Harry Keen

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(3 September 1925 – 5 April 2013) was an English

diabetologist Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

and a professor of

human 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 cell ...

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

. He was the first to identify

microalbuminuria Microalbuminuria is a term to describe a moderate increase in the level of urine albumin. It occurs when the kidney leaks small amounts of albumin into the urine, in other words, when an abnormally high permeability for albumin in the glomerulus o ...

as a predictor of kidney disease in diabetics, and was an international authority on diabetes.

Early life

Keen was born in 1925 in London to a Jewish family; his parents were Sydney Keen, a tailor, and Esther (née Zenober), a teacher who had migrated to the United Kingdom from Poland. He attended St Ann's School in

Hanwell Hanwell () is a town in the London Borough of Ealing, in the historic County of Middlesex, England. It is about 1.5 miles west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post t ...

and Ealing County Grammar School for Boys. He studied medicine at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, graduating on 5 July 1948, the day that the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

(NHS) was established.

Career

Keen began his medical career as a house officer at London's West Middlesex Hospital in 1948–49. He then enlisted in the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...

, serving for two years in

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boun ...

, Egypt. He returned to London in 1951, taking up a post at St Mary's Hospital under

George Pickering George Pickering (1758–1826) was an 18th-century poet and songwriter, born in Simonburn. His most famous work is probably Donocht Head. Early life George Pickering was born in Simonburn, Northumberland in January 1758. His baptism register ...

. Keen assisted Pickering over several years on a large project studying

hypertension Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

in patients with

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

and their first-degree relatives. In 1953, he began collaborating with

Robert Daniel Lawrence Robert "Robin" Daniel Lawrence (18 November 1892 – 27 August 1968) was a British physician at King’s College Hospital, London. He was diagnosed with diabetes in 1920 and became an early recipient of insulin injections in the UK in 1923. He dev ...

, who headed the diabetes clinic at

King's College Hospital King's College Hospital is a major teaching hospital and major trauma centre in Denmark Hill, Camberwell in the London Borough of Lambeth, referred to locally and by staff simply as "King's" or abbreviated internally to "KCH". It is managed by K ...

, and spent seven years there studying diabetes and its long-term complications. He travelled to

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

, in 1960 for a year-long research fellowship at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

, where he experimented with

insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolism o ...

assays and early attempts to isolate

pancreatic islets The pancreatic islets or islets of Langerhans are the regions of the pancreas that contain its endocrine (hormone-producing) cells, discovered in 1869 by German pathological anatomist Paul Langerhans. The pancreatic islets constitute 1–2% of ...

. When Keen returned to London from the United States in 1961, he was hired as a lecturer by

and its associated medical school, where he would spend the rest of his career. In 1962, he conducted the Bedford Survey, in which every adult in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

was asked to provide a urine sample in order to study the population prevalence of diabetes; around 70% of the population provided samples, and 250 participants were found to have undiagnosed diabetes as a result. The study led to the first definition of

prediabetes Prediabetes is a component of the metabolic syndrome and is characterized by elevated blood sugar levels that fall below the threshold to diagnose diabetes mellitus. It usually does not cause symptoms but people with prediabetes often have obesit ...

, which Keen called "borderline diabetes", and demonstrated the relationship between

glucose intolerance Prediabetes is a component of the metabolic syndrome and is characterized by elevated blood sugar levels that fall below the threshold to diagnose diabetes mellitus. It usually does not cause symptoms but people with prediabetes often have obesi ...

and

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...

at a population level. He and his colleagues became the first, in 1964, to show that trace amounts of the protein

albumin Albumin is a family of globular proteins, the most common of which are the serum albumins. All the proteins of the albumin family are water-soluble, moderately soluble in concentrated salt solutions, and experience heat denaturation. Albumins ...

in urine could predict kidney disease in diabetes, which is now the basis for routine kidney screening in diabetic patients. With the

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The inst ...

, he conducted the Whitehall Survey in 1969, which led to the creation of different glucose thresholds for microvascular and

macrovascular disease Macrovascular disease is a disease of any large (''macro'') blood vessels in the body. It is a disease of the large blood vessels, including the coronary arteries, the aorta, and the sizable arteries in the brain and in the limbs. This sometimes ...

. He also pioneered the concept of the

insulin pump An insulin pump is a medical device used for the administration of insulin in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, also known as continuous subcutaneous insulin therapy. The device configuration may vary depending on design. A traditional pump ...

, which delivers insulin continuously to type 1 diabetics who are reliant on insulin. In 1971, he was appointed professor of

at Guy's. He established one of the UK's first diabetes centres at Guy's Hospital. Keen chaired the 1980 and 1985

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

expert committees on diabetes. He was involved in the

St. Vincent Declaration The St. Vincent Declaration is a set of goals for the health care of people with diabetes mellitus published as the product of an international conference held in St. Vincent, Italy, on 10–12 October 1989. Representatives of government health depa ...

of 1989, which set international goals and benchmarks for diabetes care. He retired from medicine in 1990, becoming professor emeritus at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

Awards and honours

Keen chaired the

British Diabetic Association Diabetes UK is a British-based patient, healthcare professional and research charity that has been described as "one of the foremost diabetes charities in the UK". The charity campaigns for improvements in the care and treatment of people with d ...

between 1990 and 1996 and was appointed honorary president of the

International Diabetes Federation The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is an umbrella organization of over 230 national diabetes associations in more than 160 countries and territories. The Federation has been leading the global diabetes community since 1950. It is headqua ...

in 1991. He was awarded a

and the first United Nations/UNESCO Hellmut Mehnert Award for the Prevention of Diabetes and its Complications in 1998. He received the

American Diabetes Association The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is a United States-based nonprofit that seeks to educate the public about diabetes and to help those affected by it through funding research to manage, cure and prevent diabetes (including type 1 diabetes, ...

's Kelly M. West Award for Outstanding Achievement in Epidemiology and Harold Rifkin Award for Distinguished International Service in the Cause of Diabetes in 1989 and 1992 respectively.

Personal life

Keen married Anna "Nan" Miliband, the sister of sociologist

Ralph Miliband Ralph Miliband (born Adolphe Miliband; 7 January 1924 – 21 May 1994) was a British sociologist. He has been described as "one of the best known academic Marxists of his generation", in this manner being compared with E. P. Thompson, Eric Ho ...

, in 1953; they had a son and a daughter. He was an uncle by marriage to

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

politicians

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband ...

and

David Miliband David Wright Miliband (born 15 July 1965) is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Rescue Committee and a former British Labour Party politician. He was the Foreign Secretary from 2007 to 2010 and the Member of P ...

. He died on 5 April 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keen, Harry 1925 births 2013 deaths British diabetologists English medical researchers Physicians of Guy's Hospital Academics of King's College London Alumni of St Mary's Hospital Medical School People educated at Ealing County Grammar School for Boys Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English Jews 20th-century British Army personnel Royal Army Medical Corps officers