Abraham Lilienfeld

Abraham Lilienfeld
Born Abraham Morris Lilienfeld
(1920-11-13)November 13, 1920
New York City, United States
Died August 6, 1984(1984-08-06) (aged 63)
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Heart attack
Nationality American
Fields Epidemiology
Institutions Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health
Alma mater Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health
Known for Expanding epidemiology to focus on chronic as well as infectious diseases[1]
Influences Alexander Langmuir[2]
Notable awards Ernest Lyman Stebbins medal from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, member of the Institute of Medicine[1]
Spouse Lorraine Zemil
Children Three children, seven grandchildren[1][3]

Abraham Morris "Abe" Lilienfeld (November 13, 1920 – August 6, 1984) was an American epidemiologist and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Early life and education

Lilienfeld was born in New York City on November 13, 1920.[4] His father, Joe Lilienfeld, came from a wealthy family in Galicia, Ukraine, and worked as a Galician rabbinical scholar.[4][5] Joe and his wife had immigrated to the United States in 1914 to escape the draft, leaving their money (which was all in German marks) behind in Germany when they did so.[4][5] He graduated from Erasmus High School, whereupon he enrolled at Johns Hopkins University, where he moved in with his brother, Sam, in 1938.[4] In 1941, he received his A.B. from Johns Hopkins, after which he applied to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, but was told he would be rejected because he was Jewish.[4] He then enrolled at Albany Medical College for a time before transferring to the University of Maryland's medical school.[4] He received his M.D. from the University of Maryland in 1944, and his M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1949.[6]

Career

Lilienfeld joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health as a lecturer in 1950, and became an Assistant Professor of epidemiology there in 1952.[6] From 1954 to 1958, he served on the faculty of the University of Buffalo School of Medicine.[1] During this time, he also founded, and served as the first chairman of, the Department of Statistics and Epidemiological Research at Roswell Park Memorial Institute.[1] In 1958, he returned to Johns Hopkins, where he became the head of the Department of Chronic Diseases in 1961.[1][6] In 1964, he was named the staff director of the President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke.[4] In 1970, he resigned his position as the head of the department of chronic diseases at Johns Hopkins to become the Chair of the Department of Epidemiology there.[6] In 1975, he resigned as chair of this department.[6] He has been described as "instrumental" in the founding of the American College of Epidemiology in 1979.[7]

Work

Lilienfeld is known for working to expand the field of epidemiology from its original focus on infectious diseases to include chronic diseases,[1] which has led to him being called the "father of contemporary chronic disease epidemiology."[8][9] He is also known for, along with Richard Bordow, co-authoring the chapter "Biomedical Evidence for Determining Causality" in the Surgeon General's 1982 report Health Consequences of Smoking: Cancer,[10] as well as for advocating for the link between smoking and lung cancer in a 1962 article he wrote for The Nation.[5] In 1976, he and his colleagues began a study investigating the health effects of exposure to microwaves among people in the American embassy in Moscow, USSR.[11]

Death

Lilienfeld died on August 6, 1984 of a heart attack in a Baltimore train station, at the age of 63.[1]

Recognition

The American College of Epidemiology's most prestigious award, the "Abraham Lilienfeld Award", has been awarded annually since 1985.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cook, Joan (8 August 1984). "Dr. Abraham Lilienfeld Dies, Epidemiology Expert was 63". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  2. ↑ Lilienfeld, David (2015). Lilienfeld's Foundations of Epidemiology. Oxford University Press. pp. v.
  3. ↑ "Correction". New York Times. 9 August 1984. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lilienfeld, David Eugene (July 2007). "Abe and Yak". Epidemiology 18 (4): 507–514. doi:10.1097/EDE.0b013e318063eea8.
  5. 1 2 3 "Abraham Lilienfeld". University of Minnesota. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Abraham M. Lilienfeld Collection". Medical Archives. Johns Hopkins. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  7. ↑ "Arnold School epidemiologist to lead ACE, receive APHA Lilienfeld Award". University of South Carolina. 23 June 2010. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  8. ↑ "Abraham Lilienfeld, MD, MPH". JHSPH. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  9. ↑ Cohen, Bernice H.; McKusick, Victor A. (1984). "Abraham M. Lilienfeld: In memoriam". Genetic Epidemiology 1 (4): 297–300. doi:10.1002/gepi.1370010402.
  10. ↑ Parascandola, Mark; Weed, DouglasL; Dasgupta, Abhijit (2006). "Two Surgeon General's reports on smoking and cancer: a historical investigation of the practice of causal inference". Emerging Themes in Epidemiology 3 (1): 1. doi:10.1186/1742-7622-3-1.
  11. ↑ Elwood, J (2012). "Microwaves in the cold war: the Moscow embassy study and its interpretation. Review of a retrospective cohort study". Environmental Health 11 (1): 85. doi:10.1186/1476-069X-11-85.
  12. ↑ "Abraham Lilienfeld Award". American College of Epidemiology. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
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