Mrs Christina Pottinger, MA Aberd It is with considerable sadness that we bring to the attention of Fellows and Members worldwide the death of this lady on Sunday 1st August 2010. She was neither a Fellow nor a Member of our College but served it with the same commitment, skill and loyalty as any Fellow in her role as one of the senior administrative staff. A graduate with 1st class honours in English of Aberdeen University she came to our College after 12 years largely spent in college administration in England at Reading Adult College and The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her first post in our College was as Head of Education, Audit and Research. She was perfect for this post with her sharp brain, forensic attention to detail and skill in introducing new initiatives and seeing them come to fruition. This was particularly true of her work with SIGN and the development and increasing use of CD ROMs of symposia, video-linked teach-ins and conferencing, On-line CME and, more recently audit work for Community Acquired Pneumonia and Epilepsy. It was a pleasure to work with her and learn from her. We shall miss her and send our respectful condolences to her family and friends. Mrs Christina Pottinger, Head of Education, Training and Standards[An appreciation contributed by Ms. Elaine Tait, CEO] Christina graduated from the University of Aberdeen with a first class honours degree in English, demonstrating early the talent she would apply to the benefit of the College with a precise yet fluent writing style that became a hallmark of her work. She joined the College as head of the new department of Education and Standards in 1992 and over her 18 years of loyal service was pivotal in the development of some of the College’s most prestigious achievements. On her arrival, Christina had something of a blank canvas to work on as the College moved towards a more strategic programme of education and clinical effectiveness activities. Initially she worked closely with the then Assessor and future President of the College, the late Professor James C Petrie, to develop the methodology for a programme of evidence-based clinical guidelines. The resulting Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) is now internationally renowned and gave Scotland a clear lead in this area; it represents a fitting and lasting legacy of Christina’s efforts on behalf of the College. Christina was also central to the development of the “Consensus Conference”, which created a new approach to achieving and disseminating agreement on contentious clinical topics. These highly complex events require superb organisation skills, tenacity, a calm approach to ‘multi tasking’ and an unflappable constitution; all attributes evident in abundance in Christina. Although her principal focus was on developing a varied programme of educational events delivered from Edinburgh, Christina was keenly aware that the majority of Fellows and Members would never have an opportunity to visit the College. In response, she identified the potential to export the College’s high quality education to a wider audience via emerging communications technology, using first CD recordings before moving on to video conferencing and web-streaming. This proactive approach means that today Fellows and Members across the world can access the majority of our education content and participate in College activities. Christina’s determination to overcome hurdles that may have defeated others, brought these ambitions to fruition with the minimum of fuss and despite financial and other constraints. As a departmental manager she earned the loyalty of her team through her professional and personal support and her own undeniable work ethic. She gained our respect for her commitment, intellect and forensic eye for detail and she enjoyed the friendship and admiration of us all through her generosity of spirit, her sense of humour and her own personal courage. Her sudden death on the 1st August was a great shock; she will be sadly missed and fondly remembered.
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The late Mrs Christina Pottinger, MA Aberd.