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{{short description|British surgeon}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Paul Brand
|image =
|caption =
|birth_name =
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1914|7|17}}
|birth_place = [[Tamil Nadu]], India
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2003|7|7|1914|7|17}}
|death_place = Seattle, [[Washington (state)|Washington]], US
|death_cause =
|resting_place =
|resting_place_coordinates =
|known_for = Pioneering physician/surgeon in the field of [[leprosy]]
|education =
|alma_mater = [[University College Hospital]], London
|employer =
|occupation =
|boards =
|spouse = Margaret
|children =
|parents = Jesse Brand and Evelyn "Granny" Brand
|relations =
}}

'''Paul Wilson Brand''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (17 July 1914 – 8 July 2003) was a pioneer in developing [[tendon]] transfer techniques for use in the hands of those with [[leprosy]]. He was the first physician to appreciate that leprosy is not a disease of the tissue but of the nerves: it is the loss of the sensation of pain which makes sufferers susceptible to injury and leads to tissue rotting away, especially in the extremities. Brand contributed extensively to the fields of hand surgery and hand therapy through his publications and lectures, and wrote popular autobiographical books about his childhood, his parents' missionary work, and his philosophy about the valuable properties of [[pain]]. One of his best-known books, co-written with Christian writer [[Philip Yancey]], is ''Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants'' (1993), republished in 1997 as ''The Gift of Pain.''

==Early and personal life==
He was born to missionary parents (Jesse and Evelyn "Granny" Brand) and grew up in the [[Kolli Hills]] of [[Tamil Nadu]], India, until he was sent to the United Kingdom in 1923 for education. In his books he gives vivid descriptions of his time as a boy in India with regular bouts of [[dysentery]] and [[malaria]] in the area known as "Kolli Malai". His father died in 1929 of [[blackwater fever]], when Brand was 15.<ref name=G>[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/aug/27/guardianobituaries.health Guardian website, ''Paul Brand Obituary'', dated 27th August 2003]</ref> Brand trained carpentry and then studied medicine at [[University College Hospital]] during the [[Second World War]], later gaining his surgical qualifications whilst working as a casualty surgeon in the [[London Blitz]]. In 1944 he was appointed as a surgical officer at [[Great Ormond Street Hospital]].<ref>[https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/lives/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ASSET$002f0$002fSD_ASSET:372215/one?qu=%22rcs%3A+E000028%22&rt=false%7C%7C%7CIDENTIFIER%7C%7C%7 Royal College of Surgeons in England website, ''Paul Brand'']</ref> He met his wife, Margaret, in medical school where she was a surgeon,<ref name=bio>{{cite book|title=Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions|author=Anderson, Gerald H.|chapter=Biography of Paul Wilson Brand|isbn=978-0-8028-4680-8|year=1999|publisher=[[Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing]]|page=86}}</ref> specialising in ophthalmology.<ref name=G />

He died on 8 July 2003, 9 days before his 89th birthday, at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, Washington.<ref name=ireland>{{cite web|url=http://www.tlm-ni.org/Brand.htm|title=Dr Paul Wilson Brand - 1914–2003, An Extraordinary, Gifted Orthopaedic Surgeon who Straightened Crooked Hands and Unravelled the Riddle of Leprosy|publisher=The Leprosy Mission – Northern Ireland|year=2006|access-date=19 September 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080801133224/http://www.tlm-ni.org/Brand.htm  |archive-date = 1 August 2008}}</ref>

==Career==
In 1946, he was invited to join the staff of the [[Christian Medical College & Hospital]] in [[Vellore]], India. After a visit to the Leprosy Sanatorium at [[Chingleput]], a government institution that was at the time under church management, Brand was motivated to explore the reasons for the deformities developed in those with [[Hansen's disease]]. After careful observation and research, he came to understand that most injuries in Hansen's disease patients were a result of the [[pain]] insensitivity they experienced, and not directly caused by the Hansen's disease bacilli. He pioneered the use of [[dapsone]] as treatment for the disease.<ref name=G /> He also pioneered reconstructive surgery which transplanted tendons.<ref name=N>[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1126685/ National Library of Medicine website, ''Paul Wilson Brand'', article by June E Nash, published in the British Medical Journal, 2003 Aug 2; 327(7409): 292]</ref> In 1950, with a donation from a missionary woman, Brand established the New Life Center, Vellore, as a model rehabilitation center for Hansen's disease patients. The center was a village environment in the residential area of the [[Christian Medical College & Hospital]] campus. This helped dispel the stigma that was so prevalent even among medical professionals.

