{"id":1,"date":"2012-07-19T17:21:14","date_gmt":"2012-07-19T17:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medpress.bsd.uchicago.edu\/giintranet\/?p=1"},"modified":"2018-06-20T09:56:50","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T14:56:50","slug":"kirsner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medpress.bsd.uchicago.edu\/giintranet\/kirsner\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph B. Kirsner, pioneer in gastroenterology, 1909-2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

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July 9, 2012<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Renowned gastroenterologist Joseph B. Kirsner, the Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, died from kidney failure at his home in Chicago on July 7. He was 102.<\/p>\n

Kirsner was a pioneer in the understanding and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and a role model for physicians learning how to care for patients. He was a leader in understanding the immunology and genetics of inflammatory bowel disease and was one of the first to show the increased risk of colon cancer in patients with ulcerative colitis.<\/p>\n

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\u0393\u00c7\u00a3Few if any physicians have had a broader and more positive impact than Joe Kirsner on thousands of patients, students and professional colleagues,\u0393\u00c7\u00a5 said Kenneth S. Polonsky, dean of the Division of the Biological Sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine and Executive Vice President of Medical Affairs at UChicago. \u0393\u00c7\u00a3His legacy at the University of Chicago will persist for generations. We are truly fortunate to have been able to call Joe a friend and colleague and a member of our faculty.\u0393\u00c7\u00a5<\/p>\n

Every gastroenterologist should feel \u0393\u00c7\u00a3at least slightly indebted to Joe Kirsner,\u0393\u00c7\u00a5 said Stephen Hanauer, the Joseph B. Kirsner Professor of Medicine and section chief of gastroenterology at the University of Chicago Medicine.<\/p>\n

After coming to UChicago in 1935, Kirsner helped transform the field of gastroenterology from an art \u0393\u00c7\u00f6 in his words, \u0393\u00c7\u00a3speculative, impressionistic, anecdotal, almost mystical at times\u0393\u00c7\u00a5 \u0393\u00c7\u00f6 into a science.<\/p>\n

Kirsner helped found the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. He also was a key player in the creation of the original General Medicine Study Section, a voluntary group of experts who advise the National Institutes of Health on the merits of grant applications.<\/p>\n

Kirsner made fundamental contributions to the field, Hanauer said. \u0393\u00c7\u00a3He was among the first to demonstrate that stomach acid was necessary for ulcer development, and he drew attention to the complex relationships between bacteria in the gut and the immune system in the development of inflammatory bowel disease.\u0393\u00c7\u00a5<\/p>\n

\u0393\u00c7\u00a3He was also an extraordinary mentor, albeit a demanding one,\u0393\u00c7\u00a5 Hanauer said. \u0393\u00c7\u00a3He was entirely devoted to the care of the patient, and he expected that same level of passion and commitment from the entire team.\u0393\u00c7\u00a5<\/p>\n

As a central figure in the evolution of what was once a small specialty, Kirsner has received every major award in his field but one \u0393\u00c7\u00f6 for which he is not eligible \u0393\u00c7\u00f6 the American Digestive Health Foundation\u0393\u00c7\u00d6s Joseph B. Kirsner Award. The Crohn\u0393\u00c7\u00d6s and Colitis Foundation gave him their lifetime achievement award twice, in 1991 and 2002.<\/p>\n

\u0393\u00c7\u00a3He was here for two lifetimes,\u0393\u00c7\u00a5 said Eugene Chang, the Martin Boyer Professor of Medicine. \u0393\u00c7\u00a3He\u0393\u00c7\u00d6s an icon in the field. Everyone knows him. He\u0393\u00c7\u00d6s been a key player nationwide for so long that even those who have worked with him for decades only know pieces of his career. I\u0393\u00c7\u00d6m not sure where the field would be without him. He was at the beginning of everything.\u0393\u00c7\u00a5<\/p>\n

Kirsner also taught generations of medical students and young physicians the importance of combining competence with compassion when treating patients.<\/p>\n

\u0393\u00c7\u00a3Although he was a devoted scientist, taking care of patients was always at the core of his thinking,\u0393\u00c7\u00a5 said David Rubin, associate professor of medicine and co-director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at UChicago. \u0393\u00c7\u00a3He was a bulldog when it came to fighting for his patients, and he transmitted that tenacity to everyone on his team.\u0393\u00c7\u00a5<\/p>\n

