Gerald Weissmann (August 7, 1930 – July 10, 2019) was an Austrian-born American physician/scientist, editor, and essayist. He was Professor Emeritus and Research Professor of Medicine (Rheumatology) at

New York University School of Medicine NYU Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, with the other being the Long Island School of ...

. He was editor-in-chief (2006–16) of ''The FASEB Journal''. At the time of his death he was its book review editor. In 1965, he was one of the discoverers of

liposomes A liposome is a small artificial Vesicle (biology and chemistry), vesicle, spherical in shape, having at least one lipid bilayer. Due to their hydrophobicity and/or hydrophilicity, biocompatibility, particle size and many other properties, lipo ...

and is credited with coining that term.

Early life and education

Weissmann was born in

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

, on August 7, 1930, to Adolf and Greta (Lustbader) Weissmann.HighBeam
/ref> His family, being Jewish, fled the Nazis and immigrated to the United States in 1938, and Gerald and his family became naturalized American citizens in 1943. After the

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Spec ...

, he received a B.A. from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1950 and his M.D. from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

in 1954. He also pursued an early career in art, exhibiting at a major New York gallery.

Career

After clinical training at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York in New York City and active service as captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, he took a research fellowship in the Department of Biochemistry at NYU (1958–59) under Nobel laureate

Severo Ochoa Severo Ochoa de Albornoz (; 24 September 1905 – 1 November 1993) was a Spanish physician and biochemist, and winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with Arthur Kornberg for their discovery of "the mechanisms in ...

Lewis Thomas Lewis Thomas (November 25, 1913 – December 3, 1993) was an American physician, poet, etymologist, essayist, administrator, educator, policy advisor, and researcher. Thomas was born in Flushing, New York and attended Princeton University ...

then selected him as chief medical resident at Bellevue Hospital Center (1959–60). Weissmann next worked at the Strangeways Research Laboratory, Cambridge England, studying

cell biology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...

under Dame Honor B. Fell to 1962. He returned to N.Y.U. School of Medicine, and was on its faculty for the rest of his career. In 1964 and 1969, he was a visiting investigator at the

Babraham Institute The Babraham Institute is a life sciences research institution and a partner organisation of the University of Cambridge. The Babraham Institute is based on the Babraham Research Campus, partly occupying a former manor house, but also labora ...

in Cambridge, England; in 1973-1974 he was awarded a Guggenheim Foundation scholarship at the Centre de Physiologie et d'Immunologie Cellulaires, Hôpital Saint-Antoine at Sorbonne University, Paris, as a visiting investigator; and as visiting fellow at the William Harvey Research Institute at the Queen Mary University of London, in 1987. Weissmann became Professor of Medicine at N.Y.U. in 1970, and served as director of the Division of Rheumatology from 1973 to 1999. Starting in 1970, he spent summers as an investigator and lecturer and served for 18 years as a trustee (later emeritus) at the

Marine Biological Laboratory The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent ...

Woods Hole, MA. He was best known for having presented evidence that

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are involv ...

is an immune complex disease (provoked perhaps by genetic programs that misdirect immune responses to oral bacteria). His laboratory found that crises in

systemic lupus erythematosus Lupus, technically known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Comm ...

are provoked by intravascular

complement activation The complement system, also known as complement cascade, is a part of the immune system that enhances (complements) the ability of antibodies and phagocytic Phagocytosis () is the process by which a cell uses its plasma membrane to engulf a ...

. Using a

tissue culture Tissue culture is the growth of tissues or cells in an artificial medium separate from the parent organism. This technique is also called micropropagation. This is typically facilitated via use of a liquid, semi-solid, or solid growth medium, su ...

system containing a mixture of both leukocytes and

endothelial cell The endothelium is a single layer of squamous endothelial cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels. The endothelium forms an interface between circulating blood or lymph in the lumen and the rest of the vessel ...

s, he pioneered studies in both leukocyte activation (via

complement component 5a C5a is a protein fragment released from cleavage of complement component C5 by protease C5-convertase into C5a and C5b fragments. C5b is important in late events of the complement cascade, an orderly series of reactions which coordinates several ...

, immune complexes, etc.), and the role of

salicylate Salicylic acid is an organic compound with the formula HOC6H4CO2H. A colorless, bitter-tasting solid, it is a precursor to and a metabolite of aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). It is a plant hormone, and has been listed by the EPA Toxic Substance ...

s and

corticosteroid Corticosteroids are a class of steroid hormones that are produced in the adrenal cortex of vertebrates, as well as the synthetic analogues of these hormones. Two main classes of corticosteroids, glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids, are involv ...

s in

cell signaling In biology, cell signaling (cell signalling in British English) or cell communication is the ability of a cell to receive, process, and transmit signals with its environment and with itself. Cell signaling is a fundamental property of all cellula ...

and

adhesion Adhesion is the tendency of dissimilar particles or surfaces to cling to one another ( cohesion refers to the tendency of similar or identical particles/surfaces to cling to one another). The forces that cause adhesion and cohesion can be ...

