Maxwell Wintrobe 2974958 219475470 2008-06-15T12:11:21Z Lightbot 7178666 Units/dates/other Dr '''Maxwell Myer Wintrobe''' ([[October 27]], [[1901]]-[[December 9]] [[1986]]) was a [[Canada|Canadian]]-born physician who was a 20th century authority in the medical field of [[hematology]]. His textbook on hematology was the first dedicated work in the field, and he contributed to the diagnosic approach of [[anemia]] and [[copper]] metabolism, amongst many other achievements. ==Biography== Wintrobe was born in [[City of Halifax|Halifax, Nova Scotia]] to a [[Jew]]ish family of [[Austria]]n origin, and attended the [[University of Manitoba]] from the early age of fifteen, where he graduated in 1921 and obtained his [[M.D.]] in 1926. He married Becky Zamphir, and moved to the [[United States]], where he obtained a [[PhD]] at [[Tulane University]] in [[New Orleans, Louisiana]] in 1929 (titled "The Erythrocyte in Man"). Initially working in [[Johns Hopkins Hospital]], where he served on the faculty, he was appointed as professor of [[internal medicine]] at the College of Medicine of the [[University of Utah]] in 1943; he also served as the first Chairman of the Department of Medicine and physician-in-chief for the [[Salt Lake County General Hospital]]. In Salt Lake City he led research in hereditary and metabolic disorders (1945-1973) and cardiovascular research (1969-1973). He retired officially in 1965, but remained in function until 1973 (Valentine 1990). In that year he was elected to the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]]. ==Works== In New Orleans, Wintrobe pioneered new ways of measuring the [[hematocrit]], including what are now known as Wintrobe indices: [[mean cell volume]], [[mean cell hemoglobin]], and [[mean cell hemoglobin concentration]], all quantitative measures of the [[red blood cell]] population (Wintrobe 1932). Much of this work continued in Hopkins and Utah, where he also worked on [[pernicious anemia]], [[copper]] metabolism and [[Wilson's disease]], [[sickle-cell disease]] and other [[anemia]]s. Wintrobe was the principal editor of ''Clinical Hematology'', which first appeared in 1942 and is in its eleventh edition (Greer ''et al'' [[as of 2003|2003]]), still bearing his name. He was part of the team that pioneered the use of [[chemotherapy]] in [[cancer]] (Goodman ''et al'' 1946). He was one of the editors of the first edition (1950) of [[Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine]]. In 1980 he published ''Blood, pure and eloquent'', and in 1985 appeared ''Hematology, the Blossoming of a Science''. Both works are historical overviews of his field. ==References== * Goodman LS, Wintrobe MM, Dameshek W, Goodman MJ, Gilman A and McLennan MT. ''Nitrogen mustard therapy. Use of methyl-bis(beta-chloroethyl)amine hydrochloride and tris(beta-chloroethyl)amine hydrochloride for Hodgkin's disease, lymphosarcoma, leukemia, and certain allied and miscellaneous disorders.'' J Am Med Assoc 1946;105:475-476. Reprinted in JAMA 1984;251:2255-61. PMID 6368885. * Greer JP, Foerster J, Lukens JN. ''Wintrobe's Clinical Hematology'', 11th edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2003. ISBN 0-7817-3650-1. * Valentine WN. ''Maxwell Myer Wintrobe''. In "Biographical Memoirs". National Academy of Sciences 1990;59:446-472. ISBN 0-309-04198-8. [http://www.nap.edu/books/0309041988/html/446.html Fulltext]. * Wintrobe MM. ''The size and hemoglobin content of the erythrocyte.'' J Lab Clin Med 1932;17:899-911. Reprinted in J Lab Clin Med 1990;115:374-87. PMID 2179436. * Wintrobe MM. ''Blood, pure and eloquent; a story of discovery, of people and ideas.'' New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980. ISBN 0-07-071135-6. * Wintrobe MM. ''Hematology, the Blossoming of a Science: A Story of Inspiration and Effort''. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1985. ISBN 0-8121-0961-9. ==External links== * [http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/photo/p331/p331.html Collection of papers] at the University of Utah {{DEFAULTSORT:Wintrobe, Maxwell}} [[Category:American physicians]] [[Category:Hematologists]]