Nationality Australia Name Donald Metcalf | Fields Medicine | |
 | ||
Institutions Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research Known for discovering the colony stimulating factors Notable awards Robert Koch Prize (1988)Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1993)Lasker Award (1993)Royal Medal (1995)Prime Minister's Prizes for Science (2001) Books The thymus, The hemopoietic colony sti, The molecular control of, Haemopoietic cells, Summon up the Blood | ||
Remembering Professor Donald Metcalf – An Australian cancer research hero
Donald Metcalf AC FRS FAA (26 February 1929 – 15 December 2014) was an Australian medical researcher who spent most of his career at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. In 1954 he received the Carden Fellowship from the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria; while he officially retired in 1996, he continued working and held his fellowship until his retirement in December 2014.
Contents
- Remembering Professor Donald Metcalf An Australian cancer research hero
- Donald Metcalf A Simple Tribute
- Education research and career
- Awards and honours
- Personal life
- References
Donald Metcalf ● A Simple Tribute
Education, research and career
Metcalf studied medicine at the University of Sydney, and had his first experience of medical research in the laboratory of Professor Patrick de Burgh. In 1954 Metcalf was awarded up a Carden Fellowship from the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. There he initially studied virology and leukemia, later transitioning to hematology.
Metcalf's pioneering research revealed the control of blood cell formation and the role of hematopoietic cytokines. In the 1960s he developed techniques to culture blood cells, which led to the discovery of colony-stimulating factors (CSFs), including macrophage colony-stimulating factor, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor. CSFs are cytokines that control white blood cell formation and are responsible for resistance to infection. CSFs are now widely used to boost the immune system for patients receiving chemotherapy, and to mobilise blood stem cells for transplants.
Awards and honours
In the Australia Day Honours of 1976, he was named an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). In the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1993, he was promoted to Companion of the Order (AC).
Metcalf has been awarded many international prizes including
In Australia Metcalf has received the 1985 James Cook Medal, the 2000 Victoria Prize, the 2001 Prime Minister's Prize for Science and the Centenary Medal.
Personal life
Metcalf has four daughters and six grandchildren. He lived in Melbourne with his wife, Josephine, and died on 15 December 2014 following pancreatic cancer.
His autobiography Summon up the Blood: In dogged pursuit of the blood cell regulators was published in 2000.