That approach led to an unusual doctor-patient relationship. In 1976, at the recommendation of Donald Fredrickson, then the director of the National Institutes of Health, Kirsner was asked to take care of King Hassan II of Morocco, who had complex digestive issues. Over the next 22 years, Kirsner made 55 trips to Morocco, providing care to more than 200 patients, including the king and many members of the royal family.<\/p>\n

Roots of his pioneering work<\/h3>\n

The oldest of five children, Joseph Barrett Kirsner was born in Boston on Sept. 21, 1909, to Ukrainian Jewish parents who had immigrated to the United States. He grew up in Boston\u0393\u00c7\u00d6s East End neighborhood, a foothold for recent immigrants. Throughout his adolescence, Kirsner held multiple jobs, delivering newspapers, stocking a grocery store and working as a library clerk. He then worked his way through a six-year program at Tufts University that combined college and medical school.<\/p>\n

He entered medical school in 1929, the week the stock market crashed. \u0393\u00c7\u00a3My thought was to go through medical school as quickly as possible and start earning a living,\u0393\u00c7\u00a5 he recalled in a talk he presented at an IBD conference in 2004. He graduated near the top of his class in 1933 and, planning a career as a general practitioner, moved to Chicago for a two-year internship at Woodlawn Hospital on the South Side, with free room and board plus a salary of $25 a month.<\/p>\n

One of his patients, however, had grander ideas. Minnie Schneider, a young dancer with an ear infection, was hospitalized at Woodlawn. \u0393\u00c7\u00a3She was a ballerina,\u0393\u00c7\u00a5 Kirsner recalled. \u0393\u00c7\u00a3I fell totally in love with her.\u0393\u00c7\u00a5<\/p>\n

She pushed him to choose a specialty soon after they were married in 1934.<\/p>\n

So he began attending lectures at UChicago. Walter Palmer, who had established the first academic gastroenterology unit in the United States in 1927, particularly impressed Kirsner. In August 1935, an entry-level faculty job opened up and Kirsner joined the hospital staff as an assistant in medicine with an annual salary of $1,000.<\/p>\n

He began working with Palmer, who was doing pioneering studies in stomach and intestinal disorders. He also began a PhD program in biology, which he completed in 1942. His wife gave up dancing for secretarial work to help with expenses.<\/p>\n

Kirsner\u0393\u00c7\u00d6s early research involved peptic ulcers, stomach-acid secretion and body chemistry, which led to an unusual research collaboration. A penniless, homeless young man, known as Edwin R., enrolled in one of Kirsner\u0393\u00c7\u00d6s research studies. Edwin badly needed treatment. He also needed a job and a place to live, so Kirsner kept him hospitalized for an entire year as a patient and research subject and trained him to be a technician.<\/p>\n

\u0393\u00c7\u00a3It would be difficult to gain approval for such an arrangement today,\u0393\u00c7\u00a5 Kirsner acknowledged, even though none of the studies put Edwin at risk, \u0393\u00c7\u00a3but it was acceptable to him, and he helped me start some of my research. Everybody was happy.\u0393\u00c7\u00a5<\/p>\n

In the late 1930s, Kirsner began shifting his focus to inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD): ulcerative colitis and Crohn\u0393\u00c7\u00d6s disease. Working initially with Palmer, Kirsner developed new methods to manage IBD patients. In the 1940s, he showed that patients with IBD, even mild cases, lost high levels of protein, a discovery that placed new emphasis on nutrition. He developed the first animal models of IBD, demonstrated the influence of the immune system and genetics on this disease, and documented the increased risk of colon cancer in patients with IBD.<\/p>\n

World War II forced Kirsner to put his research on hold. In 1943, he joined the U.S. Army as a physician. In August 1944, about 10 weeks after D-Day, his unit landed at Utah Beach, Normandy. They established bases at various hospitals in France and Belgium, one of which was hit by a German V-2 rocket. Over the next six months, Kirsner cared for U.S. soldiers with severe battle wounds, captured German officers and survivors of the Nazi concentration camps who had complex nutritional issues.<\/p>\n

