Date: Fri 25-Jun-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: JAN

Quick Words:

Louis-Wasserman-dies

Full Text:

Renowned Hematologist Dr Louis Wasserman Dies

(with cut)

BY JAN HOWARD

Dr Louis Robert Wasserman, an internationally renowned authority on

hematology, husband of 42 years of state Rep Julia (Weisskopf) Wasserman, died

Monday, June 21, in Danbury Hospital at the age of 88.

He had been a resident of Sandy Hook since 1960. He had been in failing health

since 1994.

During his long, distinguished career, Dr Wasserman made significant

contributions to the understanding of factors regulating production and

destruction of red blood cells.

Dr Wasserman was the world's foremost authority on polycythemia vera, a

chronic, life-threatening condition caused by an excess of red blood cells. He

made bedrock discoveries about the cause and treatment of the disease.

He began his research on polycythemia vera in 1946 at the Donner Laboratory of

the University of California at Berkeley and continued it at Mount Sinai

Medical Center.

His first contribution on polycythemia vera was published in 1947.

He is best known for his creation and chairmanship of the Polycythemia Vera

Study Group, a multi-institutional cooperative group comprised of hematology

leaders, in the mid 1960s. In 1997, the final report of that group was

published.

"He was one of the giants in American medicine," Dr Paul Berk of Mount Sinai

Hospital, a former colleague, said this week. "The study of hematology was in

its infancy when he began. He made it a major medical discipline."

He noted that Dr Wasserman was very interested in many malignant diseases of

the blood, primarily polycythemia vera.

Dr Berk said Dr Wasserman gathered an international group of colleagues that

worked with him for 20 years to study it and to identify the optimal

treatment. "They published a large number of classical papers," he said. He

noted Dr Wasserman had great skill in pulling together diverse people and

keeping them focused on the objective, especially in a project that took 20

years.

"He participated in the editing of a book in 1995 that summarized his lifetime

work in this area," Dr Berk said. "The publisher said that it was a best

seller as medical books go.

"He was first of all a doctor, a superb clinician," Dr Berk said. "Those same

skills also made him a great clinical scientist."

Dr Berk said Dr Wasserman had several special gifts. He could be tough or

gentle to move a project forward.

Dr Wasserman was responsible for basic research initiatives on the metabolism

of iron that are still the definitive studies, Dr Berk said. "Thirty years

later, no one has improved on those studies."

"He is well known in the medical world," Dr Nathaniel Berlin, a former

colleague and cancer specialist, said this week. "His studies became a model

on the study of polycythemia vera and how to treat it."

Dr Berlin said Dr Wasserman continued to see patients and be active in the

medical school at Mount Sinai following his retirement in 1980.

Dr Berlin met Dr Wasserman in June of 1947 as a graduate student at Berkeley.

He was assigned to work with Dr Wasserman, who was pursuing two lines of study

at the university that summer for measuring the amount of oxygen in the blood.

This work began a lifelong professional association and friendship between the

two men.

Dr Wasserman was president of the American Society of Hematology and served as

counselor-at-large for the International Society of Hematology since 1974. A

distinguished lectureship of the American Society of Hematology, the

Ham-Wasserman Lecturer, is named in his honor.

In 1985, there was a symposium in his honor in Minnesota, and in 1994, the

Louis R. Wasserman Visiting Professorship honored him at the Mount Sinai

School of Medicine.

In 1980, the annual Frontiers of Science symposium at Mount Sinai was

dedicated to Dr Wasserman, in recognition of his significant contributions to

both the science and practice of hematology, on the occasion of his retirement

to emeritus status.

Among his many career honors, Dr Wasserman was both Albert and Vera List

professor emeritus of hematology and distinguished service professor emeritus

at Mount Sinai Hospital School of Medicine. Dr Wasserman was held in high

esteem in academia, from which he received many honors.

In June, 1997, Dr Wasserman was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award

from Rush Medical College. At that time, his friend and colleague, Dr Harold

Laufman, ermeritus professor of surgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine

in New York City, said, "Lou Wasserman exemplifies the three major parts that

make up an expert: he had a large specialty practice; he was a distinguished

teacher; he was a creative and brilliant researcher."

In 1975 he was presented with the Jacobi Medallion, the highest honor of the

alumni of Mount Sinai Hospital, where he had served for more than 60 years.

The award was in acknowledgment of his outstanding professional achievements

and extraordinary service to the Medical Center and the alumni.

He began his career with Mount Sinai in 1937 as a research fellow in

hematology.

At the time of the founding of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Dr

Wasserman was one of the first professors of medicine. He subsequently served

as professor and chairman of the new Department of Clinical Science. He became

director of the then Department of Hematology in 1954.

Except for military service with the United States Medical Corps in World War

II and research and teaching roles at other universities and institutions, Dr

Wasserman spent his entire professional career at Mount Sinai.

He was a member of the prestigious Association of American Physicians and a

member of the National Cancer Institute's special scientific mission to Moscow

in 1972 and 1974, established by President Nixon.

Dr Wasserman's scientific achievement based on clinical research earned him

membership in many societies related to the field of medicine, in addition to

those mentioned, including co-chairman of the Diagnostic Research Advisory

Group, National Cancer Institute (NCI), 1975-77; chairman, Board of Scientific

Counselors, Division of Cancer Treatment, NCI, 1975-76; chairman, Cancer

Treatment Advisory Committee, Division of Cancer Treatment, NCI, 1974-76; vice

president, 1970-74, International Society of Hematology; member, National

Cancer Planning Committee, NCI, 1972; and member and chairman of the Advisory

Council, American Society of Hematology, 1969-70.

He was the author of nearly 200 papers. He also co-edited the books

Myelofibrosis and the Biology of Connective Tissue, Progress in Clinical and

Biological Research with Dr Berk and Dr H. Castro-Malaspina and Polycythemia

Vera and the Myeloproliferative Disorders with Dr Berk and Dr Berlin.

Locally, Dr Wasserman donated land to the Newtown Forest Association and

provided funds for trusts in memory of friends to benefit the C.H. Booth

Library. A scholarship in his name was established in 1998 through the Newtown

Scholarship Association to encourage and support the continuing education of a

student in science and medicine.

Dr Wasserman was born in New York City on July 11, 1910, the son of the late

Ethel and Jacob Wasserman of Boston. He was educated at Harvard and the Rush

Medical College of the University of Chicago. He served his internship at the

Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago.

In addition to his wife, Dr Wasserman is survived by a sister, Natalie Wolf of

Newbury, N.H.; and many nieces and nephews.

A funeral service will take place at the convenience of the family. A

celebration of Dr Wasserman's life will be held at a later date.

Contributions in Dr Wasserman's memory may be made to Hematology Department,

Mount Sinai School of Medicine, c/o Development Office, Box 1049, 1 Gustave L.

Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, or to Danbury Hospital Development Fund, 24

Hospital Avenue, Danbury, CT 06810.