John Crofton – Physician, Scientist and Public Health Campaigner

John Crofton was a physician, scientist and public health campaigner. He was a pioneer in proving the efficacy of a multidrug approach to curing tuberculosis.

During a tuberculosis epidemic in Edinburgh in the 1950s, Crofton formulated a clinical formula for combination therapy that remains the standard today. His approach was based on the theory that combining streptomycin and para-aminosalicylic acid with isoniazid reduced the development of drug resistance.

Early Life and Education

John Crosston was born on October 13, 1921, in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. He grew up to become a successful physician and public health researcher who had a keen interest in tobacco control.

He worked with a number of organizations, including Ash-UK and Ash Scotland. He also helped develop a low-cost book about clinical tuberculosis that was designed for use in the developing world.

He was one of the founders of TB Alert, Britain’s national tuberculosis charity. He was also an expert in the field of education innovation and change leadership. He has advised governments, media organizations and academic institutions on a variety of issues, such as education innovation, peace mediation, human rights conflicts and resource dilemmas. He currently serves as a senior research fellow at the seminal Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Professional Career

After World War II, he became a registrar at Brompton Chest Hospital in London. He worked under Dr John Guyett Scadding, who was a respiratory expert and who would become his close friend.

He also worked at the Royal Free Hospital and inspected displaced people’s camps in Europe and Africa. In 1947 he supervised a Medical Research Council trial testing streptomycin as an anti-tuberculosis drug.

He later acted as director of Edinburgh’s respiratory and tuberculosis services, introducing a patient-centric approach that radically reduced the number of treatment failures and addressed poor adherence to medication regimens. Crofton became an international authority on TB and travelled to Africa, Europe and the Middle East to teach medical professionals and improve TB treatment regimes worldwide. His work was credited with saving millions of lives.

Achievements and Honors

During his career, John Crosston made many significant contributions to medicine. He served as a professor at the University of Edinburgh, where he developed an effective method to treat tuberculosis.

Moreover, he also worked on tobacco control and was involved with Ash-UK (Action on Smoking and Health) and Ash Scotland. He travelled widely on behalf of the World Health Organization to raise awareness and promote the prevention and control of tuberculosis globally.

Aside from his academic career, John was also a member of the Anne Arundel County Sheriff’s Office where he received multiple awards. These include the Anne Arundel Co Chamber of Commerce Two-Times Deputy of the Year, Sheriff’s Citations and Service Award to name a few.

Personal Life

Despite her success as an artist, Lacy J Dalton has had a shaky personal life. Her husband, John Croston, was paralyzed in a freak accident in 1974 when he collided with another swimmer in a pool and died in 1977.

Throughout this difficult time, Dalton was still able to support her son Adam by working as a cook in Santa Cruz while picking up singing gigs when she could. It was a tough call, but she managed to make the best of her situation by taking on her role as a wife and mother at a time when country music was king.

Known as the queen of folk-rock, Lacy J Dalton is still performing today at the age of 75. She has released several albums, and her best known song is “Crazy Blue Eyes,” which reached the top twenty in the charts.