Soon after VE Day, he was transferred to the Pacific Theater, where he advised on the rehabilitation of more prisoners of war, including a group of badly burned Dutch prisoners who were being held captive in Nagasaki in August 1945 when an atomic bomb obliterated much of the city. He was discharged in 1946 at the rank of major, with three battle stars.<\/p>\n

Devotion to his patients<\/h3>\n

Back at UChicago, Kirsner continued his research in IBD and rose steadily through the academic ranks. He became an associate professor in 1947, professor in 1951, chief of gastroenterology in 1960 and the Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine in 1968. In 1971, he was named the chief of staff and deputy dean for medical affairs.<\/p>\n

He published more than 750 scientific papers and 18 books, including six editions of his authoritative textbook, Inflammatory Bowel Disease.<\/em> The 2004 edition of this text is 842 pages and weighs 4.4 pounds<\/em>. He trained more than 200 of the field\u0393\u00c7\u00d6s leading specialists. He continued to see patients until age 95; even then, former patients continued to call him for advice.<\/p>\n

Kirsner also helped raise funds for gastrointestinal studies. In 1962, a collection of his grateful patients formed the Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation, which has provided nearly $30 million to support gastrointestinal research at the University, including $2 million for the University\u0393\u00c7\u00d6s 17,000-square-foot Joseph B. Kirsner Center for the Study of Digestive Diseases, which opened in 1986.<\/p>\n

\u0393\u00c7\u00a3In my opinion, and the opinion of most people involved with GIRF, without Dr. Joe, this group would ever have been possible,\u0393\u00c7\u00a5 said Sy Taxman, a longtime member of the GIRF board. \u0393\u00c7\u00a3He leaves us all with a strong traction and big shoes to fill.\u0393\u00c7\u00a5<\/p>\n

Kirsner did all this while focusing most of his attention on taking care of patients, one at a time. \u0393\u00c7\u00a3Dr. Kirsner taught me to be a doctor\u0393\u00c7\u00d6s doctor,\u0393\u00c7\u00a5 Hanauer said. \u0393\u00c7\u00a3Never was a patient too difficult nor would he ever lose patience in caring for an individual.\u0393\u00c7\u00a5<\/p>\n

Kirsner had little tolerance for doctors who did not share this devotion. \u0393\u00c7\u00a3After nearly 70 years in the practice of medicine,\u0393\u00c7\u00a5 Kirsner wrote in a 2002 essay for the Journal of the American Medical Association<\/em>, \u0393\u00c7\u00a3I cannot condone the diminished sensitivity of physicians to patients.\u0393\u00c7\u00a5<\/p>\n

His wife of 64 years, Minnie, died from complications associated with Parkinson\u0393\u00c7\u00d6s disease and stroke in 1998.<\/p>\n

Kirsner is survived by his son Robert Kirsner, professor of linguistics at the University of California at Los Angeles, and his wife Elaine; their son Daniel, and daughter Rachel Kirsner Schneider and her husband Steve; and four great-grandchildren: Yaron, Gilad, Amira and Eden Schneider.<\/p>\n

A memorial service is being planned for later this summer. In lieu of flowers, contributions should be directed to the Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation, 70 E. Lake St., Suite 1015, Chicago, IL 60601.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Easton July 9, 2012   Renowned gastroenterologist Joseph B. Kirsner, the Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, died from kidney failure at his home in Chicago on July 7. He was 102. Kirsner was a pioneer in the understanding and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and a role model for physicians learning … Continue reading “Joseph B. Kirsner, pioneer in gastroenterology, 1909-2012”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medpress.bsd.uchicago.edu\/giintranet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medpress.bsd.uchicago.edu\/giintranet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medpress.bsd.uchicago.edu\/giintranet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medpress.bsd.uchicago.edu\/giintranet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medpress.bsd.uchicago.edu\/giintranet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medpress.bsd.uchicago.edu\/giintranet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9244,"href":"https:\/\/medpress.bsd.uchicago.edu\/giintranet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/9244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medpress.bsd.uchicago.edu\/giintranet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medpress.bsd.uchicago.edu\/giintranet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medpress.bsd.uchicago.edu\/giintranet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medpress.bsd.uchicago.edu\/giintranet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}