Born in Iraq, Dr Zilkha came to England aged 16 and succeeded in gaining admission to study at Guy’s Hospital Medical School in the post-war period. Aside from National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps in Egypt and Cyprus, he spent the majority of his career in London teaching hospitals, becoming a Senior Consultant in Neurology and an Honorary Consultant Emeritus at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery before retiring in 2016 aged 87. During his medical career he also served as Honorary Neurologist to the British Army and President of the Harveian Medical Society of London, as well as taking a prominent role on several medical ethics committees.
Not only did Dr Zilkha dedicate his time and energy to caring for patients suffering from particularly cruel neurological conditions, he was also passionate about the importance of medical research. He became a trustee of King’s Medical Research Trust (KMRT) shortly after it was established in 1959 and continued to play an active role in it, fundraising tirelessly until the end of his life. Over the last sixty years, KMRT (through a selection process organised by the Joint Research Committee of King’s College London and King’s College Hospital) has awarded many postgraduate studentships. It also helped to establish both the James Black Centre, home to many departments within the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, and the Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, both on the Denmark Hill campus. The Maurice Wohl Institute is Europe’s leading research centre focusing on neurological and psychiatric illnesses, with researchers working on the development of new treatments for patients affected by disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Motor Neurone Disease, Depression, Epilepsy and Stroke.
Dr Zilkha will be fondly remembered by all who knew him.