Justus F. Lehmann MD (May 5, 1921 – April 28, 2006) was a German-American

physiatrist Physical medicine and rehabilitation, also known as physiatry, is a branch of medicine that aims to enhance and restore functional ability and quality of life to people with physical impairments or disabilities. This can include conditions su ...

. He was the founding chairperson of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at

University of Washington School of Medicine The University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) is a large public medical school in the northwest United States, located in Seattle and affiliated with the University of Washington. According to ''U.S. News & World Report''s 2022 Best Grad ...

. Lehmann headed the department from 1957 to 1986.

Early years

Dr. Lehmann was born in

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

, Germany. He studied medicine at

Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

and at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

Medical Training

Dr. Lehmann was initially trained in internal medicine but became interested in physical modalities such as

diathermy Diathermy is electrically induced heat or the use of high-frequency electromagnetic currents as a form of physical therapy and in surgical procedures. The earliest observations on the reactions of high-frequency electromagnetic currents upon the ...

. This led him to study

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...

at the

Max Planck Institute for Biophysics The Max Planck Institute of Biophysics (german: Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysik) is located in Frankfurt, Germany. It was founded as the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Biophysics in 1937, and moved into a new building in 2003. It is an institute ...

. In 1951 he moved to the United States to further pursue a study

and

physical medicine and rehabilitation Physical medicine and rehabilitation, also known as physiatry, is a branch of medicine that aims to enhance and restore functional ability and quality of life to people with physical impairments or disabilities. This can include conditions su ...

(PM&R) 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, ...

, under the tutelage of

Frank H. Krusen Frank H. Krusen (June 26, 1898 – September 16, 1973) was an American physiatrist. He is regarded as a "founder" of the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation. He founded the first Department of Rehabilitation at Temple Hospital in 1928. Ph ...

, MD.

University of Washington

After two years as assistant professor and associate director of PM&R at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, he was recruited to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

in 1957 to be professor and the founding chair of the Department of PM&R there. Under his direction the University of Washington PM&R Department has consistently been ranked among the top departments in the United States.

Legacy

Dr. Lehmann was a prominent leader in

, both nationally and internationally. During his distinguished career, Dr. Lehmann was the recipient of American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine's Gold Key Award in 1971, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation's

Award in 1983, and the Association of Academic Physiatrists’ Distinguished Member Award in 1993.

References

1921 births 2006 deaths Physicians from Königsberg Emigrants from West Germany to the United States German rehabilitation physicians {{US-med-bio-stub