2020-10-10
107PENZA STATE UNIVERSITY,
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY OF MEDICINE
HISTORY OF MEDICINE
COURSE WORK
<< Kurt Julius Isselbacher>>
NAME: Patil Yashshree Y.
GROUP:18ll5(a)
INTRUCTOR: Prof. Gavrilova.T.V
PENZA 2020
CONTENTS
-General
-Education
-Career
- Academic and scholarly activities
-Publication
-Personal Life
Kurt Julius Isselbacher
(September 12, 1925 – July 18, 2019)
Was Chief of the Gastrointestinal (GI) Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital
He was a German-born American physician and held the position of Mallinckrodt Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director Emeritus of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center.
Isselbacher was born in Wirges, Germany, to Flori (Strauss), a homemaker, and Albert Isselbacher, a merchant. His family was Jewish. After suffering atrocities from the Nazis, they emigrated and took up residence in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Education
After graduating high school in Portsmouth, Isselbacher attended Harvard College and then graduated from Harvard Medical School cum laude in 1950. After completing his residency in medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in 1953, he became a clinical and research fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Career
In 1956, Isselbacher returned to MGH and Harvard and remained there for the remainder of his professional career. He also held the position of the Mallinckrodt Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director Emeritus of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1973.
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Academic and scholarly activities
In 1953, while still a medical resident he published work supporting the association of asbestos exposure and cancer of the lung. While at the NIH, he discovered the enzymatic defect causing the hereditary disorder of galactosemia.This work led to the development of a test for this disorder which is now being used in routine screening of newborns. In addition, he elucidated the enzymatic mechanism for the formation of glucuronide conjugates, important for the detoxification of many compounds by the liver.
After returning from the NIH in 1956, at the age of 31 he was chosen to head the Gastrointestinal Unit at the MGH. Over the subsequent 30 years, his division became one of the leading centers of training, research and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases in the United States. His research during this period included the description and elucidation of a new hereditary disorder of leucine metabolism called isovaleric acidemia, the definition of enzymatic defects in absorptive disorders, delineations of biochemical mechanism of nutrient absorption, malabsorption, and protein synthesis, derangements of metabolism and immunologic aspects of hepatic gastrointestinal diseases.
In 1987, he undertook the challenge of becoming the first Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and in a relatively short period of time that Center emerged as a "premier" cancer research institute." He became Director Emeritus in 2003. For almost 30 years, (1966-1995) he served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of Harvard's Departments of Medicine and played a pivotal role in the departments' growth and quest for excellence. Dr. Isselbacher trained over 140 clinical and research fellows both in gastroenterology and oncology and many of them have become leaders in their respective fields nationally and internationally. His publications included close to 400 journal articles and book chapters.
He served on the editorial boards of Journal of Clinical Investigation (1962-1972) and Gastroenterology (1963-1968) and was also consulting editor of Medicine (1962-1994). His leadership in medicine was also recognized nationally and internationally by virtue of his role as an editor of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. This book is viewed by many as the leading text in internal medicine. It is used worldwide and has been translated into 18 languages. Dr. Isselbacher was a member and officer in many professional associations, including the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the National Research Council, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine. He served as president of the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Association for Study of Liver Diseases, and the Association of American Physicians. He also served as a member of the Science Advisory Board of the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Isselbacher received many awards and honors including the Distinguished Achievement Award and the Friedenwald Medal of the American Gastroenterological Association, the John Phillips Memorial Award for Distinguished Achievement in Clinical Medicine, and from Squibb/Mead Johnson the Award for Distinguished Achievement in Nutrition Research. In 2001, he received the Kober Medal of the Association of American Physicians, which is the highest recognition that this Association can bestow on one of its members and also an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Northwestern University.
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Isselbacher received numerous awards and honors for his scientific contributions. He was the Mallinckrodt Distinguished Professor of Medicine at HMS and President of 3 major scientific organizations—the AGA (1974–1975), from which he received the Distinguished Achievement Award and the prestigious Julius Friedenwald Medal, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (1967), and the Association of American Physicians, from which he received its most prestigious award, the Kober Medal. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (the first gastroenterologist to be elected), the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine), the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the National Research Council.
He also served as a member of the Science Advisory Board of the Food and Drug Administration. He received the John Phillips Memorial Award for Distinguished Achievement in Clinical Medicine from the American College of Physicians and the Bristol-Myers Squibb/Mead Johns Award for Distinguished Achievement in Nutrition Research. The auditorium at the Mass General Cancer Center and the conference room in the GI Unit at MGH are named for Kurt Isselbacher.
Publications
Isselbacher's memoir, Don't Call Me Cookie, was first published in 2008. Isselbacher published a second edition in 2012 that outlined his research endeavors in greater detail. The second edition of Don't Call Me Cookie was released as an e-book in 2019.
Isselbacher authored over 470 publications throughout his career as a physician-scientist and researcher.
Personal life
Family and particularly his beloved wife, Rhoda, who predeceased him in 2015. He met Rhoda Solin, a student at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, in 1956, and they married after a 3-month whirlwind courtship after which she transferred to Harvard Law School to complete her degree. Kurt chronicled these events, as well as other aspects of his life, in a personal memoir entitled, Don’t Call Me Cookie. Rhoda was an invaluable life partner to Kurt and a successful attorney and patient advocate in her own right. They had 4 children (3 living), including Eric, a cardiologist (married to Anne Becker, a psychiatrist), Karen (Kate), a general internist (married to Alan Epstein, a gastroenterologist), and Jody, a lawyer. Another daughter, Lisa, a realtor, passed away in 1999. In addition, Kurt is survived by eight grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren. As physician, scientist, academic leader, mentor, friend, and beloved father, grandfather, and greatgrandfather, Kurt Isselbacher leaves a remarkable legacy.
Sources
www.wikipedia.com
www.gastrojournal.org
www.britannica.org
