Johann Otto Leonhard Heubner (January 21, 1843 – October 17, 1926) was a German internist and pediatrician who was a native of

Mühltroff Mühltroff is a town and a former municipality in the Vogtlandkreis district, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated 10 km southeast of Schleiz, and 16 km northwest of Plauen Plauen (; Czech: ''Plavno'') is, with ar ...

. He studied medicine 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 ...

, and in 1867 became an assistant to

Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich (4 August 1815, Sulz am Neckar – 25 September 1877, Leipzig) was a German physician, pioneer psychiatrist, and medical professor. He is known for his measurement of mean normal human body temperature of 37&nbs ...

(1815–1877) at

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. He later founded a children's hospital and clinic in Leipzig, and in 1891 was appointed to the chair of pediatrics. In 1894 he moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, where he became director of the children's clinic and polyclinic at the Charité. Heubner is considered one of the fathers of pediatric medicine. He also made important contributions to the treatment of

infectious An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dis ...

and

gastrointestinal The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans and ...

diseases. He was instrumental in improving infant mortality at the Charité, and introduced

aseptic Asepsis is the state of being free from disease-causing micro-organisms (such as pathogenic bacteria, viruses, pathogenic fungi, and parasites). There are two categories of asepsis: medical and surgical. The modern day notion of asepsis is deri ...

practices into the hospital environment. With Max Rubner (1854–1932), he investigated

energy metabolism Bioenergetics is a field in biochemistry and cell biology that concerns energy flow through living systems. This is an active area of biological research that includes the study of the transformation of energy in living organisms and the study of ...

in infants, creating the concept of a

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient ...

quotient. With Eduard Heinrich Henoch (1820–1910), he was among the first to use an

antitoxin An antitoxin is an antibody with the ability to neutralize a specific toxin. Antitoxins are produced by certain animals, plants, and bacteria in response to toxin exposure. Although they are most effective in neutralizing toxins, they can also ...

for

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

that had recently been developed by

Emil von Behring Emil von Behring (; Emil Adolf von Behring), born Emil Adolf Behring (15 March 1854 – 31 March 1917), was a German physiologist who received the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the first one awarded in that field, for his discovery ...

(1854–1917). Heubner also made contributions in his research of cerebrospinal meningitis. He provided an early description of syphilitic endarteritis obliterans, a condition that is sometimes referred to as "Heubner's disease".''Heubner's disease''
@

Who Named It? ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

His name is also lent to "Heubner's artery", a

cerebral artery The cerebral arteries describe three main pairs of arteries and their branches, which perfuse the cerebrum of the brain. The three main arteries are the: * '' Anterior cerebral artery'' (ACA) * ''Middle cerebral artery'' (MCA) * ''Posterior cere ...

that typically originates from the junction of the A 1 and A 2 segments of the

anterior cerebral artery The anterior cerebral artery (ACA) is one of a pair of cerebral arteries that supplies oxygenated blood to most midline portions of the frontal lobes and superior medial parietal lobes of the brain. The two anterior cerebral arteries arise from t ...

(ACA). In 1999 the ''Otto Heubner Centrum für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin'' was founded at the University Hospital of the Charité-Berlin as a care center for young children and adolescents.

References

* ''This article is based on a translation of an equivalent article from the German Wikipedia.''
NCBI
National Library of Medicine, Otto Heubner

@

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heubner, Otto 1843 births 1926 deaths People from Vogtlandkreis German pediatricians Humboldt University of Berlin faculty Leipzig University faculty Physicians of the Charité