Professor Dr John Hall, highly regarded as Jamaica’s most experienced neurologist, died last Friday, just over a month after he marked his 98th birthday.

Dr Hall, who was ailing for some time, had a distinguished career in medicine and was widely known for founding the neurology clinic at Kingston Public Hospital in 1963.

He was elected to the Medical Council of Jamaica (MCJ) in 2011 and served as the chairman from election until his retirement in 2019.

John Ambrose Samuel Hall was born on December 29, 1926 in the Cockpit Country and raised in the Dry Harbour Mountains. He attended Morris Knibb Preparatory School, after which he gained his secondary education at Kingston College (KC).

Upon graduating from KC, he studied at the University of London, King’s College and Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, London, and was registered by the MCJ and the General Medical Council of England.

He also studied at the Institute of Neurology, Queen’s Square, London, and honed his training by serving as a fellow in clinical neurology at University of Pennsylvania in 1963.

Armed with vast experience in neurology, Dr Hall chose to return to Jamaica and, in addition to establishing the neurology clinic at KPH, served as chairman of the Department of Medicine for many years.

In 1972, he served as a visiting assistant professor of clinical neurology at Columbia Presbyterian Medical School, New York City. In 1979, Dr Hall was awarded the Centenary Medal of the Institute of Jamaica for services to medicine. Seven years later he was honoured by the Medical Association of Jamaica (MAJ) for distinguished services to medicine.

He eventually served as MAJ president from 2003-2005.

Professor Hall was also vested with the Commander of the Order of Distinction and the Order of Jamaica for his invaluable contributions to the practice of medicine in Jamaica.

His many other awards and recognitions include fellow of the American College of Physicians, 1976; justice of the peace of St Andrew since 1977; commander of the Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem, 1979; fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1987; fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, senior fellow, 1990; and fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, 1991.

Among his scholarly works is Medical Education and Ethics: Challenges and Opportunities for the 21st Century (1994).

In 2000 he authored Clinical Embrace: A mid-century journey to KPH, and in 2002 he edited KPH — The high seat of medicine in Jamaica.

He also authored several papers in The Practitioner, West Indian Medical Journal, Postgraduate Medicine, Travel Medicine, American Journal of Pathology, Journal of Neurological Sciences.

Dr Hall also provided testimony by invitation before the 93rd Congress of the United States of America.

He was also a Freemason and founder of the Kingston College Lodge, established in 1992 to perpetuate the ideals and continue the work of KC’s late founder Bishop Percival Gibson.

He served as the lodge’s third master in 1994.

In 2017 Dr Hall was conferred with a Nigerian chieftaincy during a visit to that African country.

He had been invited to visit Nigeria by the Nigerian Medical Association, Imo State branch, in collaboration with Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Department of Pathology, Neurosurgical Neurological-Environment research team; Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki; and the Federal University of Technology, Owerri.