Wesley William Spink (December 17, 1904 – May 14, 1988) was an American physician, medical school professor, college coach, and medical researcher. He was "an internationally recognized authority on infectious diseases and is credited with controlling the spread of brucellosis (undulant fever)".

Early life

Spink was born in

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

on December 17, 1904. In high school, he read extensively and was an outstanding football player. He attended the

University of Wisconsin–Superior The University of Wisconsin–Superior (UW–Superior or UWS) is a public liberal arts university in Superior, Wisconsin. UW–Superior grants associate, bachelor's, master's and specialist's degrees. The university enrolls 2,559 undergraduates ...

for one year and then, with the aid of a football scholarship, transferred to

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...

Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 census. History Northfield was platted in 1856 by John W. N ...

. There he graduated in 1926 with a degree in chemistry. In the summer of 1925, he served as the pastor of a community church in South Dakota. From 1926 to 1928 at Nebraska's

Doane College Doane University is a private university in Crete, Nebraska. It has additional campuses in Lincoln and Omaha, as well as online programs. History Doane College was founded on July 11, 1872, by Thomas Doane, chief civil engineer for the Burling ...

, he was an instructor in economics and public speaking and also coached football and track. During the summer of 1927, he attended the

Chicago Theological Seminary Founded in 1855, the Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) is the oldest higher education institution in the City of Chicago and was established with two principal goals: first, to educate pastors who would minister to people living on the new weste ...

. He bought stocks with his salary from Doane College. In autumn 1928, one year before the

Crash of 1929 The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...

, he sold his stocks for a substantial gain and enrolled in

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 consi ...

where, after one year, he was awarded a scholarship. He graduated with an M.D. in 1932. For 18 months from 1932 to 1933, he was a medical intern and was a medical resident at

Boston City Hospital The Boston City Hospital (1864–1996), in Boston, Massachusetts, was a public hospital, located in the South End. It was "intended for the use and comfort of poor patients, to whom medical care will be provided at the expense of the city, and . ...

from 1933 to 1936. During these years, he was influenced by

Hans Zinsser Hans Zinsser (November 17, 1878 – September 4, 1940) was an American physician, bacteriologist, and prolific author. The author of over 200 books and medical articles, he was also a published poet. Some of his verses were published in '' ...

and

George Minot George Richards Minot (December 2, 1885 – February 25, 1950) was an American medical researcher who shared the 1934 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize with George Hoyt Whipple and William P. Murphy for their pioneering work on p ...

and co-authored a number of papers with his supervisor

Chester Keefer Chester Scott Keefer (1897-1972) was an American physician. He served as "penicillin czar" during World War II, responsible for managing distribution and allocation of the then-new drug for civilian uses in the United States, and was dean of the B ...

Career

At the

University of Minnesota Medical School The University of Minnesota Medical School is the medical school of the University of Minnesota. It is a combination of two campuses situated in Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota. The University of Minnesota Medical School is also part of one of ...

, Spink was an assistant professor from 1937 to 1941, an associate professor from 1941 to 1946, and a full professor from 1946 to 1967, when he was appointed the Medical School's first Regents' professor. He retired in 1973 as Regents' professor emeritus. Spink did research on

gonorrhea Gonorrhea, colloquially known as the clap, is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacterium '' Neisseria gonorrhoeae''. Infection may involve the genitals, mouth, or rectum. Infected men may experience pain or burning with ...

streptococcal pharyngitis Streptococcal pharyngitis, also known as streptococcal sore throat (strep throat), is pharyngitis (an infection of the pharynx, the back of the throat) caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'' a gram-positive, group A streptococcus. Common symptom ...

staphylococcal infection A staphylococcal infection or staph infection is an infection caused by members of the '' Staphylococcus'' genus of bacteria. These bacteria commonly inhabit the skin and nose where they are innocuous, but may enter the body through cuts or abrasi ...

s, brucellosis, and

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

and

septic shock Septic shock is a potentially fatal medical condition that occurs when sepsis, which is organ injury or damage in response to infection, leads to dangerously low blood pressure and abnormalities in cellular metabolism. The Third International Con ...

caused by

Gram-negative bacteria Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that do not retain the crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation. They are characterized by their cell envelopes, which are composed of a thin peptidoglycan cell wall ...

. He was the author of 3 books and the author or co-author of about 500 articles. He served as president of the

American Society for Clinical Investigation The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States. Organization and purpose The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 ph ...

in 1949 and of

American College of Physicians The American College of Physicians (ACP) is a national organization of internists, who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of adults.Sokanu "What is an Internist?" Retrieved October 20, 2014 With 161,000 members, ACP is the largest ...

from 1963 to 1964. He established the Wesley Spink Memorial Lecture with the University of Minnesota's administration and the Medical School; the first Memorial Lecture was presented in 1971 by

William Ian Beardmore Beveridge William Ian Beardmore (WIB) Beveridge (1908–2006) was an Australian animal pathologist and director of the Institute of Animal Pathology, University of Cambridge. He was born on 23 April 1908 in Junee, New South Wales ) , nickname = , ...

Personal life

In 1935, Spink married Elizabeth Hamilton Hurd, a Vassar graduate and a daughter of Randolph C. Hurd, who graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1899 and began to practice medicine in Newburyport,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

in 1901. Wesley and Elizabeth Spink had a daughter, Helen, and a son, William. Helen Spink married

Robert DuPont Robert L. DuPont (born March 25, 1936 in Toledo, Ohio) is an American psychiatrist, known for his advocacy in the field of substance abuse. He is president of the Institute for Behavior and Health, whose mission is "to reduce the use of illegal d ...

, M.D. He died on May 14, 1988 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spink, Wesley W. 1904 births 1988 deaths American infectious disease physicians American medical researchers Physician-scientists Carleton College alumni Harvard Medical School alumni University of Minnesota Medical School alumni