Fred Allison, Jr., was educated at Auburn University, B.S. 1944 and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, M.D., 1946. He completed internships at Vanderbilt, Peter Bent Brigham hospital, and Washington University. He also was a Guest Investigator at the Rockefeller University from 1966-1967. From 1968-1987, Dr. Allison was Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department at Louisiana State University. As a component of his responsibility, he was Physician-in-Chief at the Charity Hospital in New Orleans. He was appointed professor of medicine at Vanderbilt in 1987.