My friend Judy Bury, who has died of kidney failure aged 69, was a doctor who became an influential figure in family planning and played a pioneering role in the early treatment of HIV in the UK.
Born and brought up in London, Judy was the daughter of Cicely (nee Freedman), an artist and lecturer, and Sam Yudkin, a well-known paediatrician. She qualified in medicine at Cambridge University and the Middlesex hospital, then began her career in the early 1980s as a doctor in family planning at the Brook Advisory Service, becoming medical director of the Edinburgh Brook Advisory Clinic in the mid-80s. A founder member of Doctors for a Woman’s Choice on Abortion, she often found herself at loggerheads, both in the flesh and in the press, with Victoria Gillick, who was well known for her strong opposition to abortion.
Later Judy became a GP in Craigmillar, a socially deprived area of Edinburgh where she was a hard working and popular doctor. When HIV came to the area, she was quick to become involved in its treatment, and before long was appointed as a GP facilitator to one of the UK’s first specialist HIV teams. Her remit was to educate GPs nationwide to cope with the new virus, partly by helping people with drug problems. It was while she was presenting that national course that I first came across Judy, and I was hugely impressed by her unorthodox and interactive teaching techniques. A brilliant teacher, she was able to keep everyone thoroughly engaged.
Judy continued as a GP facilitator on HIV for many years, helping the Scottish Office to produce a set of well received national guidelines for the management of drug users in general practice. She also helped to arrange both the first Royal College of General Practitioners conference on that topic (now in its 21st year) and an accompanying network that supported and trained GPs and other primary care practitioners to work with drug users.
Judy was forced to retire due to illness just over a decade ago, having struggled for many years both with her physical and mental health. True to form, however, even when unwell she trained to work for the Citizens Advice Bureau, fought tirelessly for the Yes Scotland campaign, and gathered together a group of doctors to form Doctors for Assisted Suicide.
Judy was loved by many people, and was one of the most intelligent and gifted individuals I have known. She often provided me with inspiration when I needed it most.
She is survived by her civil partner, Guin, by Guin’s two daughters, Steph and Jo; by two daughters, Clare and Catherine, from her marriage to Michael Bury, which ended in divorce; and by three grandchildren.
