Pat Mollison | |
---|---|
Born | Patrick Loudon Mollison 17 March 1914 |
Died | 26 November 2011 | (aged 97)
Nationality | British |
Patrick Loudon Mollison, CBE, FRCP, FRS (17 March 1914 – 26 November 2011), was a British haematologist, described as 'the father of transfusion medicine'.[1]
Mollison was born on 17 March 1914, to Beatrice Marjorie, née Walker, and William Mayhew Mollison.[1] His father was an ear, nose and throat surgeon at Guy's Hospital, and his paternal grandfather, William Loudon Mollison, was a Scottish mathematician and Master of Clare College, Cambridge.[1]
He attended St Peter's School, Seaford, followed by Rugby School, then underwent medical training at Clare College and St Thomas' Hospital, qualifying in 1938.[1]
He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1943, during World War II, serving in Germany and visiting the newly liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.[1] He also visited Burma, by which time he was a lieutenant colonel.
He was Director of the Medical Research Council's Blood Transfusion Research Unit (later the Experimental Haematology Unit), from 1946 to 1979;[2] and Professor of Haematology at St Mary's Hospital, London from 1962 to 1979.[2]
Elizabeth II consulted him on each of her four pregnancies, and he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1979 New Year Honours.[3] He was also elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).[2][4]
He died on 26 November 2011.[1]