Sylvia Gyde obituary

My wife, Sylvia Gyde, who has died aged 88, was a medical researcher and NHS administrator. She worked for a number of years in public health, a role in which she consistently argued for the root social, economic and environmental causes of ill health to be better addressed.

After a stint as a GP, Sylvia began her research career looking into Crohn's disease at Birmingham general hospital. In the late 1980s she served as medical director of the West Midlands mortality survey, a job that convinced her of the need for better public health medicine. It also led to her appointment as director of public health at North Birmingham health authority (1988-94).