Fred Allison Jr., M.D.
Allison
Dr. Fred Allison, Jr. of Nashville, Tennessee, professor of medicine emeritus at Vanderbilt University and an original faculty member of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, died May 8.
He was 92.
A native of Abington, Virginia, Allison was the son of distinguished Auburn physicist Dr. Fred Allison and Elizabeth Harriet Kelly. Reared in Auburn, Alabama, Allison graduated from Auburn University. He served as a member of the Army Specialized Training Corps and graduated from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1946.
Allison trained in internal medicine at Vanderbilt Hospital, Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, and the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. After specializing in virology and infectious diseases at Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans, he began research into cellular immunity at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
In 1955, he became one of the original faculty of the new School of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The Fred Allison Jr., M.D. Infectious Diseases Laboratory at UMMC bears his name.
In 1968, after a sabbatical year of study at the Rockefeller University in New York City, Allison was appointed as the Edgar Hull Professor and Head of the Department of Medicine at the LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans and chief of medicine at the L.S.U. Division of Charity Hospital.
Upon retiring from LSU in 1987, Allison returned to his alma mater, Vanderbilt University, as a professor of medicine and physician-In-chief of the Nashville Metropolitan General Hospital. In 1993, he was appointed chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at Vanderbilt, a position he had until 1996, before serving as a consultant in internal medicine for the Zerfoss Student Health Service at Vanderbilt.
Allison was a frequent contributor to pertinent journals and textbooks in his field of research and was a member of several professional medical organizations.
He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Clara Knox Allison of Nashville, four children and three grandchildren. A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 12, at Christ Church Cathedral, 900 Broadway, Nashville, Tennessee, with visitation one hour before the service.