Fuller Albright (January 12, 1900 – December 8, 1969) was an American

endocrinologist Endocrinology (from ''endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental events ...

who made numerous contributions to his field, especially to the area of

calcium metabolism Calcium metabolism is the movement and regulation of calcium ions (Ca2+) ''in'' (via the gut) and ''out'' (via the gut and kidneys) of the body, and ''between'' body compartments: the blood plasma, the extracellular and intracellular fluids, and ...

. Albright made great strides and contributions to the understanding of disorders associated with calcium and phosphate abnormalities in the body. He also was a published author and in his books he detailed his findings.

Early life

Albright was born on January 12, 1900, in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. He was the third child of

John J. Albright John Joseph Albright (1 January 1848 Buchanan, Virginia – 20 August 1931 Buffalo, New York) was a businessman and philanthropist, and one of Buffalo's leading socialites at the turn of the 20th century. Early life Albright was born on January ...

, a prominent businessman and philanthropist who constructed the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo, and Susan Fuller, a Smith College graduate who was Albright's second wife. John J. Albright had three children from his first marriage and six from his marriage to Fuller. His maternal grandparents were Eben and Nancy Fuller, of

Lancaster, Massachusetts Lancaster is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in the United States. Incorporated in 1653, Lancaster is the oldest town in Worcester County. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 8,441. History In 1643 Lancaster was first ...

. His paternal grandparents were Joseph Jacob and Elizabeth S. Albright, both from Pennsylvania. The family was descended from Andrew Albright, a gunsmith who supplied arms to the troops of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, who had come to America in 1750. Joseph was a coal agent for

Delaware and Hudson Canal Company The Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H) is a railroad that operates in the Northeastern United States. In 1991, after more than 150 years as an independent railroad, the D&H was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). CP operates D&H ...

and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and eventually, President of the First National Bank.

Education

Albright entered

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

at the age of seventeen. After graduating ''cum laude'' three years later he entered

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

in the Fall of 1920. While he initially took an interest in obstetrics and

orthopedic surgery Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

, the discovery of insulin attracted him to internal medicine, specifically the study of

metabolism Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run c ...

. After his internship at Massachusetts General Hospital he embarked on a one-year programme of research with

Joseph Charles Aub Joseph Charles Aub (1890-1973) was an American endocrinologist and professor then chair of medicine at Harvard University. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. The lead industry funded Aub's research which ignored the hea ...

, mainly into

and lead poisoning. He was subsequently assistant resident to Dr. Warfield Longcope at the

Johns Hopkins Hospital The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 m ...

and

School of Medicine A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, where he performed numerous experiments (often without realizing their significance) together with his friend John Eager Howard. Finally, he spent a year in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

with pathologist Prof.

Jakob Erdheim Jakob Erdheim (24 May 1874, Boryslav, Galicia – 18 April 1937, Vienna) was an Austrian pathologist.Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). At MGH, he rapidly developed an endocrinology research group. In 1939, he began a longtime research collaboration with Anne Pappenheimer Forbes. Albright is credited with numerous discoveries in medicine. He described polyostotic fibrous dysplasia (a version of this disease ''with'' an endocrine component was later

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ically called McCune-Albright syndrome), the clinical and pathological features and different types of

hyperparathyroidism Hyperparathyroidism is an increase in parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels in the blood. This occurs from a disorder either within the parathyroid glands (primary hyperparathyroidism) or as response to external stimuli (secondary hyperparathyroidism). ...

(excessive production of

parathyroid hormone Parathyroid hormone (PTH), also called parathormone or parathyrin, is a peptide hormone secreted by the parathyroid glands that regulates the serum calcium concentration through its effects on bone, kidney, and intestine. PTH influences bone ...

by the

parathyroid gland Parathyroid glands are small endocrine glands in the neck of humans and other tetrapods. Humans usually have four parathyroid glands, located on the back of the thyroid gland in variable locations. The parathyroid gland produces and secretes pa ...

s), the mechanism of

Cushing's syndrome Cushing's syndrome is a collection of signs and symptoms due to prolonged exposure to glucocorticoids such as cortisol. Signs and symptoms may include high blood pressure, abdominal obesity but with thin arms and legs, reddish stretch marks, a ...

