Robert Clancy (doctor)
Robert Llewellyn Clancy is an Australian clinical immunologist and a pioneer in the field of mucosal immunology. He is known for his research and development of therapies for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, commonly known as emphysema.
Clancy and his team's research into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease concentrated on the link between the gut and the lung, and was able to provide evidence that the best way to create immunity against infection in the respiratory tract was to stimulate the gut immune system, whereby these activated cells migrate to the lung and make antibodies against organisms responsible for the infection.
Professor Clancy developed the vaccine Broncostat at the University of Newcastle in 1985. The Broncostat vaccine reduces attacks of acute bronchitis to a degree of 90%.
Clancy is Emeritus Professor at the University of Newcastle's School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy. He was previously Foundation Chair of Pathology at the University of Newcastle and earlier in his career, was the first clinical immunologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. Clancy holds a B.Sc.Med and a MB.BS from the University of Sydney, and a PhD from Monash University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australia. He was admitted as a Member of the Order of Australia in 2005 for service to cartography as a collector of early maps of Australia, and to the field of immunology.
In addition to his published medical research and writing, Professor Clancy is the author of The Mapping of Terra Australis and co-author of Maps that shaped Australia, and So came they South.
