Pamela Buck, usually known as Pam, was born on the 5th August 1947 in Billingham on Tees where she also grew up.
She attended Blaydon Grammar School and the Medical School of Newcastle University. After house jobs she became a registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology on the Newcastle regional training scheme. She was appointed as Lecturer in the Department of O&G at the Jessop Hospital for Women in the Department of Professor Ian Cooke. Here she developed a research interest in the development of in vitro fertilisation – which was then in its early days. She was appointed as a consultant in O&G at St Mary’s Hospital Manchester and Senior Lecturer in the University of Manchester. Her clinical and research interests continued in reproductive health and she was part of the team caring for the patient who had the first successful IVF pregnancy in the hospital.
A major achievement was her initiative to provide clinical care to women who were survivors of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). She built a model of care which combined surgical expertise, sensitive community engagement, and awareness and understanding of the long-term effects of this mutilating procedure. In 2005 she appeared before the Scottish Parliament’s Equal Opportunities Committee representing the RCOG to give evidence in support of the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Bill.
Throughout her career she was a friend and supportive colleague to other consultants and junior doctors, and nurses and midwives.
She was an enthusiastic supporter of the North of England Obstetric and Gynaecological Society, and supported the RCOG through membership of the Council, and socially through membership of the TENS Club.
In retirement she moved to Burrow, a village near Kirkby Lonsdale where she shared her life with her pet dog ’Puzzle’. She also had a property near her mother in Tynemouth, where she combined visits and support for her, with full use of her lifelong retention of a season ticket for Newcastle United.
Her death is a great loss to her twin sister and her brother and their extended families, and to her many friends.