Alfred Walter Campbell

Alfred Walter Campbell (1868-01-18 – 1937-11-04) was regarded as Australia's first neurologist.

Campbell was born at Cunningham Plains, near Harden, New South Wales. At age 18, he enrolled at the University of Edinburgh to study medicine, graduating four years later in 1889. Campbell worked in London, Vienna and Prague, developing his neurological speciality. He became fluent in French, German and Italian. In 1892, Campbell was awarded a doctorate by the University of Edinburgh for his thesis "The Pathology of Alcoholic Insanity".

Campbell's longest post in the UK was the thirteen years he spent working at Rainhill Asylum, Liverpool. He was Resident Medical Officer and Directory of the Pathology Laboratory. During his time there, Campbell and the laboratory became internationally known, leading to visitors from all parts of the world.

At the age of 37, in 1905, he returned to Australia and lived in Sydney. His focus shifted from neuroanatomy and neuropathology to working clinically as a neurologist. Shortly after his return, Campbell married a childhood friend, Jenny Mackay, with whom he had two daughters. He became a member of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1907.

Campbell enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and served as Major in the army in Egypt during the First World War. On his return, he studied the "Australian disease", which later became known as Murray Valley encephalitis. He died, of cancer, in his home at Rose Bay, New South Wales.

Papers

*cite journal
last = Campbell
first = AW
title = Degenerations consequent on experimental lesions of the cerebellum.
journal = British Medical Journal
volume = 2
pages = 641–642
year = 1894
*cite journal
last = Campbell
first = AW
title = A Contribution to the Morbid Anatomy and Pathology of the Neuro-muscular Changes in General Paresis of the Insane
journal = Journal of Mental Science
volume = 40
pages = 177–195
year = 1894
*cite journal
last = Campbell
first = AW
title = On vacuolation of the nerve cell of the human cerebral cortex
journal = Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology
volume = 2
pages = 380–393
year = 1894
doi = 10.1002/path.1700020308
*cite book
last = Campbell
first = AW
title = Histological Studies on the Localisation of Cerebral Function
year = 1905
publisher = Cambridge University Press
*cite journal
last = Campbell
first = AW
year = 1906
title = Cerebral sclerosis
journal = Brain
volume = 28
pages = 367–437
doi = 10.1093/brain/28.3-4.367

ee also

*Timeline of tuberous sclerosis

References

*cite journal
author = Eadie MJ
title = A.W. Campbell's Australian career: 1905-1937
journal = Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia
volume = 8
issue = 6
pages = 514–9
year = 2001
pmid = 11787461
doi = 10.1054/jocn.2001.0935
*cite book
last = Eadie
first = Mervyn John
title = The Flowering of a Waratah: A History of Australian Neurology and of the Australian Association of Neurologists
year = 2000
publisher = John Libbey Eurotext
isbn=0861966066
pages = 43–76
chapter = A W Campbell: Australia's First Neurologist
*cite book
last = Ford
first = Edward
title = Australian Dictionary of Biography
edition = Volume 7
year = 1979
publisher = Melbourne University Press
pages = 541–542
chapter = Campbell, Alfred Walter (1868 – 1937)
chapterurl = http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070544b.htm

Further reading

*cite journal
author = Eadie MJ
title = A. W. Campbell: Australia's first neurologist
journal = Clinical and experimental neurology
volume = 17
pages = 27–35
year = 1981
pmid = 7049450
*cite journal
author = Eadie MJ
title = Alfred Walter Campbell (1868–1937)
journal = J. Neurol.
volume = 250
issue = 2
pages = 249–50
year = 2003
pmid = 12622101
doi = 10.1007/s00415-003-0899-1