Wilson Carswell

{{Short description|Surgeon and AIDS researcher}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Wilson Carswell

| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE|FRCS|size=100%}}

| birth_name = John Wilson Carswell

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1937}}

| alma_mater = King's College London {{Small|(MBBS)}}

| known_for = Research on HIV/AIDS

| relatives = Douglas Carswell (son)

}}

John Wilson Carswell {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE|FRCS}} (born 1937) is a Scottish physician who was one of the first medical researchers to identify HIV/AIDS in Uganda.{{cite web|title=Moving Minds - Team|url=http://moving-minds.loge.co.uk/about/team/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140828192518/http://moving-minds.loge.co.uk/about/team/|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 August 2014}}

He graduated from the King's College London with an MBBS in 1961, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1967.{{cite book|title=The Medical Directory 1998|publisher=Informa Publishing}} He worked as a consultant surgeon at Mulago Hospital, Kampala from 1968 to 1987 where he became a leading AIDS researcher in the country.{{cite journal|title=SLIM DISEASE: A NEW DISEASE IN UGANDA AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH HTLV-III INFECTION|journal=The Lancet|date=19 October 1985|doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(85)90122-9 }}{{cite book|last1=Kinsman|first1=John|title=AIDS Policy in Uganda: Evidence, Ideology, and the Making of an African Success Story}} He later served as medical advisor to the Government of South Africa, and worked in public health in the United States and Asia.{{cite web|title=Dr Wilson Carswell, medical adviser to the government’s Aids unit, says about 100 000 South Africans are infected with HIV|url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/dr-wilson-carswell-medical-adviser-government%E2%80%99s-aids-unit-says-about-100-000-south-afric|website=South African History Online|accessdate=10 October 2014}}

His experiences in Uganda, where he met Idi Amin, were an inspiration for the character Dr. Garrigan in Giles Foden's novel The Last King of Scotland.{{cite web|title=Who Is Douglas Carswell? What You Need To Know|url=http://news.sky.com/story/1349455/who-is-douglas-carswell-what-you-need-to-know|website=Sky News|accessdate=10 October 2014}}

He married Margaret Jane Clark, with whom he had four children.{{cite news |author= |date=1 April 2022 |title=Margaret Carswell, medic and ornithologist who painstakingly recorded Uganda's birdlife during turbulent times – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/04/15/margaret-carswell-medic-ornithologist-painstakingly-recorded/ |work=Daily Telegraph |location= |access-date=17 April 2022}} His son Douglas Carswell was the first elected UK Independence Party Member of Parliament.{{cite web|title=UKIP gains first elected MP with Clacton by-election win|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29549414|website=BBC News|accessdate=10 October 2014}}