Nephrologist extraordinary--Michael Darmady (1906-1989)

Michael Darmady (1906-1989) is now largely forgotten, although he played a major role in several areas of Nephrology in the early days of the speciality, both as a clinician and as a pathologist. His contributions to the early understanding of acute renal failure and of the use of haemodialysis during the 1940s have been particularly neglected. His nephron microdissection work achieved some influence around 1960, but today he is remembered principally for his classical work on the morphology of the ageing kidney, and on being the first to point out the poorer outlook of kidneys transplanted from older donors, in 1974.