the medical community to adopt the scientific method.
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Archie Cochrane
Archibald Leman Cochrane CBE (12 January 1909 – 18 June 1988) was a Scottish physician noted for his book, Effectiveness and Efficiency: Random Reflections on Health Services, which advocated the use of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to improve clinical trials and medical interventions. His advocacy of RCTs eventually led to the creation of the Cochrane Library database of systematic reviews, the UK Cochrane Centre in Oxford and Cochrane (previously known as the Cochrane Collaboration), an international organization of review groups that are based at research institutions worldwide. He is known as one of the fathers of modern clinical epidemiology and is considered to be the originator of the idea of evidence-based medicine. The Archie Cochrane Archive is held at the Archie Cochrane Library at University Hospital Llandough, Penarth.
Cochrane was born in Kirklands, Galashiels, Scotland, into the wealthiest mill owning family in Galashiels. He was acquainted with death from an early age. His father was killed whilst serving with the King's Own Scottish Borderers during World War I. His family nurse and his young brother Walter died from tuberculosis.
Cochrane was academically gifted from an early age. He initially won a scholarship to Uppingham School. Then he acquired a scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, where he achieved a Double First in the Natural Sciences Tripos. Later, in 1930, he completed two MB studies in physiology and anatomy. He qualified in 1938 at University College Hospital, London.
Like his sister, Cochrane inherited porphyria, which caused health problems throughout his life. Medical help in the UK was unavailable. Consequently he emigrated to Germany where, starting in 1931, he received psychoanalysis which was undertaken by Theodor Reik, initially in Berlin, then in Vienna and eventually in the Hague with the increasing threat to Reik from the Nazis. While receiving psychoanalysis, Cochrane undertook medical research in Vienna and at the University of Leiden. He eventually became dissatisfied with psychoanalysis. However he became fluent in German, which became extremely useful to him when he later served as a doctor in a prison of war camp. During this period, Cochrane acquired a hatred of fascism and became convinced of the importance of anti-fascism. But crucially, in a precursor of his landmark contribution to medicine:
His sojourn in Europe in the early 1930s also instilled in him a hatred of fascism and a sceptical attitude to all theories (including psychoanalysis) which had not been validated in experiments.
In 1936 the Spanish Medical Aid Society was formed in London in response to a request for help from republicans who were fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Cochrane volunteered his services to the committee and subsequently worked in the First British Hospital and in the 35th Medical Division Unit.
Cochrane joined the British Army in World War II. He was captured during the Battle of Crete in June 1941. Subsequently he worked as a Medical Officer in prisoner of war camps at Salonika (Greece) and Hildburghausen, Elsterhorst, and Wittenberg an der Elbe (Germany). His experience in the camp led him to believe that much of medicine did not have sufficient evidence to justify its use. During his time in Salonica, he carried out a randomised controlled trial giving either vitamin C or yeast to his fellow prisoners.
He said, "I knew that there was no real evidence that anything we had to offer had any effect on tuberculosis, and I was afraid that I shortened the lives of some of my friends by unnecessary intervention." As a result, he spent his career urging the medical community to adopt the scientific method.