Donald Metcalf AC FRS FAA (1929 - 2014)

Born 26 Feb 1929 in Mittagong, New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Husband of Josephine Emily (Lentaigne) Metcalf — married 14 Aug 1954 (to 15 Dec 2014) in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Died 15 Dec 2014 at age 85 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

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Biography

Donald Metcalf AC FRS FAA is Notable.

Dr. Donald Metcalf researched haematopoietic growth factors, a family of regulatory molecules that play important roles in bone marrow growth

Donald Metcalf AC FRS FAA was a medical researcher.

Donald Metcalf was one of Australia's most distinguished medical researchers and is acknowledged internationally as the father of the modern field of haematopoietic growth factors, a family of regulatory molecules that play important roles in bone marrow growth. Metcalf discovered and isolated these growth factors, also known as colony stimulating factors (CSFs), determined their mechanisms of action and participated in their development for the treatment of cancer patients. He received numerous awards and distinctions during his career, but was most pleased by the fact that his life’s work improved human health.^[1]

Early Years

Born in 1929 in Mittagong, New South Wales, on the eve of the depression, to school teachers Donald Metcalf and Enid Thomas, Metcalf's childhood was spent moving about country New South Wales with his parents and two sisters.^[1] His desire to study medicine came halfway through high school.^[2]

Education & Career

Educated at the University of Sydney, Metcalf's was the first class following the Second World War, consisting of 650 students. There were no textbooks, very little equipment, and the staff had been run down during the war years. In 1951 Metcalf received a BSc (Med). He earned an MB BS in 1953 for his work on the ectromelia virus; this research generated his interest in haematology. He received an MD in 1961.^[2]

Metcalf was a resident medical officer at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney when in 1954 he accepted a Carden Fellowship in cancer research at Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (the Hall Institute), where he studied vaccinia virus. At that time the Hall Institute was led by future Nobel Laureate Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, who was not impressed with Metcalf's ambitions. He considered that cancer was an inevitable part of the ageing process, could not be prevented, and was incurable. Anyone who worked on the disease was either a fool or a rogue!^[1][2][3]

Metcalf was a postdoctoral student at Harvard Medical School between 1956 and 1958, returning to the Hall Institute as Head of the Cancer Research Laboratory in 1958. Metcalf remained at the Hall Institute for the rest of his career. From 1965 to 1996 he was Head of the Cancer Research Unit and Assistant Director of the Hall Institute, and was also Research Professor of Cancer Biology at the University of Melbourne (1986-1996). In 1996 he became Professor Emeritus of the University of Melbourne.^[2]

Since becoming the Cancer Council Victoria's Carden Fellow in 1954, Metcalf devoted six decades of painstaking research to discovering, isolating and producing agents called colony stimulating factors (CSFs), which are the naturally occurring regulators of bone marrow growth. CSFs were licensed for general use in 1990, and since then an estimated 20 million patients worldwide have received CSFs as part of their cancer treatment.^[4][3]

One of the first patients in the world to receive CSF treatment was renowned tenor José Carreras. After developing acute myeloid leukaemia, which didn't respond to initial treatment, Carreras received CSF therapy in 1987. He recovered and was able to personally thank Metcalf in 1991 at the Carden Cancer Research Laboratory in Melbourne.^[4][3]

Metcalf continued to be at the forefront of his field, investigating stem cells, receptors for CSFs, issues of cell survival and suppressors of cell signalling; and being involved in the discovery of another mysterious multiple-action growth factor, the leukaemia inhibitory factor.^[4]

Following his official retirement in 1996, Metcalf continued to dedicate his life to cancer research and celebrated 60 years as a Carden Fellow upon his retirement in December 2014.^[4] Metcalf continued to work even after being diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer in 2014, for which he himself underwent chemotherapy, until he became too unwell to work at the Hall Institute. Then he requested that his favourite microscope be installed in his home so he could continue to provide data to his various collaborators.^[1][3]

In describing his motivation Metcalf said

“I can’t wait to get to work. …It’s like Christmas, isn’t it? Opening the incubator door and getting out tray loads of cultures and saying, ‘Well, what’s happened? … I wonder what happened.’ … [If it] hasn’t worked again, well, another day … tomorrow, we’ll try again.” ^[5]

Awards

During his lifetime Metcalf received more than 40 awards, including some of the highest honours in the world of science.^[1] He was also recognised in Australia Post's annual Australian Legends series of postage stamps in 2002, in which the theme was Medical Scientists.^[6]

Civic

1976 - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)^[7]

1993 - Companion in the Order of Australia (AC)^[8]

2003 - Centenary Medal, Australia^[9]

Scientific

1964 - Syme Prize for Research, University of Melbourne

1966 - Britannica Australia Award for Medicine

1968 - AMA–BMA Prize for Medical Research

1968 - Mollison Prize of AMA for Research on Pathology

1969 - Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science

1974 - Royal Society of Victoria Research Medal

1980 - Gold Medal, Australian Cancer Society

1983 - Fellow of the Royal Society of London

1986 - James Cook Medal, Royal Society of NSW

1986 - Wellcome Prize, Royal Society of London

1987 - Foreign Associate, US National Academy of Sciences

1987 - Bristol Myers Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cancer Research, USA

1988 - Armand Hammer Prize for Cancer Research, USA

1988 - Robert Koch Stiftung eV Prize, Germany

1989 - Giovanni Lorenzini Prize for Basic Medical Research, USA/Italy

1989 - Sloan Prize, General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, USA

