Professor Wallace Peters

Wallace Peters obtained his Bachelor’s of Medicine and Surgery in 1947 and an M.D. from London University in 1966. He also obtained a Diploma of Tropical Medicine and was awarded the prestigious D.Sc. degree from London University for his distinguished research in 1976. He held notable posts including a Consultant for international organizations such as the World Health Organization and a former Dean and Walter Myers Professor of Parasitology at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. 

Professor Peters’ research in tropical medicine spanned several decades, during which he authored over 600 scientific papers, most notably the co-authored Atlas of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, and many books and book chapters. His pioneering research on the chemotherapy and control of malaria – a disease which affects more than 500 million people in Africa, Asia, and South America and kills annually 1-3 millions – has guided research on malarial chemotherapy and prevention throughout the world and established him as a leading authority in that field. His books include: Chemotherapy and Drug Resistance in Malaria; Atlas of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology.

Professor Peters received several other awards and honors, including memberships or honorary memberships of major scientific and medical societies, editorships of medical journals in his field and numerous lectureships. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, honorary fellow of the British Society of Parasitology, former President and Emeritus Fellow of the British Section of the Society of Protozoologists, life fellow of the Indian Society of Parasitology, and former Councilor of the Royal society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.