Robert Williamson (medic)

Robert Williamson (* 1938 ) is a British-Australian molecular geneticist and physician.

Williamson was from 1976 Professor of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at St. Mary's Hospital, University of London . From 1995 until his retirement in 2004 he was Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of Melbourne and Director of the Murdoch Children Research Institute. Today he is an Honorary Senior Principal Fellow there. Since 2008 he has been director of the Center for Eye Research Australia (CERA).

Williamson studied the biosynthesis and molecular genetics of globins in humans in the 1970s . He was involved in the location and cloning of genes for thalassemia , cystic fibrosis , Alzheimer's disease , myotonic dystrophy type 1, and other diseases. He has been involved in gene therapy for cystic fibrosis in children in London (using liposomes for gene delivery) and in studies in gene therapy for ataxia and thalassemia in Australia . He also deals with stem cell therapy (with stem cells from umbilical cord blood) for cystic fibrosis in children. Williamson also dealt with ethical issues in gene therapy and genetic engineering. He has published over 400 scientific articles.

He serves on the Medical Committee of the Australian Academy of Sciences and served on the OECD Committee on Pharmagenetics and Genetic Testing. He also advised Australian government agencies and several prime ministers and health ministers.

In 1994 he received the König Faisal Prize for Medicine. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society , the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Pathologists, the Australian Academy of Sciences and an officer in the Order of Australia . He is an honorary doctorate from the University of Turku .

Web links

• Biography on the occasion of a lecture ( Memento from April 23, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
• Biography at the Center for Eye Research Australia ( Memento from April 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive )