Person

Wood, Ian Jeffreys (1903 - 1986)

Kt

Born
5 February 1903
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died
1 September 1986
Richmond, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Medical scientist and Physician

Summary

Ian Wood was a medical scientist who pioneered blood transfusion in Australia, and intravenous infusions of saline and glucose. He worked closely with the Red Cross in introducing the concept of blood banks, and advocating their establishment across the country. While serving with the Australian Imperial Force during WWII he was one of the leaders in the organization of blood supply for the Australian Armed Forces, especially in the Middle East, and initiated blood typing for recruits. In 1954 Wood became Head of the Clinical Unit of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and a leader in clinical research in Australia. Much of his research focused on gastroenterology: he invented the gastric biopsy tube which is now widely used. His unit also studied gastritis and chronic hepatitis, a little-known disease where autoimmunity was recognised as an important determinant. Wood's colleagues at the Institute included Gustav Nossal, Ian MacKay, and McFarlane Burnet to whom he served as Assistant Director of the Institute from 1948 to 1963. After retiring in 1963 Wood was consulting physician to the Royal Melbourne Hospital until 1978 when he also retired from private practice. He published over 70 medical and research papers.

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Details

Chronology

1927
Education - MB BS, University of Melbourne
1927 - 1929
Career position - Resident Medical Officer, Melbourne Hospital
1929
Career event - Joined the Australian Army Medical Corps, Citizen Military Forces
1929 - 1932
Career position - Medical officer, Royal Children's Hospital
1930
Education - MD, University of Melbourne
1932 - 1934
Career position - House physician, Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, and St Bartholomew's Hospital, London
1932 - 1944
Education - Member, Royal College of Physicians, London
1935
Award - Marion Carty Research Fellow, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
1936 - 1939
Career position - Out-patient physician, Children's Hospital, Melbourne
1938 - 1986
Education - Fellow, Royal Australasian College of Physicians
1939 - 1945
Military service - Served with the Australian Imperial Force (including in the Middle East, North Africa and New Guinea)
1942
Award - Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his work in North Africa and the Middle East
1944 - 1986
Education - Fellow, Royal College of Physicians, London
September 1945
Career event - Transferred to the Reserve of Officers, Australian Imperial Force
1946 - 1963
Career position - Foundation Head, Clinical Research Unit, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in associationn with Royal Melbourne Hospital
1948 - 1963
Career position - Assistant Director, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
1951
Award - Litchfield Lecturer, University of Oxford
1963 - 1978
Career position - Consultant Physician, Royal Melbourne Hospital
1974
Award - Neil Hamilton Fairley Medal, Royal Australasian College of Physicians
1976
Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt)
1978
Life event - Retired from private practice
1983
Award - Distinguished Service Medal, Gastroenterological Society of Australia

Archival resources

The University of Melbourne Archives

  • Ian Jeffreys Wood - Records, 1902 - 1985; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

  • McCarthy, Gavan; Manhal, Oscar, The Papers of Ian Jeffreys Wood (1903-1986) (Melbourne: Australian Science Archives Project, 1987), 38 pp. Details
  • McDonald, G. L., Roll of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, 2 vols (Sydney: Royal Australasian College of Physicians, 1988-1994). Details
  • Wood, Ian J., Discovery & healing in peace and war : an autobiography, Ian J. Wood (Toorak, Victoria: I.J. Wood, 1984), 186 pp. Details
  • Wood, Ian J. and Taft, Leon I., Diffuse lesions of the stomach : an account with special reference to the value of gastric biopsy (London: E. Arnold, 1958), 86 pp. Details

Book Sections

Journal Articles

  • Anderson, Warwick, 'The Military Spur to Australian Medical Research', Health and History, 15 (1) (2013), 80-103. Details
  • Wood, I. J., 'Appreciation of Frank Macfarlane Burnet', Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science, 43 (1965), 327-336. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

McCarthy, G.J. and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 10 June 2025

EOAS ID: biogs/P000910b.htm

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