Frank J. Dixon, M.D. Director Emeritus*
A Lifetime of Achievement
Dr. Dixon was a founding board member of LIAI and served on the Institute's Board of Directors for 16 years, 14 of those as Chairman. He retired from our Board in 2005, at which time he was appointed Director Emeritus of the Institute. A renowned leader in the scientific community, Dr. Dixon was a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, and was a founder and longtime director of The Scripps Research Institute. "Dr. Dixon's career was one of pioneering endeavors and remarkable scientific achievement," said Mitchell Kronenberg, Ph.D., LIAI President and Scientific Director. "The Institute benefited greatly from his guiding hand, forthright style and keen insight. We owe much to his many years of service."
Dr. Dixon became the first director of the Scripps Clinic (now known as The Scripps Research Institute) in 1961 and served as its director until 1986, guiding its growth into the largest independent, nonprofit biomedical research institute in the United States. Dr. Dixon developed techniques for tracing small amount of molecules in living tissues. He used these methods to determine how complexes of antibodies, immune molecules in the blood, can cause serum sickness when bound to foreign substances or antigens. The pathologic effect of these antibody-antigen complexes is critical for understanding autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. These findings created a new medical discipline - immunopathology or disease caused by the action of the immune system - constituting a breakthrough in medicine that illuminated the underlying mechanisms of an entire class of human diseases. In recognition of these achievements, Dr. Dixon was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and he received the coveted Albert Lasker Medical Research Award in 1975.
In total, Dr. Dixon earned more than 20 major awards for his lifetime of scientific achievement, and served on numerous scientific advisory committees for major organizations, including the National Kidney Foundation, the World Health Organization and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
To learn more about Dr. Dixon's distinguished scientific career, please click here to read articles from the San Diego Union Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.* deceased
