He gained his PhD at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on the ability of parasites to survive desiccation.
Based on his research, the ministry of health officially determined that disinfection of bedding and garments (knows as 'stoving') was not required to properly treat scabies, thus saving the military an estimated half a million pounds per year.
[5] On his return to England, he worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and then became head of the Entomology Department at Rothamsted Experimental Station.
In 1961, Mellanby founded and served as director of the Monks Wood Experimental Station, an ecological research center in Huntingdon, England.
On p. 75 of his book The DDT Story, Mellanby famously wrote: [The] consumption of smaller doses in the milligram range appears to be quite harmless.