My friend and colleague Jon Poole, who has died aged 66 from cerebral lymphoma, was a physician who specialised in occupational therapy. He worked in that role for British Steel, the Rover car company and the NHS, before moving into consultancy and lecturing.
Jon was born in Birmingham, the only son of Leslie Poole, a ceramicist, and his wife, Gwyndolene (nee Smith), a housewife. Soon after his birth the family moved to north London, where Jon was educated at Mill Hill school. He then gained an MD in neuroendocrinology at Westminster Medical School, after which he elected to specialise in occupational medicine.
He began his working life as a trainee occupational physician for several small to medium sized factories at British Steel in the West Midlands, before being promoted to medical officer for the company in 1987. Two years later he moved to be senior medical officer at Rover, working at their car assembly factory in Longbridge, where he strove in particular to reduce the risk of injuries on the night shift.
In 1992 he was appointed as occupational physician to Dudley & Walsall NHS Trust, and after two decades there took on part-time roles from 2013 onwards as a consultant occupational physician at the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and at the Health and Safety Executive. He also became an honorary senior lecturer at Sheffield University and visiting lecturer on occupational diseases at Manchester University.
Over the years Jon contributed more than 60 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters to the literature on occupational health. His final piece of research, published this year, looked at the diagnosis of hand arm vibration syndrome, also known as “white finger”.
Outside of work Jon was a well-rounded man. More or less fluent in French, after having spent student holidays as a labourer in Paris, he loved to visit the countryside of the Gers region of south-west France, and at home he was keen on gardening and birdwatching.
He is survived by his second wife, Vivian (nee Courey), whom he married in 2013, and two children, Tom and Antonia, from his first marriage, to Mary Martin, which ended in divorce.
