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Leonard Jan Bruce-Chwatt

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Leonard Jan Bruce-Chwatt
Born
Leonard Jan Chwatt

9 June 1907
Łódź
Died18 May 1989
NationalityPolish
Occupation(s)Medical doctor and professor
AwardsOfficer of the British Empire 1953, Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George 1976, Darling Foundation Prize 1971, George Macdonald Medal 1981.
Academic work
DisciplineMedicine
InstitutionsLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Main interestsMalariology, medical entomology

Leonard Jan Bruce-Chwatt (born Leonard Jan Chwatt on 9 June 1907 in Łódź and died 18 May 1989) was a Polish medical doctor, malariologist and medical entomologist who worked extensively on malarial research in Nigeria with the British colonial medical service, and later with the World Health Organization and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.[1][2]

Biography and career

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Bruce-Chwatt was educated first in Saint Petersburg, and later in Warsaw where he obtained his degree in medicine with distinction in 1930. He spent two years as RMO in the Polish Army.[3] He then took a postgraduate degree in microbiology and serology in 1933, after which he moved to France for two years to pursue a diploma in colonial medicine. He worked at the Pasteur Institute and the Hôpital Saint-Louis until the outbreak of the Second World War when he joined the Polish Army Medical Corps. He later escaped to England where he joined the Polish Rifle Brigade.[4] While serving with the Polish Army in Britain, Bruce-Chwatt earned a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the Duncan Medal at the LSHTM.

In 1942, he was transferred to the Royal Army Medical Corps and sent to No. 7 Malaria Field Laboratory in Nigeria. He was demobilized in 1946, and began working as a medical entomologist with the Colonial Medical Service in Nigeria. In 1948, Chwatt became a British subject, married Joan Margaret Bruce and added her name to his own. In 1948, he was assigned to the Rockefeller Yellow Fever Research Institute in Lagos. From 1949 to 1958, as Senior Specialist (Malariologist), he organised and managed Nigeria's Federal Malaria Service.[3]

In 1958 Bruce-Chwatt became Chief of Research and Technical Intelligence in the Malaria Eradication Division of the World Health Organization in Geneva, where he remained for the next 10 years. In 1968, he joined the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as Professor of Tropical Hygiene, becoming Director of its Ross Institute the following year.[5] Upon his retirement in 1974 he joined the Wellcome Museum of Medical Science and, in 1985, the Wellcome Tropical Institute. It was during this period that he was able to indulge his long-standing interest in the history of malaria.[copyright violation?][6] Over the course of his career, Bruce-Chwatt published numerous works on malaria.

Honours

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Bruce-Chwatt received the Officer of the British Empire during the 1953 Coronation Honours, and the Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George during the 1976 Birthday Honours. In 1971, Bruce-Chwatt was conferred with the Darling Foundation Prize awarded by League of Nations. He also received the George Macdonald Medal awarded by the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and LSHTM IN 1981.

Selected publications

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References

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  1. ^ Janssens, P. G. (1991). "[In memoriam Leonard Jan Bruce-Chwatt (6/9/1907 - 3/17/1989)]". Annales de la Société Belge de Médecine Tropicale. 71 (2): 163–166. ISSN 0772-4128. PMID 1929602.
  2. ^ Bray, R. S. (1990). "Obituary: Leonard Bruce-Chwatt 1907–1989". International Journal for Parasitology. 20 (8): 977–978. doi:10.1016/0020-7519(90)90040-t. ISSN 0020-7519.
  3. ^ a b "Leonard Jan Bruce-Chwatt | RCP Museum". history.rcplondon.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  4. ^ "The 1981 Lecturer: Leonard J. Bruce-Chwatt" (PDF). Mosquito News. 41 (2): 225 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  5. ^ "Bruce-Chwatt, Prof. Leonard Jan, (9 June 1907–18 May 1989), Professor of Tropical Hygiene and Director of Ross Institute, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, 1969–74, now Emeritus Professor", Who Was Who, Oxford University Press, 2007-12-01, doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u162431, retrieved 2024-08-05
  6. ^ "Bruce-Chwatt, Professor Leonard Jan". Wellcome Collection. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
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