(

NF-κB Nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) is a protein complex that controls transcription of DNA, cytokine production and cell survival. NF-κB is found in almost all animal cell types and is involved in cellular ...

and

MAP kinase A mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK or MAP kinase) is a type of protein kinase that is specific to the amino acids serine and threonine (i.e., a serine/threonine-specific protein kinase). MAPKs are involved in directing cellular responses ...

s of

MAPK3 Mitogen-activated protein kinase 3, also known as p44MAPK and ERK1, is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''MAPK3'' gene. Function The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAP kinase) famil ...

MAPK1 Mitogen-activated protein kinase 1, (MAPK 1), also known as ERK2, is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''MAPK1'' gene. Function The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the MAP kinase family. MAP kinases, also known as extracel ...

, and

mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (also known as MAP2K, MEK, MAPKK) is a dual-specificity kinase enzyme which phosphorylates mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). MAP2K is classified as . There are seven genes: * (a.k.a. MEK1) * ( ...

). He was responsible for the codiscovery of

liposome A liposome is a small artificial vesicle, spherical in shape, having at least one lipid bilayer. Due to their hydrophobicity and/or hydrophilicity, biocompatibility, particle size and many other properties, liposomes can be used as drug deliver ...

s in 1965 and credited with coining that name by the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language (1965). He was a founder (with E.C. Whitehead) and a director of the Liposome Company, Inc. (purchased by

Élan Elan Corporation plc was a major drugs firm based in Dublin, Ireland, which had major interests in the United States. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange as ELN, the Irish Stock Exchange as ELN.I, and the London Stock Exchange as ELN. ...

in 2000), from 1982 to 2000, and two drugs based on his liposome work, Abelcet and

Myocet Doxorubicin, sold under the brand name Adriamycin among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat cancer. This includes breast cancer, bladder cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma, lymphoma, and acute lymphocytic leukemia. It is often used combina ...

, are in clinical use. There are now over 940,000 references to liposomes on Google schola

Liposomes have been recognized as "one of the most successful drug delivery systems (DDS) given their established utility and success in the clinic in the past 40-50 years." Weissmann has been acknowledged as "Liposome's Literary Founder

Dr. Weissmann has received th
Lila Gruber Award for Cancer Research
two residencies at th
Rockefeller Foundation Study Center at Bellagio
the Alessandro Robecchi and Paul Klemperer awards for inflammation research, as well as the Distinguished Investigator and Presidential Gold Medal Awards of th
American College of Rheumatology
He is a foreign member of th
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
of Rome and th
Royal Society of Medicine of London
He was a master and past president of the American College of Rheumatology, a past president of the Harvey Society, 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, and ...

, The

New York Academy of Medicine The New York Academy of Medicine (the Academy) is a health policy and advocacy organization founded in 1847 by a group of leading New York metropolitan area physicians as a voice for the medical profession in medical practice and public health ...

and The

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wit ...

. With

Joshua Lederberg Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

, he was a founding member of the advisory boards of th
Pew Scholars in Biomedical Sciences
th
Ellison Medical Foundation
and was the founding chairman of the jury for the Prix Galie
Prix Galien USA
From 1975-2001, Weissmann was the founding editor of the journal
''Inflammation''
he edite
''MD Magazine''
from 1979-1984, and from 2006 to 2016 served as the editor-in-chief o
''The FASEB Journal''
At the time of his death he was the book review editor of that journal.

Essays

A member of

PEN A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...

, Weissmann has published essays and reviews of cultural history in ''The New Republic'', the ''London Review of Books'', and ''The New York Times Book Review.'' His work has been collected in eleven volumes, among them ''The Woods Hole Cantata'' (1985) and ''The Fevers of Reason'' (2018). Recently, he has edited a special issue of The European Review < Volume 27 / Issue 1, February 2019> that revisits C.P. Snow's "Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution" after 60 years. His work was praised for scientific insight by

Jonas Salk Jonas Edward Salk (; born Jonas Salk; October 28, 1914June 23, 1995) was an American virologist and medical researcher who developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. He was born in New York City and attended the City College of New ...

, for literary style by

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

, and for breadth of general culture by

Adam Gopnik Adam Gopnik (born August 24, 1956) is an American writer and essayist. He is best known as a staff writer for ''The New Yorker,'' to which he has contributed non-fiction, fiction, memoir, and criticism since 1986. He is the author of nine books ...

. His published volumes of essays include: * ''The Woods Hole Cantata'' (1985) * ''They All Laughed at Christopher Columbus'' (1987) * ''The Doctor With Two Heads'' (1990) * ''The Doctor Dilemma'' (1992) * ''Democracy and DNA'' (1995) * ''Darwin's Audubon'' (2002) * ''The Year of the Genome'' (2002) * ''Galileo's Gout: Science in an Age of Endarkenment'' (2007) * ''Mortal and Immortal DNA'' (2009) * ''Epigenetics in the Age of Twitter'' (2012) * ''The Fevers of Reason'' (2018)

Personal life

He was married to Ann (Raphael) Weissmann in 1953, and had two children, Lisa Beth Weissmann, MD, of Mount Auburn Hospital Cambridge, MA and Andrew Weissmann, distinguished senior fellow at the N.Y.U. School of Law.

Death

He died on July 10, 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weissmann, Gerald 2019 deaths 1930 births American rheumatologists Academic journal editors Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United States after the Anschluss New York University Grossman School of Medicine faculty Columbia College (New York) alumni New York University Grossman School of Medicine alumni Jewish American scientists 21st-century American Jews