The Scottish surgeon, Gordon Alexander Ryrie, MB, ChB (1899-1953), was the medical superintendent of Sungai Buloh Leprosy Settlement in Malaya for 17 years. He built the institution up from primitive conditions to a model community of one of the best-equipped and largest of leprosaria. In research, he contributed particularly to the study of racial differences in the disease, as found among the native Malayans, the Indians and the Chinese. He was the first to give a preliminary favourable report on the use of thiosemicarbazone for leprosy (Lancet, Aug 19, 1950). At that time a number of workers considered this compound to be as effective as sulfone therapy against leprosy. In 1947 he was appointed as medical secretary of BELRA but was forced to resign in 1950 due to ill health.

International Journal of Leprosy, Centennial Festskrift edition, Vol 41, No 2. 1973.

There is an obituary in the Lancet, 1.12 (21 March, 1953): 604.

This entry was updated 6 October, 2006.

Treatment Used/Researched:
Other Medications Ryrie was the first to give a preliminary favourable report on the use of thiosemicarbazone for leprosy (Lancet, Aug 19, 1950).

Research Institute(s) associated with:
Sungei Buloh, Malaya (currently Malaysia)