Ian McGregor was one of a small cadre of British experts in malaria whose work has formed the basis of our current understanding of the disease.
He showed for the first time, with reliable experimental data, that humans exposed to repeated infection with malaria could develop an immunity capable of restricting both clinical illness and parasite blood density, and that this acquired immunity could be transferred to nonimmune subjects. He also demonstrated the attenuation of acquired immunity to malaria in pregnancy and defined the nature of the immune response that malaria produced in terms of antibody types.

Born in Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1922, he was educated at Rutherglen Academy and St Mungo College and, after a distinguished undergraduate career, qualified in Medicine from Glasgow in 1945. After military service, he joined the scientific staff of the Human Nutrition Research Unit at the British Medical Research Council (MRC) in The Gambia in 1949.

cGregor spent most of his professional life in The Gambia where he worked for some 27 years, 23 of them as Director of the MRC Laboratories. His huge achievements have to be placed in the context of the limited understanding of the pathogenesis of malaria when he began his work in 1949 and the basic facilities available to him when he went to The Gambia, but which, over the years, he built up into a world-class establishment.

His career in malaria began by chance. In 1945, after qualifying in medicine in Glasgow, he was conscripted to the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) and posted to Egypt and thence to Palestine where he was told that he was to be trained as a malariologist — a term that he had never heard.

After some instruction at the Middle East School of Hygiene in Gaza, he found himself in charge of seven malaria control units throughout Palestine and Transjordan. When his national service was completed in 1948, he returned to the UK to study at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine where, as the only student in his class paying his tuition costs from his own pocket, his teachers perhaps took more interest in him than in his classmates.

One of his teachers, Professor B S Platt offered him a post in a small research unit he had set up in The Gambia with funding from the Colonial Office and the MRC. McGregor was to investigate the connection between malnutrition and parasitic diseases. As his ideas on the pathogenesis of malaria developed he was encouraged to apply to the MRC for his own programme and in 1954 was appointed Director of the MRC Laboratories in The Gambia.

His experiments in The Gambia laid the foundation for much of our understanding of the acquired immunity to malaria; and, as more sophisticated immunological, haematological and biochemical methods became available, these were used to further enhance our understanding of the disease.

He also investigated the epidemiology of malaria by carrying out studies in diverse parts of The Gambia at different seasons, and clearly demonstrated the importance of immunological protection against malaria in childhood and pregnancy. Of great interest were the longitudinal studies that he and his colleagues carried out over 25 years and which showed how malaria influenced growth patterns and survival — information still of prime importance in the planning and administration of health services in rural West Africa.

McGregor first returned from The Gambia in 1974, and for two years took a position at the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, but in 1978 he was asked to return to The Gambia while a new director was appointed. He finally left in 1980 and, in retirement, became a Professorial Fellow at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, where he inspired many young workers in tropical diseases.

Much of his time was devoted to work with the World Health Organisation and he chaired many of its committees and panels. His advice was much sought and he received many honours.

His publications included the much cited book (edited with W. Wernsdorfer), Malaria: The Principles and Practices of Malariology (1988) as well as many learned papers.

Appointed CBE in 1968, he was knighted in 1982. A Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he was president of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine in 1983-85.

McGregor is survived by his wife, Joan, and their son and daughter.

Source: (Text courtesy http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1381108)