This post was authored by John Gordon Harold, MD, MACC, immediate past president of the ACC.

Arthur Hollman, MD, the archivist and historian for the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) and honorary member of the California Chapter of the ACC (CAACC) has died.

Born in 1923, Dr. Hollman graduated from University College Hospital Medical School in 1946 and studied under Sir Thomas Lewis, Paul Wood, MD, and John Goodwin, MD, in London. He was a consultant physician with a long interest in the therapeutic use of medicinal plants. He represented the Royal College of Physicians of London on the Advisory Committee of the Chelsea Physic Garden for 26 years. He was a livery member of the Society of Apothecaries, to whom he gave the Hans Sloane Lecture entitled “Plants in Medicine.” His associated interest in plants and medicine brought him the Fellowship of the Linnean Society (FLS) in 1985.

He was also interested in the history of medicine and cardiology, winning the Society of Authors prize in 1998 for the best book on medical history for his biography of Sir Thomas Lewis. He also joined Paul Kligfield, MD, on an article for the American Journal of Cardiology highlighting the historical relationship between the ACC and BCS. The article describes the earliest evolution of antecedent societies to the present ACC and provides important insight into the early professional organization of clinical cardiology in the U.S. Dr. Hollman also became the curator of the Arthur Hollman historical collection which was donated to the BCS and is contained in the BCS headquarters town house dating from 1790, at 9 Fitzroy Square in London.

[youtuber youtube='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNpVgh9vJkI']

Dr. Hollman once said that he would like to be remembered as the man who saved the “millimeter of mercury.” In 1975, he founded “the Committee for the Protection of the mmHg” after the European Union (EEC) directed that blood pressure should be measured in kilopascals, and not in millimeters of mercury. He persuaded other European countries, including the Soviet Union, to get the EEC to reverse its decision and persuaded the World Health Organization to state in 1980 that the “mmHg would be retained for the time being.”

He also played a pivotal role in the evolution of the Twinning relationship which I developed between BCS and the CAACC. In recognition of his efforts, Dr. Hollman was made an honorary member of the California ACC Chapter in 2013. Since this first twinning in 2009, other ACC state chapters have collaborated with other international cardiovascular societies to improve overall heart health and cardiovascular care around the world.

Dr. Hollman was an icon in the BCS and a much valued strategic partner to the ACC. We will miss our mentor from across the pond.

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