, and renal tubular acidosis (inability of the

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blo ...

s to regulate the acid-base balance in the body), and recognized the importance of

menopause Menopause, also known as the climacteric, is the time in women's lives when menstrual periods stop permanently, and they are no longer able to bear children. Menopause usually occurs between the age of 47 and 54. Medical professionals often ...

on osteoporosis. He also delineated forms of

congenital adrenal hyperplasia Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is a group of autosomal recessive disorders characterized by impaired cortisol synthesis. It results from the deficiency of one of the five enzymes required for the synthesis of cortisol in the adrenal cort ...

. Known for Lightwood–Albright syndrome, a neonatal form of renal tubular acidosis.

Appointments and honors

In 1941 Albright was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

. He was the president of the

American Society for Clinical Investigation The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States. Organization and purpose The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 ph ...

(1943–1944), the Association for the Study of Internal Secretions (1945–1946) and the Endocrine Society (1946–1947). In 1955 he was elected to the

National Academy of the Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

. Since 1981, the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research has every year given the Fuller Albright Award in recognition of meritorious scientific accomplishment in the field of bone and mineral research. * Roche-Organnon Award in Endocrinology (1947) *

American College of Physicians The American College of Physicians (ACP) is a national organization of internists, who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of adults.Sokanu "What is an Internist?" Retrieved October 20, 2014 With 161,000 members, ACP is the largest ...

Award for Achievement in Internal Medicine (1947) * Borden Award,

Association of American Medical Colleges The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that was established in 1876. It represents medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an i ...

, for "extraordinarily original and monumental contributions to the understanding of metabolism of bone and other tissues." (1949) *The

Joseph Goldberger Joseph Goldberger ( sk, Jozef Goldberger, hu, Goldberger József) (July 16, 1874 – January 17, 1929) was an American physician and epidemiologist in the United States Public Health Service (PHS). As a public health official, he was an advocate ...

Award of the

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016. The AMA's sta ...

's Council on Foods and Nutrition (1951) *Doctorate of Science,

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

(1955) *Citation, Massachusetts General Hospital, for being one of the 15 outstanding physicians who had received early training at the hospital (1961)

Personal life

In 1930, he met Claire Birge (1906-1990) of

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast, Greenwich is home to many hedge funds and other ...

, daughter of Walter William Birge and Mabelle Clair Brown, and by 1933, they were married. As a wedding present, Albright's father bought them a house in Brookline, Massachusetts next door to conductor Serge Koussevitzky. Together, they had two sons: * Read Albright (1939-2011), who married Jo Anne Pierson * Birge Albright, who married Carol Bonomo (b. 1938), an author Albright developed

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

in 1937. By 1956 his symptoms were so intractable that he underwent experimental brain surgery, chemical

pallidotomy Pallidotomy is a neurosurgical procedure. It is used to treat Parkinson's disease and some other conditions, often as an alternative to deep brain stimulation. It involves placing a tiny electrical probe in the globus pallidus, one of the basal g ...

(obliteration of the globus pallidus by injection of alcohol). The intervention on the right was a success, but the left-sided procedure was complicated by

haemorrhage Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, v ...

, which left him

aphasic Aphasia is an inability to comprehend or formulate language because of damage to specific brain regions. The major causes are stroke and head trauma; prevalence is hard to determine but aphasia due to stroke is estimated to be 0.1–0.4% in t ...

and comatose for the remaining 13 years of his life, during which he was nursed at Massachusetts General Hospital. (Later, Claire married Richard Horace Bassett (1900-1995), an artist and writer.)

References

External links

The Fuller Albright Papers
can be found at The Center for the History of Medicine at the Countway Library, Harvard Medical School. {{DEFAULTSORT:Albright, Fuller 1900 births 1969 deaths American endocrinologists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard College alumni The Harvard Lampoon alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Physicians from Buffalo, New York