E V Keogh

Brief description

Bill Keogh had a wide influence on the development of medical research and public health in Australia through his involvement in major health programs and in policy advisory bodies such as the National Health and Medical Research Council. Joining the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) in 1928, much of Keogh's research was on viruses, for several years in collaboration with the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. His service with the Australian Army Medical Corps during WWII included working on the control of malaria with Neil Fairley (in which they had considerable success), the storage of blood serum and the provision of blood banks, and the production and distribution of the as-yet unproven penicillin. From the 1950s Keogh headed the effective campaign against tuberculosis for the Victorian Department of Health. Equally successful was the campaign against poliomyelitis in which Keogh was integral to the production of the Salk vaccine and planning the mass immunisation of the Australian population. As Director of the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria he built it from nearly moribund to a highly effective and oversaw the introduction of smear tests for the early detection of cervical cancer.

Full description

Esmond Venner (Bill) Keogh (1895-1970), soldier, medical scientist and administrator, was born on 2 November 1895 at Malvern, Melbourne, third of four children of Esmond Joseph Keogh, financial agent,...