Eric Sidebottom (1938-2025) was a Fellow and Tutor in Medicine at Lincoln College from 1972-1987 and was associated with the Dunn School for more than 50 years, as a medical student, lecturer, and later, as official historian.

Eric grew up in rural Derbyshire. Although there was no legacy of medicine in the family, he was a talented student who demonstrated an early interest in medical research. He came to Oxford in 1957 to read medicine at Corpus Christi, where he was also heavily involved in sports such as rugby and cricket. He loved the intensity and challenge of academic work and life at Oxford, and later used his personal experience of the intense environment in his approach to teaching.

Eric completed his medical training at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London and came to the Dunn School in 1966. He became interested in cancer, and used Henry Harris's cell fusion technique to explore the ability of cancer cells to spread throughout the body, or metastasise. Following the death of John French, Harris appointed him to organise all the teaching in the department. He oversaw undergraduate teaching within the department, a role that expanded into significant responsibilities, including chairing the Faculty of Medicine board. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he played a central role in coordinating medical teaching across Oxford’s pre-clinical departments.

In 1972, he did a college fellowship at Lincoln. As Medical Tutor, he was heavily engaged in college life and a dedicated teacher.

In the late 1980s, Eric moved to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund as Assistant Director of Clinical Research. Returning to the Dunn School after five years, he focused on the history of Oxford medicine, publishing Oxford Medicine: A Walk Through Nine Centuries, and Penicillin and the Legacy of Norman Heatley (with David Cranston). He died peacefully at home with his family on 7 June 2025.

A funeral is expected to take place in the College Chapel in the next few weeks.