WilLiam Mcbride (1927-2018)

He discovered the teratogenicity of thalidomide,which resulted in the reduction of the number of drugs prescribed during pregnancy. McBride was found guilty of separate counts of medical malpractice and scientific fraud.

1961, noting a large number of birth defects in children of patients who were prescribed thalidomide,after a midwife called Sister Pat Sparrow first suspected the drug was causing birth defects in the babies of patients under his care at Crown Street Women's Hospital in Sydney.McBride was awarded a medal and prize money by the prestigious L'Institut de la Vie, a French institute, in connection with his discovery, in 1971. Using the prize money, he established Foundation 41, a Sydney-based medical research foundation concerned with the causes of birth defects. Working with P H Huang, he proposed that thalidomide caused malformations by interacting with the DNA of the dividing embryonic cells. This finding stimulated their experimentation, which showed that thalidomide may inhibit cell division in rapidly dividing cells of malignant tumors. This work was published in the journal "Pharmacology and Toxicology" in 1999 and has been rated in the top ten of the most important Australian medical discoveries.

the present NSW Premier.

in 1984. He had previously been a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Edinburgh Medical School in Scotland (1982-84) and a Project Investigator in the Department of Radiotherapy and Experimental Radiotherapy at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute. In 1987, he received his DSc from the University of Edinburgh

completed his 21-year term as DMCO Director in 2014. Dr. McBride is an expert in normal tissue and cancer radiobiology with an interest in tumor immunology. He has published extensively in this field, has been successful in receiving many grants in these areas, and is the co-leader of the UCLA Center for Medical Countermeasures Against Radiation (CMCR), a NIAID supported program focused on radiation mitigation research. Additionally, Dr. McBride has been an instructor and organizer for the Biomedical Physics Graduate Program over the past 26 years and has supervised over 60 students on various research projects.

on degradation of proteins and its implications in terms of the development of tumor immunity.

the Order of the British Empire (1969), Father of the Year (1972) and Officer of the Order of Australia (1977).