{{Short description|German-American surgeon (1875–1961)}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Richard Lewisohn | birth_date = {{birth date |1875|06|12}} | birth_place = Hamburg, Germany | death_date = {{death date and age |1961|08|11 |1875|06|12}} | death_place = New York City | fields = Surgery | workplaces = Mount Sinai Hospital (Manhattan) | alma_mater = University of Freiburg | known_for = Use of sodium citrate to prevent clotting in blood }}
'''Richard Lewisohn''' (July 12, 1875 in Hamburg – August 11, 1961 in New York<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/biogs/E005264b.htm|title=Lewisohn, Richard|last=|first=|date=April 28, 2014|website=Plarr's Lives of the Fellows Online|publisher=Royal College of Surgeons of England|access-date=March 5, 2016}}</ref>) was a German-American surgeon. At Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, he developed procedures that made blood transfusion practical. == Life and career == Lewisohn was born to German-Jewish<ref>Schwartz SI. Contributions of jewish surgeons in the United States. Rambam Maimonides Med J. 2011;2(1):e0020. Published 2011 Jan 31. doi:10.5041/RMMJ.10020</ref> parents in Hamburg and was educated at the local Gymnasium from where he entered medical school in Kiel in 1893.<ref name=":3"/> As was typical for German medical students, he attended several different medical schools, before receiving his doctorate from the University of Freiburg in 1899 with a thesis on malignant kidney tumors.<ref name=":3"/> He then served for two years as an assistant to Karl Weigert at the Senckenberg Institute in Frankfurt. In 1904 he became an assistant to Geheimrat Czerny in Heidelberg.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Klemperer|first1=P.|last2=Lewisohn|first2=M.|date=February 1962|title=Richard LEWISOHN, 1875-1961|url=https://archive.org/details/journalofmountsi2919moun|journal=Journal of the Mount Sinai Hospital, New York|volume=29|pages=1–4|issn=0099-9695|pmid=14037101}}</ref> In 1906 he emigrated to New York, where he became a gastroenterologist and surgeon;<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hedley-Whyte|first1=John|last2=Milamed|first2=Debra R|date=September 2010|title=Blood and War|journal=The Ulster Medical Journal|volume=79|issue=3|pages=125–134|issn=0041-6193|pmc=3284718|pmid=22375087}}</ref> from 1928 to 1936 he was chief of the general surgical service at Mount Sinai.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Schwartz|first=Seymour|date=January 2011|title=Contributions of Jewish surgeons in the United States|url=http://www.rmmj.org.il/(S(m1ms2c553mmv0b3y353t5o55))/Pages/Article.aspx?manuId=35|journal=Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal|volume=2|issue=1|article-number=e0020|doi=10.5041/rmmj.10020|pmid=23908792|access-date=March 5, 2016|pmc=3678788|archive-date=October 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011062822/http://www.rmmj.org.il/(S(m1ms2c553mmv0b3y353t5o55))/Pages/Article.aspx?manuId=35|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Scientific career == === Blood transfusion === Following early speculation and its use in animal transfusion,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mollison|date=January 2000|title=The Introduction of Citrate as an Anticoagulant for Transfusion and of Glucose as a Red Cell Preservative|journal=British Journal of Haematology|language=en|volume=108|issue=1|pages=13–18|doi=10.1046/j.1365-2141.2000.01827.x|pmid=10651719|s2cid=29218159|issn=1365-2141|doi-access=free}}</ref> in April 1914 Belgian physician Albert Hustin used sodium citrate to prevent donated blood from clotting during transfusion.<ref name=":0" /> Luis Agote had also used a citrate method at Buenos Aires on 14 November 1914.<ref name=":0" /> Working independently, Lewisohn's contribution, in 1915, was to determine the optimal concentration of sodium citrate for preserving blood products without inducing toxicity (0.2% for transfusions not exceeding 5g).<ref name=":1">{{cite journal|date=February 1962|title=In Memoriam: Richard Lewisohn, M.D., F.A.C.S., Hon. F.R.C.S|journal=Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England|volume=30|pages=130–131|pmc=2414161|number=2}}</ref> Correct use of sodium citrate made it possible to preserve blood products for longer and longer periods of time allowing donor and donee to be geographically separate. His research was put into use during the First World War<ref name=":1" /> though it was only introduced to British medical services in 1917 (by Oswald Robertson).<ref name=":0" /> === Surgery === In 1922, he convinced his colleague Albert Berg to perform the first subtotal gastrectomy for peptic ulcer in the United States.<ref name=":2" /> He had traveled previously to Hans von Haberer in Innsbruck, Austria, where the method had already been applied and where he became familiar with the surgical techniques.<ref name=":2" /> Following the successful application at Mount Sinai, the technique spread to the rest of the United States for ulcers resistant to other treatment.<ref name=":3"/> Lewisohn was also a contemporary of Alexis Moschcowitz and his successor as chief of the general surgical service at Mount Sinai.<ref name=":2" />
In 1937, Lewisohn retired from active surgery and became a consulting surgeon. He focused his time on cancer research,<ref name=":3"/> and was "the first to define the significance of folic acid in the biology of cancer" and was "among the first to use folic acid antagonists clinically".<ref name=":2" /> He spent approximately ten years thus engaged, before retiring more completely, only to re-enter the world of medical research in 1954, to oversee and the creation of a new cell research laboratory at Mount Sinai, made possible by a large donation.<ref name=":3"/> === Honours === In 1955 he received the American Association of Blood Banks' Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award.<ref name=":0" /> In January 1959 he became an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, having been a fellow of the American College of Surgeons since 1916.<ref name=":1" /> Lewisohn was also a Fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association, and served on the American Board of Surgery.<ref name=":1" /> == Personal life == In 1911, Lewisohn married Constance Strauss. They had three children, two of whom survived to adulthood.<ref name=":3"/>
==Selected works== * {{cite journal|year=1924|title=The Citrate Method of Blood Transfusion after Ten Years; A Retrospect|journal=The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal|volume=190|issue=18|pages=733–742|doi=10.1056/NEJM192405011901801|issn=0096-6762|last1=Lewisohn|first1=Richard}} * {{cite journal|last1=Lewisohn|first1=Richard|title=Blood transfusion by the citrate method|journal=The American Journal of Medicine|volume=13|issue=5|year=1952|pages=550–555|issn=0002-9343|doi=10.1016/0002-9343(52)90019-3|pmid=12996530}} (Reprinted from the original 1915 article.)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://scienceheroes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=173&Itemid=171 Science Heroes: Lewisohn, Richard] * {{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/redgold/innovators/bio_lewisohn.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090820063247/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/redgold/innovators/bio_lewisohn.html |archive-date=2009-08-20 |access-date=2016-02-27 |title=Richard Lewisohn |publisher=PBS |work=Red Gold: The Epic Story of Blood}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewisohn, Richard}} Category:1875 births Category:1961 deaths Category:American surgeons Category:Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States Category:19th-century German Jews Category:German surgeons Category:Blood donation Category:University of Freiburg alumni Category:Fellows of the American Gastroenterological Association