A. John Camm

Abstract

At the age of eighteen he entered London University, where he obtained his baccalaureate degree with a physiology major. He went on to study medicine at Guy's Hospital Medical School, receiving his M.D. in 1971. Afterwards, he worked at Guy's Hospital for three years under the tutelage of cardiologist Edgar Sowton, one of the greats of the early days of pacing. Dr. Camm was his hands in 1973 and did several hundred pacemakers by himself with the help of a radiographer and a nurse. After leaving Guy's Hospital, Dr. Camm spent a year in Burlington, Vermont. In the U.S., Dr. Camm worked with cardiologist Art Levy in the field of electrophysiology and with E. Lepeschkin, a famous electrocardiologist who had worked with Frank Wilson and had married his daughter, Julie Wilson. After his time in Vermont, Dr. Camm returned to London in 1975 to work at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, the oldest of the London hospitals, founded in 1123. At that time, Dr. R.A.E. Spurrell was in charge of St. Bartholomew's relatively small cardiac department. Dr. Spurrell had worked with Dr. Dirk Durrer and Dr. Hein J.J. Wellens as well as with several other pioneers in electrophysiology. Dr. Camm quickly rose in the ranks at St. Bartholomew's, eventually implementing electrophysiology services at the hospital. He assembled a team of very accomplished young physicians, including electrophysiologists David Ward and Antony Nathan. One of their research projects was the definition of the anatomical basis of Mahaim fibers; they were also one of the first groups involved in antitachycardia pacing.