A tribute to John Burnard West

John West is well known to the "Hypoxia" community for his many contributions to the physiology and Pathophysiology of high altitude and for his leadership of the 1981 American Medical Research Expedition to Everest. He is known to the wider medical world for his researches into respiratory physiology especially gas exchange in the lung and perhaps even more for his numerous books on these topics. His publication list numbers over 400 original papers. His research career started in the UK but since 1969 he has been Professor of Medicine at UCSD, leading a very productive team at La Jolla. He has been honoured by numerous prizes and named lectureships, the latest honour being to be elected to the Institute of Medicine, National Academies (USA).