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Norman Henry Ashton was born in London on the 11th of September 1913. He became a junior laboratory assistant at a private laboratory in Brook Street, London in 1928 where he remained until 1931. He then moved to the Princess Beatrice Hospital, West Kensington, London where he was pathological laboratory assistant. While in this post he studied for the examinations of the College of Preceptors, which could be taken part-time, first at the Chelsea Polytechnic, then at Kings College, and later at Westminster Hospital Medical School. In 1939 he qualified in Medicine and Surgery and Registered as a Medical Practitioner (MRCS, LRCP). After 2 years at Westminster Hospital he moved to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital in 1941 where he was pathologist until 1945.
In 1946, Ashton enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps and was posted in West Africa , before being transferred to Egypt in 1947. He was discharged from the Army in the same year and became Director of Pathology at the Institute of Ophthalmology in 1948. Here he established a laboratory of international repute, which contributed to research and provided a clinical service to Moorfields Eye Hospital and other hospitals around the world. He was responsible for the training of the first generation of ophthalmic pathologists in Britain. He remained at the Institute until his retirement in 1978. He was also Professor of Pathology at the University of London from 1957 to 1978.
In 1953, Ashton's investigations into Retrolental Fibroplasia (RLF), now known as Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), revealed that the exposure of premature babies to high levels of oxygen in order to relieve breathing difficulties, could cause an obliteration of growing retinal blood vessels followed by disorganised regrowth and scarring which led to blindness. As a consequence, oxygen delivery to babies was strictly controlled and the sight of many infants was saved. In 1960, he was the first in Europe to identify Toxocara Canis (the dog roundworm) as a cause of retinal disease in children, leading to a national campaign to rid the streets of dog faeces. In 1965, he founded Fight for Sight (one of the foremost charities supporting eye research in the UK) and was chairman of the charity from 1980 to 1991, when he became a patron. He had a key role in establishing the European Pathology Society, of which he was made life president. Ashton's other major research was in the areas of diabetic retinopathy (retinal disease caused by diabetes) and hypertensive retinopathy (retinal disease caused by high blood pressure).
Professor Ashton received countless honours and awards for his academic achievements, including the Doyne Medal in 1960. In 1971 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society and was appointed CBE in 1976. Two years later, he was awarded the Gonin Gold Medal (the highest award for ophthalmology). In honour of his work for Fight for Sight and his research achievements, the new Institute of Ophthalmology building which opened in Bath Street, London in 1992 was named after him. In 1981 Ashton received the first Jules Stein Award with A Patz, he also received the International Pisart Vision Award in 1991, the Royal Society's Buchanan Medal in 1996, and the Helen Keller Prize in 1998. At various stages of his career and his retirement he was president of five societies of pathology and ophthalmology and was elected Master of the Society of Apothecaries in 1984. In all, he contributed to 274 scientific publications during his lifetime.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Ashton was a highly acclaimed and witty public speaker as well as a keen performer of amateur dramatics and a gifted artist. He died in London on the 4th of January 2000.