P003952 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

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 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 2001-05-25 human Rosanne Walker & Annette Alafaci updated 2025-11-05 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P003952b.htm person Simmons Roy Thomas AACR2 29 April 1906 28 February 1975 Place of Birth Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia Place of Death East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Biochemist Roy Thomas Simmons was Consultant Serologist (Prinicipal Scientific Officer) at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories Commision (formerly Commonwealth Serum Laboratories - CSL) in Victoria from 1961 to 1971. He started there as a temporary laboratory assistant in 1924. From 1927 to 1935 Simmons was seconded to the Commonwealth Department of Health as a relieving biochemist. While at CSL he worked mainly on blood groups and the Rh factor. His work made an outstanding contribution to the safety of blood transfusion in Australia, and the detection and understanding of Rh sensitisation, especially in relation to haemolytic disease of the newborn. He also used blood groups for anthropological studies, including collaborating with D. Carleton Gajdusek in 1955 on studies of a central nervous system disorder of the Fore people of New Guinea. Gajdusek concluded that it was transmitted by the ritualistic eating of the brains of deceased tribal members.

After graduating from the Junior School of the Working Men's College (c.1923), Roy Thomas Simmons enrolled in a Diploma of Chemistry. He graduated in 1926 and became an Associate of the Working Men's College in Inorganic Chemistry. While undertaking his studies, Simmons began working as a temporary laboratory assistant at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) (later Commonwealth Serum Laboratories Commission) in 1924. He remained with CSL until his retirement in 1971. By 1927 he had increased his knowledge of biochemistry and bacteriology to such an extent that he was seconded to the Commonwealth Department of Health as a relieving biochemist controlling diagnostic procedures throughout Australia.

Simmons returned to the CSL in 1936 to help establish a Research Department there in which he was appointed personal assistant and biochemist to the Director of Research. Simmons became the first person in the world to isolate bacteriophages against diphtheria microbes, thus instigating work on the first vaccine. He also worked on other illnesses such as whooping cough, but by the early1940s his main interest was in blood groups. Roy Simmons was the first in Australia to discover the significance of the Rh factor and introduced the exchange blood transfusion technique to fight haemolytic disease in the newborn.

From 1943 to 1971 Roy Simmons headed the free, nationwide blood group reference service of CSL. This work was invaluable to hospitals in screening patients and trying to find compatible blood donors. The blood group laboratory produced work of such high quality that in 1965 the World Health Organisation chose it to be the testing laboratory of the entire South-Pacific region.

Overall the work of Roy Thomas Simmons and his collaborators helped dispel many myths and produce new vaccines and treatment regimes. One of his greatest contributions was the Anti-Rh agent which has helped prevent many deaths of Rh-positive babies carried by Rh-negative mothers (the mother's immune system sees the baby's Rh+ blood as foreign and a danger so initiates an immune reaction to kill of the perceived 'threat').

1924 1927 Career position - Laboratory Assistant at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) in Parkville, Victoria 1926 1926 Education - Diploma of Organic and Inorganic Chemistry, Working Men's College in Melbourne 1927 1935 Career position - Relieving Biochemist, Commonwealth Department of Health 1936 1947 Career position - Biochemist and Personal Assistant to the Director of Research, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories 1940 Career position - Began research into blood-groups 1940 1956 Career position - Head of production and quality control of C.S.L. products 1943 1971 Career position - CSL's free blood-group reference service for Australia established 1947 1961 Career position - Consultant / Seologist, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories 1957 1970 Career position - Studied the fatal neurological disorder kuru ('laughing sickness') found in New Guinea 1959 1959 Award - Award of Merit, Professional Officers Association 1961 1971 Career position - Principal Scientific Officer / Consultant Serologist, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories Commission 1965 Career position - The World Health Organization nominated his laboratory as its blood-group reference centre for the South Pacific region 1965 1965 Award - Doctor of Science (DSc), honoris causa, University of Melbourne 1971 1971 Life event - Retired Department of Health, Commonwealth of Australia (1921 - 1987)

Relieving Biochemist 1927 - 1935

 Professional Officers Association, Commonwealth Public Service (1917 - 1975)

Received the Award of Merit 1959

 Commonwealth Serum Laboratories Commission, Commonwealth of Australia (1961 - 1990)

Principal Scientific Officer / Consultant Serologist 1961 - 1971

 Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL), Commonwealth of Australia (1916 - 1961)

Consultant / Seologist 1947 - 1961

Wikidata

 Simmons, Roy Thomas (1906-1975)

Trove

 'Simmons, Roy Thomas', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Simmons, Roy Thomas Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Resource: Honorary degree holders University of Melbourne Honorary degree holders University of Melbourne 2023 Journal Article: Obituary: Roy Thomas Simmons, DSc, FRACI, FRACI (Hon.), FISH, FRACI Obituary: Roy Thomas Simmons, DSc, FRACI, FRACI (Hon.), FISH, FRACI 1976 Pathology 8 1 83-84 Book Section: Simmons, Roy Thomas (1906-1975), medical scientist Egan, Bryan Simmons, Roy Thomas (1906-1975), medical scientist Melbourne Melbourne University Press 2002 Australian dictionary of biography, volume 16: 1940 - 1980 Pik-Z John Ritchie and Diane Langmore 242-243 Journal Article: Obituary: Roy Thomas Simmons 1906-1975 Birdsell, J. B. Obituary: Roy Thomas Simmons 1906-1975 1976 American journal of physical anthropology 45 1 1-4 Resource: Technology in Australia 1788-1988 Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering Technology in Australia 1788-1988 Online Melbourne Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre 2000