Leonard Apt (June 28, 1922 – February 1, 2013) was an American pediatrician and ophthalmologist. He was one of the first U.S. physicians to complete a fellowship in
pediatric ophthalmology
Pediatric ophthalmology is a sub-speciality of ophthalmology concerned with eye diseases, visual development, and vision care in children.
Training
In the United States, pediatric ophthalmologists are physicians who have completed medical school, ...
. Apt identified that
povidone-iodine could be safety used as an antimicrobial for the eyes. In addition to his work in ophthalmology, Apt devised a number of diagnostic tests. The
Apt test is performed on blood in a baby's stools to determine whether it is of maternal or fetal origin.
Biography
Apt was born in
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 ...
. He started college at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
when he was 14. After graduating from Penn, he earned a medical degree from
Jefferson Medical College
Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. To signify its heritage, the univer ...
in 1945. After residency training at
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 higher le ...
and the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
, he became the first pediatric ophthalmology fellow 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 ...
.
Associated with the
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA from 1961 to his death, Apt established the pediatric ophthalmology division there, the first such division at a U.S. medical school. He was a co-founder of the
Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA. Apt and a colleague, Sherwin Isenberg, examined the practice of instilling
silver nitrate
Silver nitrate is an inorganic compound with chemical formula . It is a versatile precursor to many other silver compounds, such as those used in photography. It is far less sensitive to light than the halides. It was once called ''lunar caustic' ...
or antibiotics in the eye before an eye surgery. They found that such techniques increased the risk of infection. Apt proposed the use of
povidone-iodine to treat or prevent eye infections. A 1990s study in Kenya established the solution as effective. The low cost of povidone-iodine provided another advantage for its use, especially in the developing world.
Early in Apt's career, eye surgeons commonly used sutures that were made of
catgut or collagen materials. Some children experienced allergic reactions to these substances, sometimes leading to severe visual problems. Apt studied the problem and determined that a suture could first be placed in a child's forearm to observe for reactions.
[ The AAP Section on Ophthalmology established the Leonard Apt, MD, Lectureship, which is delivered every two years at the meeting of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus by a nationally known expert in a field related to pediatric ophthalmology.
Many of Apt's innovations were outside of pediatric ophthalmology. He was one of the early physicians to adopt the use of plastic tubing and containers in blood transfusions. Such transfusions had usually been given with glass or metal equipment. He was the first to report on a case of an immune system disorder known as agammaglobulinemia.][ The Apt test is performed when a newborn passes blood into the stool; it differentiates between swallowed maternal blood and blood originating from the newborn. Swallowing of maternal blood can occur at delivery, while infant gastrointestinal bleeding may account for blood coming from the baby.]
In February 2013, Apt died of a brief heart-related illness in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apt, Leonard
1922 births
2013 deaths
American pediatricians
American ophthalmologists
University of Pennsylvania alumni
Jefferson Medical College alumni
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA faculty