The 1920s Medicine and Health: Headline Makers

Harvey Williams Cushing (1869–1939) During World War I (1914–18), Harvey Williams Cushing, a brain surgeon, organized a medical unit that operated on soldiers who had received brain injuries in battle. He later wrote an authoritative paper on wartime brain impairment. During the 1920s, he frequently published books and articles on different facets of brain surgery. One of his prime contributions was a paper on intracranial tumors; Cushing identified a condition in which muscular weakness and obesity results from excessive production of ACTH, a protein hormone, secreted by the pituitary gland. The syndrome came to be known as Cushing's disease.

George (1881–1967) and Gladys (1881–1963) Dick Working at the McCormick Institute of Infectious Diseases in Chicago, the husband-and-wife team of George and Gladys Dick created a diagnostic test to determine a patient's vulnerability to scarlet fever, a deadly disease that had taken countless lives. Eventually, they were able to identify streptococcus (a bacteria) in the throats of scarlet fever patients and demonstrate that strep was the cause of the disease. The scarlet fever test that emerged from their research is named the "Dick test," after its discoverers.

Abraham Flexner (1866–1959) Abraham Flexner was noted for his efforts as a medical educator and reformer. Early in the century, he authored a groundbreaking report in which he criticized medical schools for placing profit and self-interest ahead of learning. In the report, he advised that 120 of the 155 medical schools in existence in the United States and Canada be closed. During the 1920s, he published several important reports on the status of medical education.

Simon Flexner (1863–1946) Simon Flexner, brother of Abraham Flexner, was a researcher in the fields of pathology (the study of the nature of diseases) and bacteriology (the science that relates to bacteria). Among his many accomplishments were the isolation of a strain of dysentery; the injection of serum into the spinal canal, resulting in a reduction in the death rate from meningitis; and research which laid the groundwork for the development of a polio vaccine. As a member of the scientific board of directors of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, he divided the organization into departments which centered on specific areas of medical research. In 1924, he was named the institute's director.

Reuben Leon Kahn (1887–1974) Reuben Leon Kahn's achievements as a medical researcher transcended his development of the test that became the standard for detecting syphilis. This discovery was just a stepping stone in his examination of the role that different tissues play in immunizing the body from a host of diseases. His specialty was serology (the science that deals with the properties and reactions of serums), and Kahn authored over 170 publications that dealt with the potential impact of serums as fighters against disease.

Karl Landsteiner (1868–1943) Karl Landsteiner's overriding scientific achievement was the transformation of serology from an accumulation of seemingly unrelated phenomena into a division of chemical science. He researched such diseases as polio and syphilis, transmitting the former and producing the latter in animals. Among his most far-reaching discoveries was the existence of different blood types, which elevated the safety of blood transfusions and made surgery a safer procedure. He and his colleagues discovered what came to be known as the Rh factor (genetically determined substances present in the red blood cells of 85 percent of all human beings).

Thomas Milton Rivers (1888–1962) Thomas Milton Rivers was famous for his exploration in the area of viral diseases. After years of research, he announced in 1926 a controversial theory which distinguished between bacteria and viruses. Unlike most bacteria, according to Rivers, the manner in which viruses reproduce depends upon living cells in the host (the living being that initially sustains the virus). Despite the protests of his skeptical colleagues, Rivers's theory proved to be true, and it established virology as a separate area of study for those wishing to research the causes of disease.

George Hoyt Whipple (1878–1978) George Hoyt Whipple's principal interest was the research of blood and liver ailments. His experiments proved that the consumption of calves' liver eased the effects of anemia, a malady in which the blood is lacking hemoglobin (an iron-containing protein found in red blood cells). While at the University of Rochester in 1921, his experiments with laboratory dogs proved that diets rich in liver combated anemia. His findings were announced four years later, and soon thereafter a liver extract was commercially marketed. Then in 1926, physicians George Richards Minot (1885–1950) and William Parry Murphy (1892–1987) developed a liver-based treatment for pernicious (severe) anemia, which then was a fatal disease.