Michael Farthing

Michael Farthing attended Henry Thornton school, a state grammar school in Clapham, London.{{cite web |title=Films {{!}} Old Thorntonians |url=https://oldthorntoniansclapham.org.uk/pages/films |website=Old Thorntonians Association (Clapham) |access-date=1 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117150320/https://oldthorntoniansclapham.org.uk/pages/films |archive-date=17 January 2021 |language=en}} In 1969, before qualifying as a doctor he spent time volunteering at a mission hospital in a village in the Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh, India.{{cite web|last=Coughlan|first=Philipa|date=24 November 2019|title=Finding India by Michael Farthing|url=https://nbmagazine.co.uk/finding-india-by-michael-farthing/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101160613/https://nbmagazine.co.uk/finding-india-by-michael-farthing/|archive-date=1 November 2021|access-date=30 October 2021|website=NB}}{{cite news |title='Interning in India changed my life' - Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/interning-in-india-changed-my-life/articleshow/13796523.cms |access-date=1 November 2021 |work=The Times of India |date=4 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101175108/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/interning-in-india-changed-my-life/articleshow/13796523.cms |archive-date=1 November 2021}} He gained his medical degree from University College, London (UCL), and the University College Hospital Medical School in 1972.{{cite web | url=http://www.sussex.ac.uk/vc/profile215232.html | title=Prof Michael Farthing | publisher=University of Sussex | access-date=10 October 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503090601/http://www.sussex.ac.uk/vc/profile215232.html | archive-date=3 May 2009 | df=dmy-all }}

Farthing completed his early medical training at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. In the 1970s he returned to India for a second time as a doctor on a film set. Following an appointment as research fellow, honorary lecturer in gastroenterology at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, in 1980, he was appointed Wellcome Tropical Lecturer and worked in India, Boston and Costa Rica as visiting lecturer and assistant professor. Upon returning to the UK in 1983, he became senior lecturer and honorary consultant back at St Bartholomew's Hospital's department of gastroenterology. In 1990 he was appointed professor of gastroenterology at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College and held this post for five years.{{cite web |title=University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of Michael Farthing |url=https://universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH2627&type=P |website=universitystory.gla.ac.uk |access-date=15 November 2021}} From 1995 to 2000 he was Dean of the Faculty of Clinical Medicine at Bart's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry. During this time he oversaw the postdoctoral work of Rebecca Fitzgerald.{{Cite web |url=https://www.mrc-cu.cam.ac.uk/research/rebecca-fitzgerald/biography |title=Biography |last=Cancer Unit |first=MRC |website=www.mrc-cu.cam.ac.uk |language=en-GB |access-date=10 December 2018}} He was honorary professor and consultant physician at University College, where he was first elected in 1998.{{cite web |title=Professor Michael Farthing {{!}} The Academy of Medical Sciences |url=https://acmedsci.ac.uk/fellows/fellows-directory/ordinary-fellows/fellow/Michael%20John%20Godfrey-Farthing-0033z00002qIITYAA4 |website=acmedsci.ac.uk |access-date=14 November 2021}}

In 2000 he moved to Glasgow and became Executive Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Professor of Medicine at the University of Glasgow. Following this, he was honorary consultant gastroenterologist for the St George's Healthcare NHS Trust from 2003 to 2007.{{cite web | url=http://www.sussex.ac.uk/vc/1-3-3-2.html | archive-url=https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20070803120000/http://www.sussex.ac.uk/vc/1-3-3-2.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=3 August 2007 | title=Biography of Professor Farthing | publisher=University of Sussex | access-date=10 October 2009 }}{{cite news |title=Sussex appoints new VC |url=http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/careers/story/0,,2069621,00.html |work=The Guardian |date= 1 May 2007 |access-date=3 July 2008 }} He concurrently held the positions of Principal, St George's, University of London from 2003 to 2007, and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Medicine University of London from 2005 to 2007.

He has also had numerous Government and national body roles. These include Co-ordinator (Gastroenterology) for the UK/Poland Health Agreement first from 1990 to 1992 and then from 1992 to 1994, and member for the Education Committee and Undergraduate Board of the General Medical Council, both from 2001 to 2008. As a member of the Education Committee of the General Medical Council, Farthing played a part in curriculum planning for the new Medical School established jointly by the Universities of Hull and York.{{Cite book|last1=Reynolds|first1=L. E|url=http://www.histmodbiomed.org/sites/default/files/44863.pdf|title=Clinical Pharmacology in the UK, c. 1950–2000: influences and institutions|last2=Tansey|first2=E. M.|publisher=Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL|year=2008|isbn=978-085484-117-2|volume=33|location=London|pages=71|language=English}}

