Tributes

JOANNE HINNIGAN MIT

The following Tribute was read to the Members at the 2009 Seminar by the Chairman Mrs Marilyn Sherlock FIT MAE --

We will all remember Joanne in many different ways ,as either friend, family or colleague.
Because of the very large amount of work that she did with us, whilst also running her own clinic, I am aware that Trichology was a very large part of her life ever since she qualified.

We at the IOT remember first of all as an excellent Trichologist and for her great sense of fun and her far reaching knowledge of the science of Trichology.

I personally got to know Joanne some 12 years ago when she first qualified as a Trichologist in July 1997, when she became an Associate member of The Institute. I was fortunate enough to be chosen as her mentor over the next 2 year period. She then obtained full Membership
in 1999.

She was a perfectionist in her work and never afraid to ask. Unlike so many today, she was also willing to admit that she did not know about some condition or research.
As with any science, we all have to carry on learning, throughout our careers, she realised this at a very early stage without having to be advised of the fact.
Because of her very open attitude to her work, she learnt well quickly.

Joanne was elected to the Board in May 2003. This was a time of transition of administration of the Institute and we needed as much assistance as possible to “settle in” to the new system. Joanne played a very active part in this transition.
She very rarely missed a Board meeting until the last few months.
At Board meetings she always gave a great deal of thought to difficult decisions that needed to be made, before commenting and if she disagreed with any decision, she had the courage to say so.

In 2004, Joanne became one of our tutors. She was the first line tutor for the new students. This is a very difficult task as she not only marked assignments and advised students, but she also had the task of “getting the students into a learning mode”. Not always easy as many of our students are mature, so have not studied for many years.
She also acted as invigilator at examinations drew up tutor time tables after consultation with her fellow tutors and many other tasks.

She also assisted me with general administration by writing and designing forms, arranging mail outs and keeping data bases. Over this last year she offered to have training with our web master and learned how to enter and alter the Institute’s website.

I spoke with our Vice President, Professor Desmond Tobin this we regarding Joanne.
He is Professor of Bio Medical studies at Bradford University and is always worth listening to as he is a man of great learning.
He suddenly broke into a stream of wonderful remarks regarding Joanne.
He described her as vivacious, intelligent woman, who was an asset to the IOT and a good example of what a Trichologist should be. He then recalled the seminars and remembered her dashing about with her camera, so as not to miss a good picture.
His extremely complimentary remarks went on for several minutes, sadly I could not write then down fast enough.
Joanne worked endlessly for her Institute, but for some reason, was always concerned about wasting other colleague’s time.
If she rang me she would always start with the words “have you got a minute” or “just quickly”, or the one that always amused me “have you got a quick minute?”
She sometimes sent me hair samples for microscopical examination, for me to confirm a diagnosis.
The letter of instruction always started with “When you have a minute”. Never please can you do this ASAP.

Joanne was such a delightful, happy person, that I can state, without fear of contradiction, that all her fellow members of the Institute, had very much more time for Joanne, than “just a minute”.