Robert Shields

Sir Robert Shields (8 May 1930 – 3 October 2008) was a British surgeon and Professor of Surgery at Liverpool University. He was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, the son of an electrical engineer. He was educated at the John Neilson Institution, Paisley and Glasgow University. He took a job as a house officer at Glasgow Western Infirmary and then carried out his National (Military) Service as regimental medical officer with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He maintained his association with the Army until 1962 by serving as senior surgical specialist and medical officer with the 7th Battalion, the Argylls (TA Reserve). After completion of his National Service in 1956, he returned to the Western Infirmary and rose steadily up through the ranks, moving in 1963 to Cardiff as senior lecturer in surgery at the Welsh National School of Medicine and consultant surgeon to the United Cardiff Hospitals and the Welsh Hospital Board. He was awarded his MD in 1965 for his paper on intestinal absorption and appointed Reader in 1969.