He was non-executive Director of the Greater Glasgow NHS Board from 2001 to 2003 and non-executive director of the South West London Strategic Health Authority from 2003 to 2007.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} Other positions include non-executive director of the Brighton and Sussex University Trust and chair of the Quality and Risk Committee for the Trust since 2013.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} Farthing became vice-chair for the UK Panel for Research Integrity in Health and Biomedical Sciences; has been Honorary Consultant in Gastroenterology to the British Army since 1991; and is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

From 1996 to 2002 he served as editor of Gut.{{cite web |title=Congratulations to Michael Farthing on his Lifetime Achievement Award 2021 |url=https://www.bsg.org.uk/news/congratulations-to-michael-farthing-on-his-lifetime-achievement-award-2021/ |website=The British Society of Gastroenterology |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=27 July 2021}}

In 1997 he was appointed editor of Gut, International Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.{{cite book|last1=Thirwell|first1=Jeanette|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H--3BAAAQBAJ&dq=%22michael+farthing%22&pg=PA457|title=The Wondrous Story of Anesthesia|date=2013|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1-4614-8440-0|editor-last=Eger II|editor-first=Edmond I|page=457|language=en|chapter=34. A history of anaesthesia journals|editor-last2=Saidman|editor-first2=Lawrence J.|editor-last3=Westhorpe|editor-first3=Rod N.}} It was during his time as editor that he came across the problem of research fraud.{{cite book |last1=Humphrys |first1=John |title=The Great Food Gamble |date=2012 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |isbn=978-1-4447-6395-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YGihSpI_lI8C&dq=%22michael+farthing%22&pg=PT144 |language=en}} The problem of scientific misconduct led him, with other journal editors (including Richard Horton and Richard Smith), lawyers and professor of ethics Ian Kennedy, to establish a UK Committee on Publication Ethics, Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).{{cite book |last1=Calne |first1=Roy Yorke |title=Corrupt Cultures: Cheating In Science And Society |date=2021 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-1-78634-561-5 |page=9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wH5JEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22michael+farthing%22&pg=PA9 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Jacob |first1=Marie-Andrée |editor1-last=Cloatre |editor1-first=Emilie |editor2-last=Pickersgill |editor2-first=Martyn |title=Knowledge, Technology and Law |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, Oxon |isbn=978-0-415-62862-4 |page=140 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xiiDBAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Michael+Farthing%22&pg=PA140 |language=en}} In 2013 in Shanghai, he presented a paper on research misconduct: A grand global challenge for the 21st century.{{cite book |last1=Farthing |first1=Michael J. G. |editor1-last=Steneck |editor1-first=Nicholas H. |editor2-last=Mayer |editor2-first=Tony |editor3-last=Anderson |editor3-first=Melissa S. |editor4-last=Kleinert |editor4-first=Sabine |title=Integrity In The Global Research Arena |date=2015 |publisher=World Scientific |location=Singapore |isbn=978-981-4632-38-6 |page=xix - xxvi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVoGCwAAQBAJ&dq=farthing+sussex+university&pg=PR19 |language=en}} It was later published in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (2014).

In 2007, Farthing was appointed the seventh vice chancellor at University of Sussex, where he led plans for re-development.{{cite book |last1=Nixon |first1=Jon |title=Higher Education and the Public Good: Imagining the University |date=2011 |publisher=Continuum International publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8264-3743-3 |page=8 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BAEz5tr7fQIC&dq=farthing+sussex+university&pg=PA8 |language=en |chapter=1. The Public in Retreat}} It set out plans to grow its research income, double international student numbers and increase engagement with the business community.{{cite web |url=http://www.sussex.ac.uk/press_office/bulletin/11jul08/article5.shtml |title=Bulletin - 11 July 2008 |publisher=Sussex.ac.uk |date=11 July 2008 |access-date=21 April 2014 |archive-date=7 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607140151/http://www.sussex.ac.uk/press_office/bulletin/11jul08/article5.shtml |url-status=dead }}

He led the creation of partnerships with institutions in China.{{cite web |url=http://www.sussex.ac.uk/press_office/bulletin/06nov09/article2.shtml |title=Bulletin - 6 November 2009 |publisher=Sussex.ac.uk |date=6 November 2009 |access-date=21 April 2014 |archive-date=7 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607140211/http://www.sussex.ac.uk/press_office/bulletin/06nov09/article2.shtml |url-status=dead }} He oversaw the creation of 13 schools of studies (beginning in August 2009), including the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, which altered the scope for interdisciplinary communication and collaboration for which Sussex has been known.{{cite web |url=http://www.sussex.ac.uk/press_office/bulletin/31jul09/article1.shtml |title=Bulletin - 31 July 2009 |publisher=Sussex.ac.uk |date=31 July 2009 |access-date=21 April 2014 |archive-date=7 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607140305/http://www.sussex.ac.uk/press_office/bulletin/31jul09/article1.shtml |url-status=dead }} A regular column in the university's Bulletin used to set out his vision for the development of the university.{{cite web|url=http://www.sussex.ac.uk/vc/1-4-1.html |title=Opinion and comment : Resources : Vice Chancellor's Office : University of Sussex |publisher=Sussex.ac.uk |access-date=21 April 2014|url-access=subscription}}

