Obituary of John A Galloway

John Allison Galloway, 96, an endocrinologist whose major contributions to the study and treatment of diabetes transformed the lives of diabetics, died April 4, 2025 in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

Dr. Galloway was Clinical Research Fellow and principal physician in charge of diabetes-related research at the Lilly Laboratory for Clinical Research, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was the holder of four patents and author/coauthor of over eighty publications and fifty abstracts in diabetic research, as well as two books.

Dr. Galloway was the lead physician in the creation and development of human insulin which replaced the less desirable animal product. His research team then developed and formulated commercial insulins. These greatly improved the source, supply, and availability of insulin needed to treat diabetics.

“Dr. John A. Galloway has been that leader, whose clinical curiosity, insights, dedication, and commitment to others brought insulin therapy from the impurified, low-potency animal insulins to the modern insulins of today,” wrote James H. Anderson in December 2018, in the journal Diabetes Care.

Prior to the development of an insulin comparable to that produced in the human pancreas, diabetic patients were treated with insulin made from cow or pig pancreases. This procedure often caused the patient’s body to form antibodies, proteins the body creates to protect it when it detects the presence of anything foreign. That reaction then required further testing and research before the individual patient could be successfully treated.

As Clinical Research Fellow and the most senior Lilly physician, Dr. Galloway provided essential direction for the development of Lilly’s human insulin analog programs.

Dr. Galloway joined Eli Lilly and Co. in 1962, retiring as Clinical Research Fellow at the end of 1993. For nineteen years, he was the principal physician in charge of diabetes-related research at the Lilly Laboratory for Clinical Research at Wishard Memorial Hospital, at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He was also Professor of Medicine at the IU School of Medicine, becoming professor emeritus in 1997.

Following his retirement, he was a part-time consultant to Lilly’s diabetes research and diabetes care divisions for three years. He also consulted with pharmaceutical companies and other research facilities on diabetes research and treatment through 1997.

Dr. Galloway was born in Omaha, Nebraska on December 8, 1928. He attended Saint Albans School, Washington, D.C., graduating in 1946. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1950. That August, he joined the U.S. Army, as a second lieutenant. He saw combat duty in Korea and was promoted to first lieutenant.

After being released from military service in August 1952 to attend the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, he graduated in June 1956. He served his internship at Nebraska Methodist Hospital, Omaha, and residency in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia. During his last year he was chief medical resident.

In 1961, he was a fellow and instructor in endocrinology and diabetes at Temple University Hospital where he and Dr. Charles R. Shuman published the first medical journal report on the use of computers to analyze large amounts of clinical data from diabetes patients.

He was in private practice for a short period in York, Pennsylvania, until joining Eli Lilly and Co. in April 1962.

Dr. Galloway was a member and Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and co-founder and president (1973-74) of the the American Diabetes Association, Indiana affiliate. He was also a member of the International Diabetes Federation and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

He served two terms on the American Diabetes Association Board of Directors. He was also a member of the ADA’s Therapeutics Committee and chaired the Insurance Committee and a Task Force for Third-Party Payment for Diabetes Education.

He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Collier County Medical Society, and the Florida Medical Association.

Dr. Galloway, with his fellow researchers, held four patents in human insulin development. He was also principal author and co-editor of Eli Lilly’s Diabetes Mellitus, ninth edition.

He received numerous awards for his diabetes research and was honored in 2000 when the International Diabetes Federation John A. Galloway Award and Lectureship was established.

He was elected to the Alpha of Nebraska chapter of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary medical fraternity in 2003. In 1998, Dr. Galloway was awarded the Josiah Kirby Lilly Distinguished Service Award from the Indiana Diabetes Association. In 1982, he received the John H. Warvel Award for Service to the American Diabetes Association, Indiana Affiliate, as well as the Research Award, University of Santiago, d’Compestella, Santiago, Spain.

Dr. Galloway was preceded in death by his wife, Shirlee L. Delpiaz, daughter, Elizabeth Lee Galloway Burris, and son, Clark Hewett Galloway II.  He is survived by his second wife, Mildred (Goodspeed) Galloway; children John Allison Galloway Jr., Laura Anne Galloway (Jonathan), stepdaughters Cheryl Bentsen and Christine Bentsen (Roger), five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. 

Services will be private. The family requests that donations be made to the American Diabetes Association.