Anthony Clifford Allison
| Anthony Clifford Allison | |
|---|---|
| Born |
21 August 1925 East London, South Africa |
| Died | 20 February 2014 (aged 88) Belmont, California, United States |
| Other names | Tony Allison |
| Residence | Belmont |
| Nationality | South Africa |
| Fields |
Medicine Human genetics |
| Institutions |
Radcliffe Infirmary University of Oxford International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases Syntex |
| Alma mater | University of the Witwatersrand |
| Known for |
Genetic resistance to malaria CellCept |
| Spouse | Helen Green (divorced) Elsie M. Eugui |
| Children | Miles and Joseph Mark |
Anthony Clifford Allison (21 August 1925 – 20 February 2014) was a South African geneticist and medical scientist who made pioneering study on the genetic resistance to malaria. Schooling in Kenya, he completed his higher education in South Africa, and obtained BSc in Medical Science from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1947. He earned DPhil from the University of Oxford in 1950. After working at the Radcliffe Infirmary for two years, he worked as post-doctoral student to Linus Pauling in 1954. After teaching medicine for three years at Oxford, he worked at the Medical Research Council in London. From 1978 he simultaneously worked at the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases (ILRAD) as its Director, and at the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Immunology Laboratory, both in Nairobi. He became the Vice President for Research at Syntex Corporation in 1981 till 1994.
While a graduate student at Oxford, Allison joined a vocational Oxford University Expedition to Mount Kenya in 1949. He first noticed from blood samples he collected that there was an unusually high occurrence of sickle-cell trait in its less harmful (heterozygous) condition. He conceived the idea that it could be an advantageous adaptation to people constantly exposed to malaria. After he completed his doctoral research at Oxford in 1953, he investigated further. In 1954 he discovered, confirming his preconception, that people with sickle-cell trait are resistant to the deadly falciparum malaria.
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