Patrick Mollison

Pat Mollison CBE FRCP FRS
Mollison in 2003
Born	Patrick Loudon Mollison (1914-03-17)17 March 1914
Died	26 November 2011(2011-11-26) (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]

Life

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]

Significant works

• Mollison, P; Loutit, J (1943). "Disodium-citrate-glucose mixture as a blood preservative". British Medical Journal. 2 (4327): 744–745. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.4327.744. PMC 2285557. PMID 20785169.
• Mollison, P (1946). "Observations on cases of starvation at Belsen". British Medical Journal. 1 (4435): 4–8. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.4435.4. PMC 2057829. PMID 20786496.
• Mollison, P (1951). Blood transfusion in clinical medicine. Blackwell Scientific Publications.

References

1. "Munks Roll Details for Patrick Loudon Mollison". Munks Roll. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
2. Doris Zallen; Daphne Christie; Tilli Tansey, eds. (2004). The Rhesus Factor and Disease Prevention. Wellcome Witnesses to Contemporary Medicine. History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group. ISBN 978-0-85484-099-1. OL 11612221M. Wikidata Q29581687.
3. "No. 47723". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1978. pp. 1–32.
4. Craft, Sir Alan W. (2020). "Patrick Mollison CBE. 17 March 1914 – 26 November 2011". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 68: 315–331. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2019.0022.

External links

• Patrick Mollison on the History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group website