Michael Philip Alpers (21 August 1934 - 3 December 2024) was an Australian medical researcher, former long-term Director of the PNG Institute of Medical Research and John Curtin distinguished Professor of International Health, at Curtin University. He died at the age of 90 on 3 December 2024 in Perth, WA.

Education

Alpers graduated from University of Adelaide with a B.Sc. and M.B.B.S. and from University of Cambridge with an M.A.

Career and research

After graduating, he commenced a career, ultimately resulting in investigating kuru, a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy.

He is Honorary Senior Research Associate University College London.

Alpers and his work are the main theme of Kuru: The Science and the Sorcery (2010).[citation needed] He is interviewed in The Genius And The Boys (2009).[citation needed]

Further reading

  • Spark, Ceridwen (2012). "Michael Alpers (FRS), Kuru, and Papua New Guinea: The Combined Allure of Problem, People, and Place". Health and History. 14 (2): 26. doi:. S2CID .
  • Australian Academy of Science. . www.science.org.au.
  • Bradley, Hazel (7 October 2020). . The Senior.
  • Royal Society. . royalsociety.org.
  • Chandler, Jo (12 May 2016). . Cosmos Magazine.