Louise Eisenhardt (17 July 1891 – 22 January 1967) was one of the first neuropathologists and was considered leading world expert on

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

diagnosis. She became the first woman president of the

American Association of Neurological Surgeons The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a scientific and educational association focused on advancing the specialty of neurological surgery. The organization has over 8,000 members around the world. It is one of the five Cont ...

Early life

Eisenhardt's parents were Albert Emil Eisenhardt of

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 name ...

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

(now

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

, Russia) and Ella Knoll Eisenhardt. Her family was Protestant. She was born in

Ramsey, New Jersey Ramsey is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located northwest of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 14,473,Harvey Cushing Harvey Williams Cushing (April 8, 1869 – October 7, 1939) was an American neurosurgeon, pathologist, writer, and draftsman. A pioneer of brain surgery, he was the first exclusive neurosurgeon and the first person to describe Cushing's disease. ...

and continued to work for him while enrolled. Eisenhardt graduated from

Tufts Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning ...

medical school in 1925 with the largest academic record ever attained there.

Career

She did an internship at New England Hospital for women and children. Starting 1922, she kept a log of operative tumors on various types of intracranial tumors ever treated by Cushing. Eisenhardt rejoined Cushing as a neuropathologist after doing a residency for a year. She worked as his surgery associate from 1928 to 1934 and helped diagnose tumors and tissues that he operated on. She co-authored papers with him along with teaching psychopathology at Tufts. In 1934, Eisenhardt moved with Cushing when he went from Harvard to Yale. Together they worked on a brain tumor registry with more than 2000 specimens. After Cushing died in 1938, Eisenhardt became the curator. She helped neurosurgeons around the world identify tumors and their treatments. The registry was also used to educate neuroscience students in the pathology of intracranial tumors. In 1944, Eisenhardt became the managing editor of ''

Journal of Neurosurgery The ''Journal of Neurosurgery'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of neurosurgery. It is published by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the editor-in-chief is James Rutka. It was established in 1944 ...

'' and stayed one for 22 years. As of 2003, she was the only female president American Association of Neurological Surgeons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisenstadt, Louise Tufts University School of Medicine alumni 1891 births 1967 deaths People from Ramsey, New Jersey American neurosurgeons American people of German descent 20th-century surgeons