Alan Ebringer
{{Short description|Australian immunologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Alan Ebringer
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=AUS|size=100%|FRCP|FRACP}} {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRCPath}}
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| office = Professor of Immunology, King's College, London
| term_start = 1995
| term_end = ?
| birth_name = Alan Martin Ebringer
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1936|02|12|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Paris, France
| death_date = {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes}}
| death_place =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
Alan Martin Ebringer (born 12 February 1936) is an Australian immunologist, professor at King's College London. He is also an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist in the Middlesex Hospital, now part of the UCH School of Medicine. He is known for his research in the field of autoimmune disease.{{cite book|author1=Duncan Dartrey Adams|author2=Christopher Dartrey Adams|title=Autoimmune Disease: Pathogenesis, Genetics, Immunotherapy, Prophylaxis and Principles for Organ Transplantation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rInHBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA44|date=13 August 2013|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-94-007-6937-3|pages=44–}}
Early life and education
Ebringer is of Slovakian heritage and was born in Paris in 1936. He moved to Australia at a young age and was educated in Melbourne High School, and graduated in Medicine from the University of Melbourne.{{cn|date=October 2024}}
Career
Ebringer worked for one year as a Medical Registrar at the Walter Eliza Hall Institute under Sir Macfarlane Burnet and Prof. Ian Mackay where he developed an interest in autoimmune diseases.
He moved to London in the 1970s, working first with Ivan Roitt in the Department of Immunology at the Middlesex Hospital. In 1972, he formed the Immunology Unit at Queen Elizabeth College, now linked to King’s College{{cite book|title=New Scientist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RivxAAAAMAAJ|year=1995|publisher=IPC Magazines}} which was located in the Departments of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biology studying autoimmune diseases. About 22 Ph.D. students graduated from the Immunology Unit over the subsequent thirty years. Ebringer is the pioneer researcher behind autoimmune disease and "molecular mimicry," and was head of the Middlesex AS (Ankylosing Spondylitis) Clinic, London, for nearly 20 years where the {{citation|title=London AS Diet|url=http://www.kickas.org/londondiet.shtml}} was employed as successful therapy in AS patients.
Ebringer was among the first to investigate the relationship between autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and certain bacteria, Proteus mirabilis in particular (Ankylosing Spondylitis and Klebsiella pneumoniae; Multiple Sclerosis and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus).{{cite book|author=Leo Galland, M.D.|title=Power Healing: Use the New Integrated Medicine to Cure Yourself|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dZFktPjV5roC&pg=PT134|date=2 February 2011|publisher=Random House Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-77938-0|pages=134–}} His findings have been cited by proponents of herbal medicine{{cite book|author1=Kerry Bone|author2=Simon Mills|title=Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy: Modern Herbal Medicine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ca3QAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA155|date=8 January 2013|publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences|isbn=978-0-7020-5297-2|pages=155–}} Low-starch and gluten-free diets.{{cite book|author=Lucille Cholerton|title=Spotlight on Gluten: New Symptoms for the New Millennium? Or Long-Standing Symptoms Now Being Recognized?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OIs06YGlFrIC&pg=PA50|date=1 February 2012|publisher=Strategic Book Publishing|isbn=978-1-61204-110-0|pages=50–}}
Publications
Ebringer is the author of several books on the subject of autoimmune disease, including Rheumatoid arthritis and Proteus. and Ankylosing spondylitis and Klebsiella (Springer publications) He also published a number of articles on the subject in peer reviewed journals.{{cite book|author1=Ellen Kamhi|author2=Eugene R. Zampieron|title=An Alternative Medicine Guide to Arthritis: Reverse Underlying Causes of Arthritis with Clinically Proven Alternative Therap ies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uZYBCK7KM4cC&pg=PT578|date=9 May 2012|publisher=Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony|isbn=978-0-307-78956-3|pages=578–}}{{cite book|author1=Eugene R. Zampieron|author2=Ellen Kamhi|title=Arthritis: An Alternative Medicine Definitive Guide|url=https://archive.org/details/arthritisalterna00zamp|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=AlternativeMedicine.com Books|isbn=978-1-887299-15-2}}