When in office, Farthing disbanded the linguistics department — a move condemned by Noam Chomsky, a linguist.{{cite news |title=University of Sussex - Chomsky joins fight for linguistics |url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=405968§ioncode=26 |work=Times Higher Education |date= 2 April 2009 |access-date=16 December 2009 }} In 2012 during his tenure, the university's Centre for Community Engagement (CCE) closed.{{cite web|last=Grove |first=Jack |url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/418817.article |title=Sussex to close community engagement programmes | General |publisher=Times Higher Education |date=25 January 2012 |access-date=21 April 2014}} In the same year he cautioned that to re-introduce Masters courses once withdrawn takes years and could affect professions that require particular skills such as toxicology and geological sciences.{{cite book |title=Higher education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects: 2nd report of session 2012-13, report |date=2012 |publisher=The Stationery Office |isbn=978-0-10-847611-2 |page=76 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9qYXwMcFKYC&dq=farthing+sussex+university&pg=PA76 |language=en}} In late November 2012, several dozen students barricaded themselves in the conference centre at Sussex University in protest against plans to outsource campus services.{{cite book |last1=Grasso |first1=Maria T. |last2=Bessant |first2=Judith |title=Governing Youth Politics in the Age of Surveillance |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, Oxon |isbn=978-1-138-63012-3 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kcJKDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22michael+farthing%22&pg=PT43 |language=en}} In December Farthing took action to suspend five students associated with occupations of administration buildings and restrict them from returning to campus.{{cite web|author=Abby Young-Powell |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/dec/05/students-sussex-suspended |title=Five students at Sussex Uni banned from campus for 'peaceful protest' | Education |date=5 December 2013 |publisher=theguardian.com |access-date=21 April 2014}} In early 2013 the level of student protest at Sussex over privatisation resulted in Farthing publicly considering the defunding or underfunding of the Student Union.{{cite web|url=http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10237591.Funding_warning_to_protesting_University_of_Sussex/ |title=Funding warning to protesting University of Sussex (From The Argus) |publisher=Theargus.co.uk |date=19 February 2013 |access-date=21 April 2014}} An early day motion calling on Farthing to retract the suspensions was signed by 13 Members of Parliament.{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2013-14/852 |title=Early day motion 852 - SUSSEX UNIVERSITY STUDENTS - UK Parliament |publisher=Parliament.uk |access-date=16 July 2014}} Farthing announced his intention to resign the post of vice-chancellor in September 2015.{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/sussex-vice-chancellor-michael-farthing-step-down|title=Sussex vice-chancellor Michael Farthing to step down|date=22 September 2015|access-date=14 August 2016}}

After working on and publicly speaking on Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical drawings, Farthing wrote Leonardo da Vinci: Under the Skin, with his brother, published in 2019.{{cite web |title=Interview with Professor Michael Farthing |url=https://cavendishmedical.com/clients/michael-reminds-us-of-the-transformative-powers-of-art/ |website=Cavendish Medical |access-date=21 November 2021}} In the same year he was elected Master of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries.{{cite web |title=A Welcome from our Master, Professor Michael Farthing! |url=https://www.apothecaries.org/a-welcome-from-our-master-professor-michael-farthing/ |website=The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=3 September 2019}}

In 1987 he was awarded the Research Medal by the British Society of Gastroenterology.

He was secretary of the British Society of Gastroenterology from 1990 to 1994, chair of the Scientific Committee UEGF 2004–2009, and president of the British Society of Gastroenterology from 2007 to 2008.{{cite web|url=http://www.bsg.org.uk/about/officers-committee/bsg-council-photo.html|publisher=British Society of Gastroenterology|title=BSG Council 2007-2008|access-date=10 October 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090330191959/http://www.bsg.org.uk/about/officers-committee/bsg-council-photo.html|archive-date=30 March 2009}} between 2014 and 2015{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} he was president of the United European Gastroenterology.{{cite book |last1=Ramirez |first1=Rafael |last2=Wilkinson |first2=Angela |title=Strategic Reframing: The Oxford Scenario Planning Approach |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-874569-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6hqHCwAAQBAJ&dq=%22michael+farthing%22&pg=PA186 |page=186|language=en}}

