We are celebrating the first Wilson’s Disease Awareness Day in honour of Dr Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson (6 December 1877 – 12 May 1937), an American-British neurologist after whom this rare genetic liver disease is named.
Dr Wilson built on the research of other scientists who sought to explain this rare and mysterious disease. In his 1911 dissertation, he described a familial neurological disorder associated with liver cirrhosis.
Wilson’s disease can present as liver disease, a neurological disorder, a psychiatric illness, or a combination of these symptoms, making it challenging to diagnose.
Dr Wilson called the disease progressive lenticular degeneration. Although he suspected a toxic substance was responsible, it took another three decades for scientists to discover that copper was the cause.
It took another four decades before the first promising treatment option was introduced in 1956—penicillamine, developed by the British physician Dr John Walshe.
We join the global Wilson’s disease community to honour Dr Wilson and celebrate all dedicated researchers, physicians, and patients with Wilson’s disease worldwide. On behalf of the global Wilson’s disease community, we are immensely grateful for Dr Wilson’s tireless work. We believe he would be delighted by the exciting advances being made in the field of Wilson’s disease.