Wallace Peters was born in London on 1 April 1924. He gained his batchelor degrees in medicine and surgery in 1947 from the University of London, before serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps in West Africa. After his national service, Wallace returned to West Africa to conduct medical entomological research. He travelled throughout his life, applying his passion for natural history to the study of medicine. He was working with the World Health Organisation in Nepal in 1953 when he met Swiss-born Ruth Scheidegger; they married in Geneva in 1954. From 1961 to 1966 Wallace worked at CIBA Pharmaceuticals in Basel, Switzerland, where he conducted research on malaria. He gained his MD in 1966 from the University of London and became Walter Myers Professor of Parasitology at Liverpool University. He gained many professional awards, including in 1983 the King Faisal International Prize for medicine for his work on malaria. His King Faisal medal is held in the museum collection of the RCP.