Edgar Van Nuys Allen (June 22, 1900 – June 14, 1961) was an American medical doctor who was a native of

Cozad, Nebraska Cozad is a city in Dawson County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 3,977 at the 2010 census. The town is on the Great Plains of central Nebraska, along the Union Pacific Railroad and U.S. Route 30, just north of the Platte River. The ...

. He is remembered for his contributions as a Professor of Medicine at the

Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...

Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic. Acco ...

. Edgar Allen was a specialist in

cardiovascular The blood circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the entire body of a human or other vertebrate. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, tha ...

medicine, and particularly known for his research of

peripheral vascular disease Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is an abnormal narrowing of arteries other than those that supply the heart or brain. When narrowing occurs in the heart, it is called coronary artery disease, and in the brain, it is called cerebrovascular diseas ...

. His name is lent to the eponymous "

Allen test In medicine, Allen's test or the Allen test is a medical sign used in physical examination of arterial blood flow to the hands. It was named for Edgar Van Nuys Allen, who described the original version of the test in 1942. An altered test, first s ...

", a procedure used to determine blood supply to the hand. He conducted extensive research and development of

dicumarol Dicoumarol ( INN) or dicumarol (USAN) is a naturally occurring anticoagulant drug that depletes stores of vitamin K (similar to warfarin, a drug that dicoumarol inspired). It is also used in biochemical experiments as an inhibitor of reductases. ...

, an

anti-coagulant Anticoagulants, commonly known as blood thinners, are chemical substances that prevent or reduce coagulation of blood, prolonging the clotting time. Some of them occur naturally in blood-eating animals such as leeches and mosquitoes, where they ...

that is produced from

coumarin Coumarin () or 2''H''-chromen-2-one is an aromatic organic chemical compound with formula . Its molecule can be described as a benzene molecule with two adjacent hydrogen atoms replaced by a lactone-like chain , forming a second six-membered h ...

. During World War II, he served as an Army officer in the

Medical Corps A medical corps is generally a military branch or officer corps responsible for medical care for serving military personnel. Such officers are typically military physicians. List of medical corps The following organizations are examples of medica ...

Early life and education

Allen was born on June 22, 1900 in Cozad, Nebraska to Charles Edgar Allen and Sue Morrow. He attended the University of Nebraska and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1923 and a Masters of Arts degree in 1923.

Career

He began his career at the Mayo Clinic in 1930. He took a military leave of absence from the Mayo Clinic in 1942. In August 1942, he was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel with the United States Army's Medical Corps. He was promoted to colonel in February 1944. He was appointed to the staff of the Mayo Clinic on June 1, 1930, and became head of a section of medicine less than 6 years later on January 1, 1936. Many honors came to Dr. Allen during his career. He served as president of the American Heart Association in 1955, as vice president from 1950 to 1951, and as a member of the Board of Directors in 1944. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal of the Association in 1957, the Gold Heart Award in 1959, and the Albert Lasker Award in 1960. Two Americans received the Purdue Frederick Medical Achievement Travel Awards in 1958 for “outstanding medical and scientific activities” — Doctors C. Walton Lillehei and Edgar V. Allen. Doctor Allen’s contributions to medical literature totaled nearly 300 papers. His early work led to clinical Studies in the use of dicumarol in postoperative venous thrombosis prophylaxis. In 1940, Dr. Allen and Dr. Hines published first described the disease lipdema. He was author of the standard Textbook of vascular medicine, Peripheral Vascular Diseases, first published in 1946, and served as a member of the editorial board of the American Heart Journal from 1935 to 1949 and associate editor of Circulation from 1954 to 1960. In addition to his work at the Mayo clinic, he was on the faculty of the University of Minnesota in Rochester, Minnesota.

Personal life

Allen married Margaret Wise on November 23, 1929. Together, they had three children.

Selected writings

* "Peripheral vascular diseases". Edgar van Nuys Allen along with associates in the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation; 2nd edition,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Saunders, 1955. 825 pages. 3rd edition by Edgar V. Allen, Nelson W. Barker and Edgar A. Hines, Jr. With the assistance of John A. Spittell, Jr. and others. Philadelphia, Saunders, 1962. 1044 pages. 4th edition, Philadelphia, Saunders, 1972. 797 pages. 5th edition 1980, 981 pages.

Death and legacy

He died on June 14, 1961 and was buried in Mankato, Minnesota.

References

External links

700 Famous Nebraskans; Short Biography

* https://www.annalsthoracicsurgery.org/article/S0003-4975(99)00095-8/pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Edgar Van Nuys American cardiologists 1900 births People from Cozad, Nebraska 1961 deaths 20th-century American physicians Recipients of the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award University of Minnesota faculty University of Nebraska alumni