Alfred Baring Garrod

Who was Alfred Baring Garrod?

Sir Alfred Baring Garrod FRS was an English physician.

Garrod was born in Ipswich, the son of Robert and Sarah Garrod. He initially apprenticed at Ipswich Hospital, and later moved to University College Hospital, where he earned his medical doctorate in 1843. Afterwards he was an assistant at West London Hospital and a physician at the Aldersgate Dispensary. In 1849, he was appointed full physician at University College Hospital, and in 1863 became a professor of materia medica and therapeutics at King's College Hospital. In 1874, he left the hospital to become an honorary Fellow and consultant physician to the college.

In 1848, Garrod had discovered an abnormal increase of uric acid in the blood of patients with gout, and was the first to propose lithium as a remedy for the disorder. He recommended lithium as a treatment for mental illness, and hypothesized that gout could be a cause of mood disorders such as mania and depression. He is also credited for coining the term "rheumatoid arthritis".

In 1858, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

In 1860, he was elected president of the Medical Society of London.