James Frederic Riley

James Frederic RileyFRSEFRCSE (2 May 1912–17 January 1985) was a 20th-century English physician, radiologist and cancer specialist. His identification (working jointly with Dr Geoffrey West) that the mast cell was the main producer of histamine in the human body resulted in his being made a visiting professor at the University of Montreal and to his being awarded the Claude Bernard Medal for medical achievement.^[1] He was one of the first to identify the link between mast cells and asthma and the potential use of antihistamines in this field.^[2]

He was born in Settle, Yorkshire on 2 May 1912. He was educated at Giggleswick School in Yorkshire.

He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with an MB ChB in 1935. In 1938 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. In the Second World War he served as Assistant Surgeon to the Scottish Emergency Medical Service, and for the final year served at the rank of Major with the OC Mobile Surgical Unit in India and Malaysia.^[3] Returning to Edinburgh he received his doctorate (MD) in 1946. However, despite intentions to be a surgeon, a skin complaint on his hands prevented his being a surgeon, and he instead retrained as a radiologist, with particular interest in the use of x-rays in cancer treatment.^[4]

In 1948 he took on the role of Consultant Radiologist at Dundee Royal Infirmary. In 1950 he took on the additional role of Reader in Radiotherapy at the University of St Andrews Medical School in Dundee, which became part of Queens College Dundee in 1954 and from 1967 was part of the new University of Dundee. Riley retained the post of Reader until 1975, and was a research fellow at the University of Dundee from then until 1977.^[5] Much of his research at Dundee was devoted to the mast cell and this led to his discovery of the origins of histamine.^[5]

En 1958 recibió un segundo doctorado (PhD) de la Universidad de St Andrews . En 1968 fue elegido miembro de la Royal Society of Edinburgh . Sus proponentes fueron George H Bell , Rex Coupland , Ian George Wilson Hill y James Ernest Richey . ^{[ 6 ]}

Se jubiló en 1976 y falleció en St Andrews el 17 de enero de 1985.

En 2015, Dundee erigió una placa en su memoria como parte del "Paseo del Descubrimiento" de la ciudad. ^{[ 4 ]} Sus documentos personales se encuentran en los Servicios de Archivo de la Universidad de Dundee. ^{[ 5 ]} Gran parte de su equipo de laboratorio original se encuentra en el Museo de Historia Médica de Tayside en el Hospital Ninewells . ^{[ 7 ]} Sus documentos se encuentran en los Servicios de Archivo de la Universidad de Dundee . ^{[ 8 ]} Riley tenía interés en los ferrocarriles y estos documentos incluyen varias fotografías de ferrocarriles. ^{[ 9 ]}

• Experimentos en carcinogénesis 1939-1944 (1946)
• Histamina cutánea: su localización en los mastocitos tisulares (1956)