Tribute to Ronald William Jones
RONALD WILLIAM JONES
CNZM, MB ChB, MD (Otago), FRCS(Ed), FRCOG, FRANZCOG
1939-2025
CNZM, MB ChB, MD (Otago), FRCS(Ed), FRCOG, FRANZCOG
1939-2025
| Ron Jones died in Auckland, New Zealand on 31st March 2025, aged 85, after a stroke two days prior. He will be remembered as a man who changed the course of women’s health through his work as a colposcopist and vulvar disease expert, and because of his high ethical standards. Born in Christchurch, he entered the University of Otago, New Zealand to study medicine in 1960. In 1966 he and his young family moved to the UK where he completed his training, initially in surgery, and then Obstetrics and Gynaecology, obtaining FRCS in 1969 and FRCOG in 1970. He returned to New Zealand’s National Women’s Hospital in Auckland in 1973 as a tutor specialist and was also practicing in private. He was appointed Professor of Gynaecological Oncology in 2002, established the first multidisciplinary vulvar clinic in New Zealand and trained New Zealand’s first nurse colposcopist 25 years ago. He championed the introduction of gender-neutral HPV vaccination and continued his passionate advocacy for women’s health well into his retirement in 2010. In 1984, he co-authored the publication that would spark the 1987 Cartwright enquiry and change the path of medicine in New Zealand. These events led to the establishment of the National Cervical Screening Programme, the Health and Disability Commission and robust ethical processes for research. He was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009 for services to Women’s Health, and, subsequently in 2022 became the only New Zealander to be awarded the Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2017 he published “Doctors in Denial” about the events that had so much impact on his life and achieved his long-held wish for an apology from the District Health Board and RANZCOG to the women involved in this “unfortunate experiment”, whose HSIL of the cervix was left untreated. Check out his article on HPV World about the New Zealand “unfortunate experiment” by clicking here. Among his 80 peer-reviewed papers are landmark publications on the natural history of vulvar and cervical HSIL. In retirement, he continued to teach and was an honorary lecturer in ethics at the University of Auckland, and sat on ethics committees and the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. As an internationally regarded expert in vulvar disease, he was President of the ISSVD 2003-2006 and brought the World Congress to Queenstown, where he took the international faculty jet boating and sheep shearing. He also brought the IFCPC triennial meeting to Auckland in 2008 as Chair of their scientific committee, was President of ANZVS and was on the faculty of EUROGIN for 10 years. Ron was a mentor to many and had many professional “children” around the world who had spent time working with him in Auckland, and whom he regarded as extended family. He is survived by Loris, his four children, his eight grandchildren and many grateful colleagues, trainees and patients who were touched by his life and in whom his legacy will continue. Photo of Ron Jones, 2024 (Courtesy of Elmar Joura). Download pdf Written by Elmar Joura, Medical University Vienna, Austria Lois Eva, Auckland City Hospital, New Zealand |
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