Abstract

Sir (Ernest) Donald Acheson, KBE, FRCS, FRCP (17 September 1926 – 10 January 2010) was an Irish-born physician and epidemiologist who served as Chief Medical Officer of the United Kingdom from 1983 to 1991. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in September 1926. He was the younger son of Captain Malcolm King Acheson, MC, MD, and Dorothy Josephine Rennoldson. Acheson was educated at Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh, and then studied medicine at Brasenose College, Oxford. His father Captain Malcolm King Acheson, MC, MD was a doctor who specialised in public health, and his mother Dorothy Josephine née Rennoldson was the daughter of a Tyneside ship builder. He was educated at Merchiston Castle School, Brasenose College, Oxford (MA, DM, Fellow 1968, Honorary Fellow 1991). His elder brother, Roy Acheson, also Merchiston and Brasenose alumnus) is Emeritus Professor of Community Medicine in the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Churchill College.

Key words: Donald Acheson, British epidemiologist and Public health expert.