In 1964 the Brands returned to London where he worked with [[the Leprosy Mission]];<ref name=G /> two years later they moved to the USA on invitation to take up the position of Chief of Rehabilitation Branch at the [[Carville Historic District|National Hansen's Disease Center]] at [[Carville, Louisiana]]. He worked there for 20 years and established a well-equipped and well-staffed research unit to study the complications of insensitive hands and feet, their prevention and management. His methods for prevention and management of plantar ulcers are now extensively used for treatment of patients with [[diabetes mellitus]] who have similar problems. Brand also popularised the technique of serial casting for the finger deformities ([[flexion]] [[contracture]]s) that often result from [[Hansen's disease]], a technique that is now widely used by hand therapists to treat contractures from many different hand injuries and conditions. When he retired in 1986 from the [[US Public Health Service]], he moved to Seattle and continued his teaching work as [[emeritus professor]] of [[Orthopedic surgery|Orthopedics]] in the [[University of Washington]].

During his career, Brand received many awards and honors. He was awarded the [[Hunterian professorship]] of the [[Royal College of Surgeons of England|Royal College of Surgeons]] in 1952, and the [[Lasker Award]] in 1960. [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth]] honored him with a title of the [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] in 1961.<ref name=bio/> He served as President of The Leprosy Mission International based in London and was on the Panel of Experts on leprosy of the [[World Health Organization]]. He was one of the main architects of the [[All-Africa Leprosy Rehabilitation and Training Center]] in [[Addis Ababa]], Ethiopia,<ref name=N /> and the Schieffelin Leprosy Research and Training Center at [[Karigiri]], India, in the [[Vellore district]]. He was an honorary member of the American Society of Hand Therapists, in recognition of his many contributions to the field. In 1966, he accepted a post as chief of rehabilitation at the public hospital in [[Carville, Louisiana]], the only leprosy hospital in the United States.<ref name=bio/> He worked there until his retirement in 1986.<ref name=ireland/> From 1993 to 1999, he was the President of [[The Leprosy Mission International]], then moving to Seattle to become the clinical professor of orthopoedics, emeritus, at the [[University of Washington]]. Indias's Mahatma Gandhi Foundation selected him as the only Westerner to serve on that board...The US Public Health Service awarded him their highest award. <ref> Fearfully and Wonderfully: The Marvel of Bearing God's Image </ref>

A biography was written on him, ''Ten Fingers for God'' by [[Dorothy Clarke Wilson]].

His appreciation of the importance and value of [[pain]] is well described in his 1993 book with [[Philip Yancey]], ''Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants''. He saw pain as vital for the preservation of healthy tissue in anyone leading a normal life and he gives horrifying descriptions of the results of insensitivity in those with Hansen's disease or [[congenital absence of pain]]. He goes on to question the pursuit of pleasure in Western society and offers practical ways to ameliorate the effects of pain. The book contains a foreword by Surgeon General [[C. Everett Koop]].<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Foreword|author=Koop, C. Everett|title=Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants}}</ref>

== Family ==
Brand was married to Margaret and they had six children.<ref name=G /><ref name=N />

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|title=Ten Fingers for God | author= Dorothy Clarke Wilson| publisher= [[McGraw-Hill Book Co]] |orig-year=1965 | year=1996 | isbn=978-0-9643137-0-5}}
* {{cite book| title= Fearfully and Wonderfully Made| author= Paul Brand and Philip Yancey| publisher= [[Zondervan]]| year= 1980| isbn= 0-310-35451-X| url= https://archive.org/details/fearfullywonderf00phil}}
* {{cite book|title=In His Image | author= Paul Brand and [[Philip Yancey]]| publisher= Zondervan |year=1983 | isbn= 0-310-35501-X}}
* {{cite book| title= Clinical Mechanics of the Hand| author= Paul W. Brand| publisher= [[Elsevier|Mosby]]| year= 1985| isbn= 0-8016-0886-4| url= https://archive.org/details/clinicalmechanic00bran}}
* {{cite book|title=Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants |url=https://archive.org/details/paingiftnobodywa00bra_a0e |url-access=registration | author= Paul Brand and Philip Yancey| publisher= Zondervan |year=1993 | isbn= 0-310-22144-7}}
* {{cite book| title= The Forever Feast| author= Paul Brand| publisher= Vine Books| year= 1993| isbn= 0-89283-775-6| url= https://archive.org/details/foreverfeastlett00bran}}
* {{cite book| title= Fearfully and Wonderfully| author= Paul Brand and Philip Yancey| publisher= Vine Books| year= 1993| isbn= 978 1 473 69328 9}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brand, Paul}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:British evangelicals]]
[[Category:British leprologists]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Christian humanists]]
[[Category:People from Namakkal district]]
[[Category:20th-century British surgeons]]
[[Category:British Protestant missionaries]]

Paul Brand (physician) - Revision history

JillianCogburn: New post