William Twining (1790–1835) was a British military surgeon who practiced in the Indian Subcontinent.
[1] His grandfather, Griffith Twining, had (in 1770) left his home in Clarbeston, Pembrokeshire, Wales to be a missionary abroad.
[1] Twining began studying medicine at Guy's Hospital under Astley Cooper in 1808.
[1] In 1835, Twining wrote what seems to be the first modern clinical description of kala azar, which he called "tropical sprue".
[1][2] In his description, he said that it was "endemic cachexia of the tropical countries that are subject to paludal exhalations", and then listed characteristics which match contemporary understanding of the disease.