Colin Munro MacLeod
Colin Munro MacLeod | |
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Cholera Research Laboratory, East Pakistan, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation |
Colin Munro MacLeod (January 28, 1909 – February 11, 1972) was a Canadian-American geneticist. He was one of a trio of scientists who discovered that deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA is responsible for the transformation of the physical characteristics of bacteria, which subsequently led to its identification as the molecule responsible for heredity.[1]
Biography
MacLeod was born in
In his early years as a research scientist, MacLeod, with
MacLeod was diverted from research on Streptococcus pneumoniae and DNA to health and science issues related to the Second World War. At the time, microbial diseases such as
At the end of World War II, Congress gave the National Institutes of Health authority to make external research awards, thereby creating its extramural programs, which nowadays constitute almost 90 percent of its funding. The NIH took over the funding of various research projects that had begun during the war, and MacLeod, from 1946 to 1949, served as a member of the first NIH study section, the Antibiotics Study Section. With his background in the newly renamed Department of Defense, MacLeod grew into the role of informal advisor to several NIH directors and served on various grant committees, commissions, and task forces. Thus, MacLeod had entered the third phase of his highly successful career—the first two being a laboratory research scientist and academic department head—with multiple forays into the realm of science policy and international health.[1]
MacLeod was elected to membership in the
In 1961, MacLeod became the chairman of the Life Sciences Panel of President John F. Kennedy's Science Advisory Committee. In 1963, Kennedy appointed MacLeod as Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology, Executive Office of the President (now the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy). MacLeod was the first person to hold the position of deputy director of OST and remained there until 1966, serving as an advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson after Kennedy's assassination. It has not been possible to find documents that confirm who conceived of a collaborative medical research enterprise between the United States and Japan. However, the idea is often attributed to MacLeod, who became chairman of the first U.S. delegation to the USJCMSP in 1965.[1]
MacLeod was an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.[4][5] He was named President of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in 1970. He remained in that position until his death in 1972.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g McDermott, Walsh. "Colin Munro MacLeod 1909–1972" (PDF). nasonline.org. National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
- PMID 19871359.
- ^ "Colin MacLeod". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
- ^ "Colin Munro MacLeod". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
This article is based on a public domain US government source ([1])