Papers of Dr Colin McDougall (1924-2006)

Colin McDougall's papers include his correspondence (as Consultant in Clinical Research to the British Leprosy Relief Association (LEPRA), 1972-1988 and Editor of Leprosy Review 1978-1988); documents related to McDougall's visits to leprosy-endemic countries (reports, photographs, meeting programmes, correspondence); publications (mainly collaborative papers); and research files (on leprosy in nose and teeth; importance of temperature in localisation of bacilli and transmission via nose; vaccine trials; eye leprosy; Lucio-Latapí leprosy; borderline leprosy; treatment of TB).

Correspondence relates mainly to medical and scientific work with Dr R J W Rees, Laboratory for Leprosy and Mycobacterial Research, National Institute for Medical Research, London and provides a context for the introduction and implementation of multiple drug therapy (MDT) by WHO in 1981/1982 and the cultivation of M leprae in the nine-banded armadillo. There is a file of correspondence among third parties before McDougall's return to London in 1970, on the results of animal experiments.

1886-2003

8 boxes

The papers are arranged in four sections:

A Correspondence

B Visits to leprosy countries

C Publications

D Research

These papers were donated to the library at Wellcome Collection by Colin McDougall between 2003 and 2005.

Colin McDougall (1924-2006) MD (Edinburgh 1946) FRCP was a leprosy specialist with previous experience in TB and internal medicine. He worked in Singapore (1953-56), Algeria and Zambia, where he was appointed as Leprosy Specialist to the Ministry of Health in 1967 to work on setting up a national leprosy control programme, including mobile units and staff training. McDougall returned to the UK in 1970, having previously contacted Dr RJW Rees at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in Mill Hill, London, about the possibility of working in clinical or experimental research on leprosy in the UK.

From 1970 to 1988, he was a Consultant in Clinical Research (Leprosy) to the British Leprosy Relief Association (LEPRA), based at the Slade Hospital, Oxford, responsible for the referral and admission of leprosy patients in the UK, working closely with Dr AGM Weddell in the Department of Human Anatomy in the Science Area of the University of Oxford. In collaboration with Dr Douglas Harman in the Leprosy Study Centre, Wimpole Street, London, he conducted research on the histology of the disease, the nasal excretion of Mycobacterium lepra and on multi-drug therapies. In this period he also undertook numerous visits to leprosy-endemic countries, including Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil, Africa, India and the Far East. McDougall was instrumental in setting up a prize essay competition for medical students, supported by LEPRA, on a subject of current importance in leprosy.

McDougall served as Editor of Leprosy Review 1978-1988 and continued as the publication's sub-editor after his retirement in 1988. He also continued to visit leprosy-endemic countries abroad, mainly for the World Health Organization, to assess progress and advise on measures to increase case detection, wider implementation of multi-drug therapy and better disability management.

At Wellcome Collection:

Various files in WTI/LEP (formerly The British Leprosy Relief Association, now LEPRA Health in Action), especially WTI/LEP/D/1/4 - D/1/8 ['Dr A.C. McDougall - Consultant at Oxford financed LEPRA', 5 volumes];

WTI/SGB/D.30/3 (correspondence with Stanley George Browne);

PP/WDP/B/1/29 (correspondence with Sir William Drummond Macdonald Paton).

This collection has been catalogued and is available to library members. Some items have access restrictions which are explained in the item-level catalogue records.