Alexander Stuart Douglas (2 October 1921 – 15 November 1998) was a physician and haematologist. He was Regius Professor of Medicine at

Aberdeen University The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, petitioned Pope Al ...

from 1970 to 1985. He received international acclaim for his discoveries in relation to blood coagulation, causes of abnormal bleeding, and causes of thrombosis. He played a key role in identifying the role of anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents in preventing

heart attacks A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is retr ...

, setting a modern benchmark for the treatment of heart disease. He was one of the two people in 1951 establishing that Haemophilia split into two groups: isolating what is now commonly called

Haemophilia B Haemophilia B, also spelled hemophilia B, is a blood clotting disorder causing easy bruising and bleeding due to an inherited mutation of the gene for factor IX, and resulting in a deficiency of factor IX. It is less common than factor VIII defic ...

, then known as Christmas disease after its first known host, Stephen Christmas.

Life

He was born in

Elgin Elgin may refer to: Places Canada * Elgin County, Ontario * Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Ontario * Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontario * Elgin, Manit ...

in northern Scotland, on 2 October 1921, and was the son of Robert Douglas (1871–1948), a crofter. He was educated at Elgin Academy. He studied medicine at

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

graduating BSc in 1941. In 1944, Glasgow University granted him MB ChB. From 1945 to 1948 he served as a Major in the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

in the post-war re-establishment of

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

and was

Mentioned in Dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

. After this period he worked in the Blood Coagulation Research Unit in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

with

Robert Gwyn Macfarlane Robert Gwyn Macfarlane (26 June 1907 – 26 March 1987) was an English hematologist. Life Born in Worthing, Sussex, Gwyn Macfarlane left Cheltenham College in 1924 and a year later entered the Medical School of St Bartholomew's Hospital, Lond ...

. Jointly they isolated and identified the condition now known as

, but then known as Christmas Disease after its first identified sufferer, Stephen Christmas. From 1953, he was a lecturer in medicine at Glasgow University. In 1965 he was seconded to

Nairobi University The University of Nairobi (uonbi or UoN; ) is a collegiate research university based in Nairobi and is the largest university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dates back to 1956, it did not become an independent un ...

. In 1970, he was awarded the chair in Medicine at

. In 1993, in his old age, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were Prof

John Mallard John Rowland Mallard OBE FRSE FREng (14 January 1927 – 25 February 2021) was an English physicist and professor of Medical Physics at the University of Aberdeen from 1965 until his retirement in 1992. He was known for setting up and leading t ...

, S C Frazer, Prof E M McGirr, H M Keir, Prof

John Anderson Strong John Anderson Strong (18 February 1915 – 15 December 2012) was a Scottish physician/internist and academic, who served as Professor of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and the President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburg ...

, Prof

Hans Kosterlitz Hans Walter Kosterlitz FRS (27 April 1903 – 26 October 1996) was a German-born British biochemist. Biography Hans Walter Kosterlitz was born on 27 April 1903 in Berlin. He was the elder son of Bernhard Kosterlitz, a physician, and Selma ...

, I A McGregor, and F W Robertson. He died on 15 November 1998, aged 77.

Family

His wife was Christina and they had one son and one daughter.

Publications

*''Seasonal Variation in Health and Diseases'' (1994)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Alexander Stuart 1921 births 1998 deaths People from Elgin, Moray Alumni of the University of Glasgow Academics of the University of Aberdeen Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People associated with Aberdeen 20th-century Scottish medical doctors Scottish medical writers Regius Professors of Medicine (Aberdeen) Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians