Below are just a handful of the celebrities, sportspeople and politicians who have lived with Addison's and adrenal insufficiency and a little about their journey with the condition, as well as the famous scientists and chemists who advanced treatment into Addison's and adrenal insufficiency. Further detailed interviews and profiles coming soon!

Dr Thomas Addison

Dr Thomas Addison (Apr 1793 - Jun 1860) discovered Addison's disease. He first identified adrenal failure around 1850, whilst at Guy's Hospital, London. Learn more about the man whose work saved the lives of individuals with Addison's disease and adrenal insufficiency for generations to come.

Jane Austen

English novelist (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817). The majority of biographers rely on Zachary Cope's 1964 retrospective diagnosis and list her cause of death as Addison's disease - however consequently it is now believed that Jane Austen’s fatal illness was tuberculosis. However the extraordinary author was also the right age to have had Addison’s and so without an autopsy, it’s impossible to completely determine what killed Austen.

Sabino Arana

Celebrated hero of Basque culture and language, and the instigator of the Basque nationalist movement (26 January 1865 – 25 November 1903).

St Elizabeth of the Trinity

Elizabeth Catez (18 July 1880 - 9 November 1906): To learn more about her life, read our Famous Lives Blog

Andrew Dasburg

American modernist painter (4 May 1887 – 13 August 1979) and "one of America's leading early exponents of cubism".

Ella Holleufer Hedtoft

A prominent Danish citizen and the wife of the Danish Prime Minister, Hans Hedtoft (22 March 1906 – 4 December 1954).

George Summerbee

English professional footballer (22 October 1914 – 19 April 1955)

President John F. Kennedy

35th president of the United States (29 May 1917 – 22 November 1963). Learn more about how JFK managed his Addison's in our Famous Lives Blog.
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