William French Anderson

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William French Anderson, M.D. (born 1936) is a U.S. geneticist and molecular biologist. He is considered a pioneer of gene therapy. He graduated from Harvard College in 1958 and from Harvard Medical School in 1963. In 1990, he claimed to be the first person ever to succeed in gene therapy of a 4-year-old girl suffering from SCID (a form of an immuno-deficiency disorder called "bubble boy disease"). His claims were later found to have been exaggerated (see Technology Review, November/December 2006 issue, p. 43, or http://www.technologyreview.com/BioTech/17725/page4/).

Dr. Anderson is currently employed by University of Southern California. He is also the founding editor of the peer-reviewed journal Human gene therapy. He has a genius-level IQ of 176.

Anderson was jailed on July 30, 2004, on allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. He was convicted on July 19, 2006 of three counts of lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14 for the years 1997 through 2001 and one count of continuous sexual abuse. He faces up to 22 years in state prison for molesting the now 19-year-old girl, the daughter of his colleague, in his home when she was 10 to 15 years old. ^[1]

He was ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation prior to the verdict, and he will remain in custody until his sentencing November 17, 2006. In February, 2005 Anderson was also charged in Montgomery County, Maryland with molesting a Silver Spring, Maryland boy for three years in the 1980's.

1 Childhood
2 Further reading
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Childhood

Anderson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His father was an engineer and his mother was a journalist. According to his biography, he was a stutterer who eventually overcame his impediment and was recognized for his performance in track, theater, and debate.