# Tracy Putnam > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tracy_Putnam > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tracy_Putnam.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Putnam > Source revision: 1345402077 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American medical researcher}} {{Infobox scientist | name =Tracy Putnam | birth_date = {{birth date|1894|04|14}} | birth_place = [Boston](/source/Boston), [Massachusetts](/source/Massachusetts), U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1975|03|29|1894|04|14}} | death_place = [New York City](/source/New_York_City), U.S. | alma_mater =[Harvard College](/source/Harvard_College)
[Harvard Medical School](/source/Harvard_Medical_School) | fields = Neuroscience | known_for = Co-discovering [Dilantin](/source/Dilantin) |workplaces =[New York Neurological Institute](/source/New_York_Neurological_Institute) }} '''Tracy Jackson Putnam''' (April 14, 1894 – March 29, 1975) among other things was a co-discoverer of [Dilantin](/source/Dilantin) for controlling [epilepsy](/source/epilepsy).Lewis P. Rowland, The Legacy of Tracy J. Putnam and H. Houston Merritt: Modern Neurology in the United States, Arch Neurol. 2009; 66(3):415. == Education == Putnam graduated from [Harvard College](/source/Harvard_College) in 1915, and then from [Harvard Medical School](/source/Harvard_Medical_School) in 1920.{{cite web|url=http://www.societyns.org/society/bio.aspx?MemberID=2839|title=The Society of Neurological Surgeons|website=Societyns.org|access-date=20 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829110230/http://www.societyns.org/society/bio.aspx?MemberID=2839|archive-date=2018-08-29|url-status=live}} == Career == Putnam worked for the [Boston City Hospital](/source/Boston_City_Hospital) and in the [New York Neurological Institute](/source/Neurological_Institute_of_New_York) at [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University). He was promoted to director after his work with [phenytoin](/source/phenytoin) ([Dilantin](/source/Dilantin)).Lewis P. Rowland, The Legacy of Tracy J. Putnam and H. Houston Merritt: Modern Neurology in the United States, N Engl J Med 2009; 360:941–942, February 26, 2009 In 1938, people including himself and [H. Houston Merritt](/source/H._Houston_Merritt) discovered phenytoin's usefulness for controlling seizures, without the sedative effects associated with [phenobarbital](/source/phenobarbital). According to ''Goodman and Gilman's Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics'':
In contrast to the earlier accidental discovery of the antiseizure properties of [potassium bromide](/source/potassium_bromide) and phenobarbital, phenytoin was the product of a search among nonsedative structural relatives of phenobarbital for agents capable of suppressing electroshock convulsions in laboratory animals.{{ cite book | title = Goodman and Gilman's Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics | edition = 10th | location = New York | publisher = McGraw-Hill | year = 2001 }}
At his time there were quotas for Jewish physicians. He opposed the existence of the quotas. He was forced to resign from Columbia in 1947, maybe because of this.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/health/26quot.html|title=When Jewish Doctors Faced Quotas, a Pose in Defiance|last=Lerner|first=Barron H.|date=2009-05-25|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-06-22|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} However, other sources mention a "personal tragedy" Putnam went through at that time (presumably the death of his daughter, Lucy Washburn Putnam, on September 24, 1947),{{cite web|url=http://alums.vassar.edu/connect/class/1940s/1948-9/index.html#cca-memoriam|title=1948/49 - Office of Alumnae/i Affairs & Development (OAAD) - Vassar College|website=Alums.vassar.edu|access-date=20 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150817174017/http://alums.vassar.edu/connect/class/1940s/1948-9/index.html#cca-memoriam|archive-date=2015-08-17|url-status=live}} after which he resigned from Columbia and abandoned all scientific activities.{{Cite web |url=http://www.ilae.org/visitors/Documents/PutnamTJ1894-1975andHoustonMerritt1902-1979refere.pdf |title={title} |access-date=2013-08-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407062219/http://www.ilae.org/visitors/Documents/PutnamTJ1894-1975andHoustonMerritt1902-1979refere.pdf |archive-date=2014-04-07 |url-status=dead }} He treated Johnny Gunther for a brain tumor. Gunther’s eventual death from that tumor was written about by his father [John Gunther](/source/John_Gunther) in the 1949 book ''[Death Be Not Proud](/source/Death_Be_Not_Proud_(book))''.[John Gunther](/source/John_Gunther), ''Death Be Not Proud'' (1949). Harper Perennial edition 1998: ISBN 0-06-092989-8 In 1937, Putnam and [Alexandra Adler](/source/Alexandra_Adler) conducted a study about [multiple sclerosis](/source/multiple_sclerosis).{{Cite journal|last=Putnam|first=Tracy J.|date=July 1937|title=Vascular Architecture of the Lesions of Multiple Sclerosis|url=http://archneurpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/archneurpsyc.1937.02260190011001|journal=Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry|language=en|volume=38|issue=1|pages=1–15|doi=10.1001/archneurpsyc.1937.02260190011001|issn=0096-6754|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite web|title=Biography of Alexandra Adler|url=https://www.apadivisions.org/division-35/about/heritage/alexandra-adler-biography|access-date=2021-03-14|website=www.apadivisions.org|language=en}} The study was conducted on the brain of a multiple sclerosis victim, and resulted in new information on how the disease affected the human body. Illustrations from the study are frequently used in medical literature.{{cite journal| last = Vande Kemp| first = Hendrika| title = Alexandra Adler, 1901-2001| journal = The Feminist Psychologist| publisher = Society for the Psychology of Women| volume = 30| issue = 2 | date = Spring 2003| url = http://www.psych.yorku.ca/femhop/Adler.htm| format = reprint |access-date = 2012-10-08}} Putnam was one of the first persons to propose, as early as the 1930s, a vascular cause for [multiple sclerosis](/source/multiple_sclerosis),{{Cite journal|last=Putnam|first=Tracy J.|date=June 1937|title=Evidences of Vascular Occlusion in Multiple Sclerosis and "Encephalomyelitis"|url=http://archneurpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/archneurpsyc.1937.02260180078006|journal=Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry|language=en|volume=37|issue=6|pages=1298–1321|doi=10.1001/archneurpsyc.1937.02260180078006|issn=0096-6754|url-access=subscription}} resurrecting the previous works of [Eduard von Rindfleisch](/source/Eduard_von_Rindfleisch). The idea remained obscure until the syndrome of [chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency](/source/chronic_cerebrospinal_venous_insufficiency) (CCSVI) was associated with multiple sclerosis in 2008. In 1963 Putnam had a small role in the science-fiction movie ''[The Slime People](/source/The_Slime_People)''. He played a scientist and was not listed in the credits. ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Putnam, Tracy}} Category:1975 deaths Category:1894 births Category:Harvard Medical School alumni Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Place of birth missing Category:Place of death missing Category:Nationality missing Category:American neuroscientists Category:20th-century American medical doctors Category:Medical doctors from Boston --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tracy Putnam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Putnam) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Putnam?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.