Colin Barnes Obituary
Obituary by Prof. Ali Jawad OBE, featured in the Behçet’s UK Autumn Newsletter 2025
Dr Colin G Barnes (BSc, MBBS, FRCP) passed away peacefully on 28 August 2025 in Devon. He was a leading global figure in promoting research and better care for patients with Behçet’s disease. In 1988, Colin Barnes, along with Dr Hasan Yazici of Istanbul and with the help of Professor Alan Silman, started their international effort to formulate the International Study Group for Behçet’s Disease criteria for the diagnosis of the disease. The criteria were published in the Lancet in 1990. The ISBD criteria, as they are known, continue to be widely used in spite of subsequent publications of other diagnostic criteria.
Colin Barnes supported international efforts to bring researchers from all over the world to work together to advance research into Behçet’s disease and provide better care for patients. He was honorary member of the Austrian, Australasian, French, Italian, Swiss and Turkish societies of rheumatology. His efforts were recognised globally and he was appointed Honorary Life President of the International Society for Behçet’s Disease.
Dr Barnes was born on 4 July 1936 and qualified at the University of London in 1961. He was formerly Clinical Director for Rheumatology at The Royal London Hospital. He was past President of the European League against Rheumatism (EULAR) 1989–91, past Chairman of the Executive of the Arthritis and Rheumatism Council (now Versus Arthritis) and past Chair of the Medical Advisory Panel of Behçet’s UK.
Dr Barnes was an outstanding clinician, teacher, speaker and researcher, with exemplary leadership qualities. In spite of his national and global commitments, he was never late for his clinics, ward rounds or the weekly departmental postgraduate meetings. I feel privileged to have worked with him as his senior registrar (1985–88) and succeeded him as a consultant rheumatologist in 1997.
Pre-deceased by his son Peter in 2020 and his wife in 2022, he is survived by his son Graham and six grandchildren, one of whom is a doctor and another a medical student.