Eli Moschcowitz

{{Short description|American doctor (1879–1964)}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Eli Moschcowitz | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1879|08|02|df=y}} | birth_place = Girált, Sáros County, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary <br /><small>(present-day Giraltovce, Prešov Region, Slovakia)</small> | death_date = {{death date and age|1964|02|23|1879|08|02|df=y}} | death_place = Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S. | residence = | citizenship = American | nationality = | fields = Medicine, Pathology | workplaces = Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Beth Israel Medical Center Mount Sinai Hospital (Manhattan) | alma_mater = Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = Discovery of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | footnotes = | spouse = }}

'''Eli Moschcowitz''' (2 August 1879 – 23 February 1964)<ref>Marcus, Jacob Rader & Daniels, Judith M. (Ed.): ''The concise dictionary of American Jewish biography''. Carlson Publications, Brooklyn (New York) 1994, {{ISBN|0926019740}}, p. 449.</ref> was an American doctor best known for his role in discovering thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), which was originally called "Moschcowitz syndrome".<ref>{{Cite journal | pmid = 9828253 | year = 1998 | last1 = Moake | first1 = J. L. | title = Moschcowitz, multimers, and metalloprotease | journal = New England Journal of Medicine | volume = 339 | issue = 22 | pages = 1629–31 | doi = 10.1056/NEJM199811263392210 }}</ref> He is also known for having an early role in the development of psychosomatic medicine.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.psychoanalysis-and-therapy.com/human_nature/free-associations/engel1.html |title=Psychoanalysis Psychotherapy |publisher=Psychoanalysis-and-therapy.com |access-date=2015-04-26 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304065855/http://www.psychoanalysis-and-therapy.com/human_nature/free-associations/engel1.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | author = Lorand Alex, Moschcowitz Eli | year = 1934 | title = A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of the Constitution in Graves' Syndrome | journal = Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease | volume = 79 | issue = 2| pages = 136–152 | doi=10.1097/00005053-193402000-00002| s2cid = 147511588 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | author = Moschcowitz| year = 1935 | title = Psychogenic Origin of Organic Diseases | journal = New England Journal of Medicine | volume = 212 | issue = 14| pages = 603–611 | doi=10.1056/nejm193504042121402}}</ref>

==Early life== Moschcowitz was born to a Jewish family in Girált, Hungary.

==Career== Moschcowitz received a medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He spent much of his career as a pathologist at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan, and was later medical director of Mount Sinai Hospital (Manhattan) and Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/24/archives/eli-moshcowitz-internist-is-dead-exdirector-at-mt-sinai-did-work-in.html|title=ELI MOSHCOWITZ, INTERNIST, IS DEAD; Ex-Director at Mt. Sinai Did Work in Psychosomatics|date=February 24, 1964|via=NYTimes.com|access-date=July 6, 2024|archive-date=July 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240701045356/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/24/archives/eli-moshcowitz-internist-is-dead-exdirector-at-mt-sinai-did-work-in.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=EDITOR'S NOTE Classics in Medicine |url=https://gematologica.narod.ru/ELI_MOSCHCOWITZ.pdf |access-date=4 July 2024 |archive-date=6 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106041829/http://gematologica.narod.ru/ELI_MOSCHCOWITZ.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> He was also a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine.

In 1925 Moschcowitz described the autopsy pathology of a young female patient who died of a disease that first caused petechiae, pallor, paralysis, and coma.<ref>An acute febrile pleiochromic anemia with hyaline thrombosis of terminal arterioles and capillaries: An undescribed disease.Archives of Internal Medicine, Chicago, 1925, 36: 89)</ref> Her blood vessels were largely filled with platelets.<ref>{{Cite journal | pmid = 9828253| year = 1998| last1 = Moake| first1 = J. L.| title = Moschcowitz, multimers, and metalloprotease| journal = New England Journal of Medicine| volume = 339| issue = 22| pages = 1629–31| doi = 10.1056/NEJM199811263392210}}</ref> Modern reports still occasionally refer to TTP as "Moschcowitz disease" or "Moschcowitz syndrome".<ref>{{PubMedAuthorSearch|Moschcowitz|E}}</ref>

==Chess== Moschcowitz was a member of the Manhattan Chess Club. When the former world chess champion José Raúl Capablanca collapsed in what would prove to be his fatal stroke, Moschcowitz arranged the ambulance to take him to Mount Sinai Hospital. After Capablanca died the next morning, Moschcowitz was one of the three doctors who performed the full autopsy.<ref>Edward Winter, [http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/capablanca13.html Capablanca's Death] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190112060608/http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/capablanca13.html |date=2019-01-12 }}, ''Chess History'', last updated 31 August 2015.</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moschcowitz, Eli}} Category:1879 births Category:1964 deaths Category:American hematologists Category:Jewish American scientists Category:Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni Category:People from Giraltovce Category:Jewish Hungarian scientists Category:20th-century Hungarian medical doctors Category:American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Category:Jews from Austria-Hungary