Other awards include the International Cannes Water and Medicine Prize (2000); the Gideon de Laune Medal from the Society of Apothecaries and the Henry L Bockus Gold Medal from the World Gastroenterology Organisation.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

His son is the actor Jack Farthing.{{cite web | url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/poldark-jack-farthing-george-warleggan-interview/ | title=Poldark series 4 | Jack Farthing on why George Warleggan isn't just a force for bad – and why he'd strip like Aidan Turner for a role. BBC1, PBS Masterpiece, ABC in Australia | Radio Times }}

• {{cite book |last1=Farthing |first1=M. J. G |last2=Keusch |first2=Gerald |last3=Wakelin |first3=Derek |title=Enteric infection. |date=1995 |publisher=Chapman & Hall Medical. |isbn=978-0-412-39140-8 |oclc=32893757 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/32893757 |language=English}}
• {{cite book|last1=Farthing|first1=M. J. G|title=Finding India: a fifty year magical, medical odyssey|date=2019|publisher=Unicorn|isbn=978-1-912690-47-3|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1089479863|location=London|oclc=1089479863|language=English}}
• {{cite book |last1=Farthing |first1=M. J. G |last2=Ballinger |first2=Anne |title=Drug Therapy for Gastrointestinal Disease |date=2019 |publisher=CRC Press LLC |isbn=978-0-429-55598-5 |oclc=1104087881 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1104087881 |language=English}}
• {{cite book |last1=Wells |first1=Frank |last2=Farthing |first2=Michael |title=Fraud and Misconduct in Biomedical Research, 4th edition |date=2019 |publisher=CRC Press |location=Boca Raton |isbn=978-1-85315-786-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8tSNDwAAQBAJ&q=farthing+sussex+university |language=en}}
• {{cite book |last1=Farthing |first1=Stephen |last2=Farthing |first2=Michael J. G. |title=Leonardo Da Vinci: Under the Skin |date=2019 |publisher=Royal Academy of Arts |isbn=978-1-912520-09-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2pSWuwEACAAJ |language=en}}

• {{cite journal |title=Intestinal transit in anxiety and depression. |journal=Gut |date=1 October 1996 |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=551–555 |pmc=1383268| doi=10.1136/gut.39.4.551 |url=https://gut.bmj.com/content/39/4/551.abstract |language=en |issn=0017-5749|last1=Gorard |first1=D. A. |last2=Gomborone |first2=J. E. |last3=Libby |first3=G. W. |last4=Farthing |first4=M. J. |pmid=8944564 }} (Co-author)
• {{cite journal |title=Effects of bile and bile salts on growth and membrane lipid uptake by Giardia lamblia. Possible implications for pathogenesis of intestinal disease. |journal=The Journal of Clinical Investigation |date=1 November 1985 |volume=76 |issue=5 |pages=1727–1732 | pmc=424194| doi=10.1172/JCI112162 |url=https://www.jci.org/articles/view/112162 |language=en |issn=0021-9738|last1=Farthing |first1=M. J. |last2=Keusch |first2=G. T. |last3=Carey |first3=M. C. |pmid=4056050 }} (Co-author)
• {{cite journal |title=Irritable bowel, irritable body, or irritable brain? |journal=BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.) |date=21 January 1995 |volume=310 |issue=6973 |pages=171–175 |doi=10.1136/bmj.310.6973.171|pmc=2548562 |issn=0959-8138|pmid=7605430|last1=Farthing |first1=M. J. }}
• {{cite journal |title=Coping with fraud |journal=The Lancet |date=1 December 1998 |volume=352 |pages=S11 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(98)90273-2 |url=https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(98)90273-2/fulltext |language=English |issn=0140-6736|last1=Farthing |first1=Michael JG |s2cid=54304102 |url-access=subscription }}
• {{cite journal |title=Mechanisms by Which Fluid Homeostasis is Disturbed in Disease: Fluid Loss From the Small Intestine |volume=51 |pages=133–153 |url=https://www.nestlenutrition-institute.org/sites/default/files/documents-library/publications/secured/d56f1613f5aee9a4b8fa5fd9d07a8c38.pdf |publisher=Lippincott Williams and Wilkins |location=Faculty of Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland}}
• {{cite journal |title=Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654): London's first general practitioner? |journal=Journal of Medical Biography |date=August 2015 |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=152–158 |doi=10.1177/0967772013506687 |pmid=24585603 |s2cid=21102351 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24585603/ |issn=1758-1087|last1=Farthing |first1=Michael JG }}

{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farthing, Michael}}

Category:20th-century English medical doctors

Category:21st-century English medical doctors

Category:British gastroenterologists

Category:People associated with the University of Sussex

Category:Living people

Category:1948 births

Category:British medical researchers

Category:Alumni of University College London

Category:People associated with St George's, University of London