Biography William French Anderson

1 biography

1.1 childhood
1.2 career
1.3 sexual abuse conviction

biography
childhood

anderson born in tulsa, oklahoma. father civil engineer , mother journalist, writer , university professor. according biography, stuttered. overcame impediment , recognized performance in track, theater, , debate. anderson 1954 graduate of tulsa central high school.

career

he entered harvard university, became track star , published several papers, including 1 outlining method arithmetic operations using maya numerals. school teacher had written letter harvard classics department , prof. sterling dow arranged oklahoma school boy admitted harvard college , freshman s paper published in classical philology (51, 1956). following year abroad in cambridge, met future wife kathy duncan, returned harvard, medical school, accompanied kathy. married in 1961 , both graduated few years later.

anderson employed national institutes of health, beginning search find ways repair defective genes. using microinjection methods, approach slow , inefficient. after abandoning approach, contributions field non-existent until, in 1984, richard c. mulligan of mit published method insert genes using retrovirus. dr. anderson wanted test theory human disease. in 1988 proposal human gene therapy subcommittee denied, request hearing before full committee proceeded, , trial approved.

in may 1989 conducted first human safety test gene therapy, harmless marker injected 53-year-old man. year later therapeutic trial begun, replace defective ada gene in 4-year-old girl, called ashanti desilva (also called ashi). in 2007, @ age of 21, stable, still had take regular medication. scientific consensus on gene therapy trial mixed, there no question work had great impact on emerging field. research continues announcement of first gene therapy ever reach market in united states in summer of 2017 leukemia.

he joined university of southern california faculty in 1992 , director of gene therapy laboratories @ keck school of medicine , professor of biochemistry , pediatrics.

he founding editor of peer-reviewed journal human gene therapy.

sexual abuse conviction

anderson arrested on july 30, 2004 on allegations of sexual abuse of minor. convicted , jailed on july 19, 2006 of 3 counts of lewd acts upon child under age of 14 years 1997 through 2001 , 1 count of continuous sexual abuse. on february 2, 2007, sentenced 14 years in prison , ordered pay $68,000 in restitution, fines, , fees; had faced maximum of 18 years molesting girl, daughter of chinese business partner, in home when 10 15 years old. jury shown reconstructed draft e-mails victim s pc , played edited tape-recorded single conversation sting girl angrily , publicly confronted anderson, said: did it, in me evil. following conviction, anderson stripped of tenure, fired faculty position , barred campus of university of gene therapy work showing in chinese research publications later year.

in february, 2005 anderson charged in montgomery county, maryland molesting silver spring, maryland boy 3 years in 1980s. prosecutors dropped charges, citing insufficient evidence under maryland law , credibility of witness.