{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2018}} {{Infobox medical person |name =Alexander Leaf |birth_name=Alexander Livshiz |image = |caption = |birth_date ={{birth date|mf=yes|1920|04|10}} |birth_place =Yokohama, Japan |death_date ={{death date and age|df=yes|2012|12|24|1920|04|10}} |death_place =Boston, Massachusetts |profession =Physician, research scientist |specialism =Preventive medicine |research_field = |known_for = Discoveries about diet and human longevity, and the dangers of global warming to the human species |years_active = |education =University of Washington<br />University of Michigan |work_institutions =Massachusetts General Hospital<br />Harvard Medical School |prizes =1966 Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences<br />1972 Elected to National Academy of Sciences<br />1978 Elected to Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences<br />1981 Homer W. Smith Award in Renal Physiology<br />1982 Foreign Member, Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters<br />1995 Kober Medal of the Association of American Physicians<br />1997 A.N. Richards Award of the International Society of Nephrology |relations = }}
'''Alexander Leaf''' (April 10, 1920 – December 24, 2012) was a physician and research scientist best known for his work linking diet and exercise to the prevention of heart disease. He also contributed significantly to establishing the relationship between longer, hotter summers and outbreaks of infectious diseases like malaria in regions previously unaffected by them.<ref name=Vitello>{{cite news|last=Vitello|first=Paul|title=Alexander Leaf Dies at 92; Linked Diet and Health|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/07/us/alexander-leaf-dies-at-92-linked-diet-and-health.html?ref=obituaries&_r=0|access-date=January 8, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 6, 2013}}</ref>
Alexander Leaf was born Alexander Livshiz on April 10, 1920, in Yokohama, Japan. His family had fled there after the Bolshevik Revolution. The family name was changed when they emigrated to Seattle in 1922.<ref name=Vitello />
After graduating from University of Washington as a chemistry major in 1940,<ref name=Harvard>{{cite web|title=Biographical sketch |url=http://nutrition.med.harvard.edu/personnel/biosketch/Leaf_bio.pdf |publisher=Harvard Medical School |access-date=January 8, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100627080030/http://nutrition.med.harvard.edu/personnel/biosketch/Leaf_bio.pdf |archive-date=June 27, 2010 }}</ref> Dr. Leaf received his medical degree from the University of Michigan in 1943, completing his internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1944 to 1946.<ref name=Harvard />
Dr. Leaf contributed significantly to the understanding of the causes of heart disease through his research on how sodium and potassium pass through cell walls.
He was chief of medical services at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1966 to 1981. In 1961, he became a founding member of Physicians for Social Responsibility, opposing nuclear proliferation. In 1972, he became one of the first practicing physicians ever elected to the National Academy of Sciences.<ref name=Vitello />
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [http://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/med00106/catalog The Alexander Leaf papers] – at Harvard Medical Library archives {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leaf, Alexander}} Category:1920 births Category:2012 deaths Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:University of Washington alumni Category:University of Michigan Medical School alumni Category:Japanese emigrants to the United States Category:American people of Russian descent Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine
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