Mike Shipley was a consultant rheumatologist, clinical lead of the department of rheumatology at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) for over 20 years, and its acting chief executive for six months. In addition to his clinical interest in chronic pain management, he was heavily involved in the performing arts, and established the unique MSc in Performing Arts Medicine at UCL.
Michael Edward Shipley – ‘Mike’ - was born into a family of pharmacists. Mike’s sister Carolyn remembers that they ‘…watched Dad mixing tinctures, ointments and pills by hand, and Mum offering excellent customer service and good advice in equal measure. We earned pocket money scraping old labels off tablet bottles, which were then sterilised and reused!’
Mike won a scholarship from Eltham College, London where he was involved in various musical productions including Faure’s Requiem, Iolanthe and The Mikado. He was a member of the 2nd Rugby and Cricket Teams and also participated in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. Mike and his sister were taken to many different types of musical and cultural events, and Mike made a weekly trip to the Robert Meyer Children’s concerts at the Royal Festival Hall. All those experiences sowed the seeds for music becoming a hugely significant part of both their lives.
Another scholarship from Peterhouse College, Cambridge, was followed by clinical training at Kings College London. His subsequent rheumatology training took place in Bath, Bristol, and Kings, doing an MD in leukotrienes and publishing in Nature.
In 1982 he was appointed consultant rheumatologist at the Middlesex Hospital. He was an excellent physician and a kind and inspiring leader and mentor with a variety of special interests. Over his career, he developed an interest in chronic pain, acting as advocate for a group of people often neglected or ignored. These people frequently arrived disaffected to his clinic, but he would win them round, listening carefully to what they were saying and offering practical and sympathetic advice. He readily admitted to them how little medicine, in the form of drugs, had to offer. An early adopter of the holistic approach, he worked with colleagues to design a successful pain management programme.
He was always interested in medical politics (or medical diplomacy as he described it) taking many roles within UCLH including a 6-month spell as acting chief executive. As clinical lead of the Department of Rheumatology for 20 years, he oversaw a dramatic expansion in the number of consultants, from five of us in 1986, to three times that number by his retirement. His belief that relationships between team members were crucial to the happiness of staff and thus, crucial to good patient care, led to the development of a strong, cohesive and functional unit of doctors, nurses and administrative staff. He was an excellent organisational manager. During the move into the new UCLH, he was the lead for out-patient services, and in his inimitable style, gave the rheumatology team all the dreaded Friday afternoon slots.
Mike’s patients truly adored him and at Christmas, he would be seen struggling back to his desk laden with gifts. He and his partner hosted the annual departmental Christmas party in their spectacular flat in the Barbican, where Mike would ‘cook up a storm’ and deliver an inspirational and motivating speech.
Mike was extremely encouraging of other younger colleagues both in their clinical work and in their research. While remaining very modest about his academic achievements, he published over 50 papers and books. Even after retiring, he continued to offer wise and thoughtful counsel to his colleagues.
He was actively involved with the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine, wishing to give back to performers something in return for all the pleasure he had received from the performing arts over the years. With help from a variety of colleagues he set up a then- and still - unique MSc in Performing Arts Medicine at UCL. In a tribute to him during the final stages of his illness, singers from the English National Opera (ENO) came and performed at his bedside.
Outside of work, opera was a lifelong passion which he shared with Philip, his partner of 39 years. They were patrons of several programmes in opera and the performing arts - ENO, Edinburgh International Festival, Guildhall School of Music and Drama (where they have part funded an opera student for the last six years), Barbican National Open Youth Orchestra and the Blackheath Opera Group. He and Philip also travelled extensively including to the Arctic and Antarctic and all other continents. Their last trip was to Laos, a country they loved and where Philip worked for four years in the mid 1970s.
Mike died on 15 July 2022 from metastatic bowel cancer. He leaves Philip, his sister Carolyn and his two nieces Jo and Fiona.
Professor David Isenberg
Professor Ian Giles
Dr Jessica Manson
With family remembrances from Mike’s sister Carolyn Knight.