Michael Alpers
{{Short description|Australian medical researcher}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = Professor
| name = Michael Alpers
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=AUS|size=100%|AO|CSM|FRS|FAA}}
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| office = John Curtin Distinguished Professor of International Health, Curtin University
| term_start = 2005
| term_end = 2016
| birth_name = Michael Philip Alpers
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1934|08|21|df=yes}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|12|03|1934|08|21|df=yes}}
| death_place = Perth
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Michael Philip Alpers (21 August 1934 - 3 December 2024) was an Australian medical researcher, former long-term Director of the PNG Institute of Medical Research and John Curtin distinguished Professor of International Health, at Curtin University. He died at the age of 90 on 3 December 2024 in Perth, WA.{{cite web|url=http://oasisapps.curtin.edu.au/staff/profile/view/M.Alpers|title=Staff Profile - Professor Michael Alpers}}{{Cite web |date=2018-12-28 |title=Vale Prof Michael Alpers – PNG Institute of Medical Research |url=https://www.pngimr.org.pg/vale-prof-michael-alpers/ |access-date=2025-03-20 |language=en-AU}}
Education
Alpers graduated from University of Adelaide with a B.Sc. and M.B.B.S. and from University of Cambridge with an M.A.
Career and research
After graduating, he commenced a career, ultimately resulting in investigating kuru, a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy.{{Cite web|url=http://www.med.monash.edu.au/news/2009/michael-alpers-biography.html|title = Latest news}}{{cite journal|last1=Stocklin|first1=W. H.|title=My kuru adventure|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=363|issue=1510|year=2008|pages=3666–3667|issn=0962-8436|doi=10.1098/rstb.2008.4031|pmc=2735548|pmid=18849275}}{{cite journal|title=Michael Alpers (FRS), Kuru, and Papua New Guinea|journal=Health and History|volume=14|issue=2|year=2012|pages=26–45|issn=1442-1771|doi=10.5401/healthhist.14.2.0026|s2cid=142113962 }}
He is Honorary Senior Research Associate University College London.{{Cite web|url=https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/research/personal?upi=MALPE79|title = Iris Message}}
Alpers and his work are the main theme of Kuru: The Science and the Sorcery (2010).{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} He is interviewed in The Genius And The Boys (2009).{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}
References
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Further reading
- {{cite journal |last1=Spark |first1=Ceridwen |title=Michael Alpers (FRS), Kuru, and Papua New Guinea: The Combined Allure of Problem, People, and Place |journal=Health and History |date=2012 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=26 |doi=10.5401/healthhist.14.2.0026|s2cid=142113962 }}
- {{cite web |last1=Australian Academy of Science |title=Featured Fellow—Michael Alpers: Papua New Guinea and Mad Cows |url=https://www.science.org.au/fellowship/fellows/featured-fellows/featured-fellow-michael-alpers |website=www.science.org.au |access-date=17 April 2021 |author-link=Australian Academy of Science|language=en}}
- {{cite news |last1=Bradley |first1=Hazel |title=Top honour for kuru 'guru' |url=https://www.thesenior.com.au/story/6915532/top-honour-for-kuru-guru/ |access-date=17 April 2021 |work=The Senior |date=7 October 2020 |language=en-AU}}
- {{cite web |last1=Royal Society |title=Michael Alpers - Professor Michael Alpers AO FRS |url=https://royalsociety.org/people/michael-alpers-10987/ |website=royalsociety.org |access-date=17 April 2021 |author-link=Royal Society |language=en-gb}}
- {{cite news |last1=Chandler |first1=Jo |title=The man who linked kuru to cannibalism - A chat with intrepid biologist Michael Alpers |url=https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/solving-the-mystery-of-laughing-disease/ |access-date=17 April 2021 |work=Cosmos Magazine |date=12 May 2016 |language=en-AU}}
{{FRS 2008}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alpers, Michael}}
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:Australian medical researchers
Category:Academic staff of Curtin University
Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science
Category:Australian fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Officers of the Order of Australia