Sir Ernest Donald Acheson KBE FRCS FRCP (17 September 1926 – 10 January 2010) was a British physician and epidemiologist who served as Chief Medical Officer of the United Kingdom from 1983 to 1991.

[3] His father, Captain Malcolm King Acheson, MC, MD, was a doctor who specialised in public health, and his mother, Dorothy Josephine (née Rennoldson), was the daughter of a Tyneside ship builder.

His elder brother, Roy Acheson (also Merchiston and Brasenose alumnus), was Emeritus Professor of Community Medicine in the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Churchill College.

[5] Having qualified in 1951, he practised at Middlesex Hospital and then entered the Royal Air Force Medical Branch, achieving the rank of Acting Squadron Leader (1953–55).

During his time as Chief Medical Officer, he smuggled copies of The Advocate and New York Native into Britain in diplomatic bags to avoid them being seized by customs so that he could keep abreast of developments relating to HIV/AIDS.