1990 - Rabbi Shai Shacknai Prize, University of Jerusalem, Israel

1991 - The Clunies Ross National Science and Technology Award, Australia

1993 - Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award, USA

1993 - Kantor Family Prize for Cancer Research Excellence, USA

1993 - Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, Columbia University, USA

1993 - Burnet Medal, Australian Academy of Science

1994 - Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal, US National Academy of Sciences

1994 - Gairdner Foundation International Award, Canada

1994 - Caledonian Research Foundation Prize, Scotland

1994 - Torch of Learning Award, Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

1995 - Ernst Neumann Award, International Society for Experimental Hematology

1995 - Royal Medal, Royal Society of London

1996 - Amgen Australia Prize

1996 - Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, Harvard Medical School

1999 - Chiron International Award, National Academy of Medicine, Italy

2000 - The Victoria Prize, Victoria, Australia

2001 - The Prime Minister’s Prize for Science, Australia

2002 - President’s Medal, Australia and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology

2004 - Donnall Thomas Prize, American Society of Hematology

2004 - Days of Molecular Medicine Foundation Mentorship Award

2005 - Inaugural Salk Institute Medal for Research Excellence, USA

2006 - Lifetime Achievement Award, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Australia

2007 - Lifetime Achievement Award, American Association for Cancer Research

2008 - Grand Hamdan International Award (UAE), Dubai

2013 - Foundation Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy

Publications

Metcalf published 739 scientific papers, plus nine books.^[5] His autobiography, Summon up the Blood: In dogged pursuit of the blood cell regulators, was published in 2000.^[10]

Metcalf Scholarship Fund

As a tribute to Metcalf, the Metcalf Scholarship Fund assists promising young scientists to establish their careers.^[11]

Marriage & Family

During Metcalf's residency at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, a major teaching hospital adjacent to Sydney University, he met and worked with nurse Josephine (Jo) Lentaigne in the emergency department. They married in 1954 and had four daughters.^[1][12]

Death & Burial

Metcalf died in hospice care in Melbourne on 15 December 2014, due to pancreatic cancer.^[1] He was interred in the Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton, Victoria.^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Nicola, Nicos A. Obituary - Donald Metcalf AC. 26 February 1929 — 15 December 2014. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. (The Royal Society Publishing, https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.2016.0013, published 3 Aug 2016 : accessed 24 Jan 2021) archived at Wayback Machine.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Blythe, Dr Max. Professor Donald Metcalf (1929-2014), physiologist. 1998 (Australian Academy of Science, https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/professor-donald-metcalf-1929 : accessed 24 Jan 2021) archived at Wayback Machine 16 Mar 2020, retrieved 24 Jan 2021.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} Professor Don Metcalf. (The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, https://www.wehi.edu.au/about-history/notable-scientists/professor-don-metcalf : accessed 24 Jan 2021) archived at Wayback Machine 26 Nov 2020, retrieved 24 Jan 2021.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Prof. Donald Metcalf 1954-2014. (Cancer Council of Victoria, https://www.cancervic.org.au/research/researchers/donald-metcalf.html : accessed 24 Jan 2021) archived at Wayback Machine 27 Sep 2020, retrieved 24 Jan 2021.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Adams, Jerry M. & Cory, Suzanne. Donald Metcalf: The father of modern hematology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. March 3, 2015 112 (9) 2628-2629. (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, https://www.pnas.org/content/112/9/2628 : accessed 24 Jan 2021)
6. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Australian Legends," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Australian_Legends&oldid=1012027244 (accessed April 20, 2021).
7. ↑ Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Government of Australia. (Australian Honours Search Facility, https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/883782 : accessed 25 Jan 2021) Officer of the Order of Australia award granted to Dr Donald Metcalf, 26 Jan 1976.
8. ↑ Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Government of Australia. (Australian Honours Search Facility, https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/883432 : accessed 25 Jan 2021) Companion of the Order of Australia award granted to Professor Donald Metcalf, AO, 13 Jun 1993.
9. ↑ Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Government of Australia. (Australian Honours Search Facility, https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1114862 : accessed 25 Jan 2021) Centenary Medal granted to Emeritus Professor Donald Metcalf, 1 Jan 2003.
10. ↑
11. ↑ Metcalf Scholarship Fund (The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, https://www.wehi.edu.au/in-memory-metcalf : accessed 24 Jan 2021) archived at Wayback Machine.
12. ↑ Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, New South Wales. Online index - Marriage (https://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyhistory, accessed 25 Jan 2021) index entry for Donald Metcalf and Josephine Emily Lentaigne (District: North Sydney, Registration Number: 16716/1954).
13. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/178384627/donald-metcalf: accessed 31 August 2021), memorial page for Donald Metcalf (26 Feb 1929–15 Dec 2014), Find A Grave: Memorial #178384627, citing Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton North, Melbourne City, Victoria, Australia; Maintained by Tony M. (contributor 48299134).

See also:

• Wikipedia: Professor Donald Metcalf
• Wikidata: Item Q1240162, en:Wikipedia

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,

Or close the wall up with our English dead!

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man

As modest stillness and humility,

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,

Then imitate the action of the tiger:

Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood."

King Henry, Henry V (Shakespeare)

Hilton, D., Alexander, W. & Nicola, N. Donald Metcalf 1929-2014 (Australian Academy of Science, https://www.science.org.au/fellowship/fellows/biographical-memoirs/donald-metcalf-1929-2014 : accessed 25 Jan 2021) archived at Wayback Machine.