Foreword

Abstract

In 2014, four of Emeritus Prof. Peter (fondly known as PB) Beighton’s past PhD students decided that they would like to honour him for his leadership and the influence that he had on their professional lives, and collaborated on a project to compile a Festschrift in his honour. They are Prof. Michael Hayden, now living in Canada, the first PhD graduate that PB supervised in 1979, together with Profs Jacquie Greenberg from the University of Cape Town (UCT), Alan Bryer from UCT and Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH), and Lawrence Stephen from the University of the Western Cape (UWC). Prof. Lawrence Stephen was the last PhD graduate that Prof. Beighton supervised before he officially retired in 1999.

Many colleagues who have worked over the past 5 decades and who continue to work with him were invited to contribute to this supplement to the SAMJ. The Festschrift includes the history behind Peter Beighton, who was born, grew up and trained in the UK and came to UCT in 1972. His legacy includes the impact that he made on those who trained under him in SA, as well as throughout the world. The Festschrift includes the history of genetics and current genetic practice in South Africa, as well as the influence that he has had on medical genetics in general, dental genetics and now genomics going into the new millennium. Tributes have been received from people all over the world, attesting to his outstanding leadership and mentorship, and highlight how he influenced the climate, growth and development of genetics at UCT, and scientific and technological fields in genetics and genomics over the past few decades.

This Foreword includes a message from Emeritus Prof. Stuart Saunders – former Head of Department (HoD) of Medicine at GSH in the 1970s when PB arrived at UCT – followed by some words from Emeritus Prof. J P van Niekerk, former Dean of the UCT Faculty of Health Sciences in the 1980s. Profs Greenberg, Bryer and Stephen conclude the Foreword, while Prof. Hayden introduces the legacy that Prof. Beighton has passed on.