Timothy Clive Northfield

Timothy Clive Northfield (“Tim”) was born in London in 1935. He was the son of a distinguished neurosurgeon in the London Hospital. He decided not to follow his father into medicine, and after national service he took up a place at Peterhouse, Cambridge, intending to read history. However, almost straight away he switched to natural sciences with a view to training to become a doctor. As a medical student at Guy’s, he began to win prizes and his great achievements began soon after qualifying. He was awarded a Medical Research Council fellowship to undertake research at the Mayo Clinic in America. Here he developed an interest in bile salt metabolism. The other lasting interest which he developed early on in his career …