We are sad to share the news that our colleague and friend, Professor Barry McCormick, died on 14 June 2022, from the consequences of Covid-19 at the age of 72.
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Barry will be greatly missed by many at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, where he was an Honorary Professor, having joined in 2010 as Director of the Centre for Health Service Economics and Organisation (CHSEO).
Barry obtained his BA in Economics and Econometrics and his MA in Economics at the University of Manchester, and his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he distinguished himself on the rugby pitch as well as in the classroom.
In Boston, he met his wife Doreen Susan Foti. Doreen and Barry returned to the UK in 1976, and Barry taught at the University of Cambridge, where he was a Fellow of Robinson College until 1980, when he joined the Economics Department at the University of Southampton, where he later became Professor and chaired the Department.
In 2002, Barry left the University of Southampton to join the Department of Health for England as Director of Analytical Services and Chief Economist. He championed the use of evidence to inform policy decisions across the range of public health, health services and social care and promoted the development of robust impact assessments.
Upon his retirement from the Department of Health in 2010, he became Director of CHSEO, here at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford. He led a range of research studies, covering health care in deprived areas, the role of GPs as gatekeepers to secondary care, emergency hospital care, medical education, and other important policy-related issues. He also contributed to the department’s Senior Management Committee and Research Committee. After his retirement, he continued to work with colleagues on papers for economics and medical journals.
Barry began his career as a labour economist and later focused on healthcare, where he was an important voice in the development of health care policies in the United Kingdom. He was the author of some thirty refereed articles, in top economic journals as well as numerous book chapters and influential reports. He was awarded a CBE at the Queen’s Birthday Honors in 2010. His wife Doreen died in 2019. He is survived by their two sons, Gavin and Hugh, as well as two grandsons and a granddaughter.
The funeral is arranged for 3pm on Friday 8 July at Farm Street Church in London, with a reception afterwards.
An online memorial page has been set-up for those who wish to share memories and messages.