Phyllis J. McAlpine

Phyllis Jean McAlpine (29 August 1941 – 1 October 1998) She received a master's degree from the University of Toronto in 1966. Her thesis was called An assessment of the creatine kinase test in the detection of carriers of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. She went on to complete a PhD at University College London in 1970 with a thesis entitled Studies on the genetic variation of phosphoglucomutase in man. McAlpine was mentored and supervised by women in her field throughout her education. Her undergraduate work was performed under Helen Battle, and Margaret Thompson was her advisor in Toronto. Her PhD supervisor was Harry Harris.

Career McAlpine returned to Canada after her PhD to work as a postdoctoral fellow at Queen's University from 1970 to 1972 in the group of Nancy Simpson. McAlpine participated in a project to study genetic traits of peoples in the Arctic, living in northern Canada for a month in 1970. When she retired, her workload was so significant as to be divided between three full-time staff members. She became known as the foremost expert and leader in gene nomenclature. 1996 Honoured by Human Genome Organization at a special presentation in Heidelberg. Fellow of the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists. in Winnipeg on 1 October 1998. Her grave is in Kilmartin Cemetery, Middlesex County, Ontario.

She left a personal bequest to the University of Manitoba Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics to create a graduate fellowship in her name supporting students researching medical genetics.