Louis Lowenstein (1908 - March 23, 1968) was a
medical research
Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as experimental medicine, encompasses a wide array of research, extending from "basic research" (also called ''bench science'' or ''bench research''), – involving fundamental scientif ...
er who made significant contributions in
hematology
Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...
and
immunology.
Lowenstein was born in
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
,
Tennessee, in 1908. As a child in Nashville, he was accomplished as a
violinist and
tennis player. He received a
bachelor's degree from
Vanderbilt University and a medical degree from Vanderbilt's
medical school
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 ...
. In 1937, after additional training at Vanderbilt and
Ohio State University, he joined the faculty of the
McGill University medical school and the staff of the
Royal Victoria Hospital in
Montreal, Quebec. He remained at McGill for the rest of his professional career, except for service in the
Royal Canadian Air Force during
World War II.
[John C. Beck and Robert C. Hartman]
Obituary: Louis Lowenstein 1908-1968
''Blood'' (Journal of the American Society of Hematology
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is a professional organization representing hematologists. It was founded in 1958. Its annual meeting is held in December of every year and has attracted more than 30,000 attendees. The society publishes th ...
) 32:351-353, August 1968
Lowenstein's long-term studies of
anemia and
malnutrition in
pregnancy revealed that an unexpectedly large number of pregnant women in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
were significantly deficient in
folate. He also made important contributions to the study and understanding of
megaloblastic anemias,
iron deficiency,
hemolytic disease
Hemolytic anemia or haemolytic anaemia is a form of anemia due to hemolysis, the abnormal breakdown of red blood cells (RBCs), either in the blood vessels (intravascular hemolysis) or elsewhere in the human body (extravascular). This most commonly ...
of newborn infants,
blood coagulation
Coagulation, also known as clotting, is the process by which blood changes from a liquid to a gel, forming a blood clot. It potentially results in hemostasis, the cessation of blood loss from a damaged vessel, followed by repair. The mechanism o ...
,
polycythemia, effects of drugs and
hormones on blood,
blastogenesis
Budding or blastogenesis is a type of asexual reproduction in which a new organism develops from an outgrowth or bud due to cell division at one particular site. For example, the small bulb-like projection coming out from the yeast cell is know ...
, and
histocompatibility
Histocompatibility, or tissue compatibility, is the property of having the same, or sufficiently similar, alleles of a set of genes called human leukocyte antigens (HLA), or major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Each individual expresses many uni ...
.
[Neville Terry (1994), ]
The Royal Vic: The Story of Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital, 1894-1994
', McGill-Queen's Press, , . Page 255.
He died suddenly from myocardial infarction on March 23, 1968, while in Puerto Rico.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowenstein, Louis
1908 births
1968 deaths
American hematologists
Vanderbilt University alumni
Academic staff of McGill University
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine alumni
Presidents of the American Society of Hematology