Robert Allan Phillips MD (July 16, 1906 in

Clear Lake, Iowa Clear Lake is a city in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 7,687 at the 2020 census. The city is named for the large lake on which it is located. It is the home of a number of marinas, state parks and tourism-related ...

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Retrieved 2014-11-19. – September 20, 1976) was a research scientist whose research contributed to a transformation in the treatment of cholera.

Education

Dr. Phillips received his undergraduate degree at Iowa State University. He studied medicine at

Washington University School of Medicine Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) is the medical school of Washington University in St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1891, the School of Medicine has 1,260 students, 604 of which are pursuing a medical degree with ...

, graduating in 1929. He received a National Research Council Fellowship at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is cons ...

and also received surgical training at

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

Career

During World War II he developed battlefield methods to evaluate

hemoglobin Hemoglobin (haemoglobin BrE) (from the Greek word αἷμα, ''haîma'' 'blood' + Latin ''globus'' 'ball, sphere' + ''-in'') (), abbreviated Hb or Hgb, is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein present in red blood cells (erythroc ...

levels using

specific gravity Relative density, or specific gravity, is the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity for liquids is nearly always measured with respect to water at its dens ...

saving many lives. This method is used in blood donor clinics to determine whether a person is healthy enough to donate blood. He worked extensively on typhus during the war, including with the United States of America Typhus Commission in Cairo, Egypt and establishing a typhus laboratory at

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

following its liberation. Continuing in the Navy his research turned to

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium '' Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting an ...

where he spearheaded the efforts of

Naval Medical Research Unit Two Naval Medical Research Unit Two (NAMRU-2) is a biomedical research laboratory of the US Navy established with the purpose to study infectious diseases of potential military significance in Asia.Lasker Foundation The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1945 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, which was f ...

to award him a prize in 1967. In his retirement, he collaborated with 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 Seatt ...

and the Chinese Government doing research in kidney failure again using hydration as a solution in remote areas of China where dialysis was not available.

Marriage and family

He married Helena de Kay Gilder in 1938. He later married Hope N. Fuess, with whom he had several children.

Death

Dr. Philipps died on September 20, 1976 at the Clark Air Base in the Philippines.

References

External links

* * 1906 births 1976 deaths United States Navy Medical Corps officers American medical researchers People from Clear Lake, Iowa 20th-century American scientists Recipients of the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award Military personnel from Iowa Washington University in St. Louis alumni Washington University School of Medicine alumni Iowa State University alumni {{US-scientist-stub