- Fuller Albright
Fuller Albright (
January 12 1900 –December 8 1969 ) was an American endocrinologist who made numerous contributions to his field, especially to the area ofcalcium metabolism .cite book |author=Alex Leaf |title=Biographical Memoirs |publisher=National Academy Press |location=Washington, D.C |year= 1976 |pages=2-23 |isbn = 0-30902-349-1 | chapter=Fuller Albright | chapterurl = http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=571&page=2]Education and training
Albright was born in
Buffalo, New York . "Fuller" was his mother's maiden name. He enteredHarvard College at seventeen. After graduating "cum laude" three years later he enteredHarvard Medical School . While he initially took an interest inobstetrics andorthopedic surgery , the discovery ofinsulin attracted him tointernal medicine , specifically the study ofmetabolism . After his internship atMassachusetts General Hospital he embarked on a one-year programme of research withJoseph C. Aub , mainly intocalcium metabolism andlead poisoning . He was subsequently assistant resident to DrWarfield Longcope atJohns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he performed numerous experiments (often without realising their significance), together with his friend John Eager Howard. Finally he spent a year inVienna with pathologist ProfJacob Erdheim .In the early 1930s he returned to Boston, where he became a member of the staff of Massachusetts General Hospital. He married Claire Birge in 1933; they had two sons. At MGH he rapidly developed an endocrinology research group.
Work at MGH
Albright is credited with numerous discoveries in medicine. He described polyostotic fibrous dysplasia (later
eponym ically calledMcCune-Albright syndrome ), the clinical and pathological features and different types ofhyperparathyroidism (excessive production ofparathyroid hormone by theparathyroid gland s), the mechanism ofCushing's syndrome ,renal tubular acidosis (inability of thekidney s to regulate the acid-base balance in the body), and recognised the importance ofmenopause onosteoporosis . He also delineated forms ofcongenital adrenal hyperplasia . [cite journal |author=Schwartz TB |title=How to learn from patients: Fuller Albright's exploration of adrenal function |journal=Ann. Intern. Med. |volume=123 |issue=3 |pages=225–9 |year=1995 |pmid=7598305 |doi=]He was the president of the
American Society for Clinical Investigation (1943-1944), theAssociation for the Study of Internal Secretions (1945-1946) and theEndocrine Society (1946-1947). In 1955 he was elected to the National Academy of the Sciences.Illness and death
He developed
Parkinson's disease in 1937. By 1956 his symptoms were so intractable that he underwent experimental brain surgery, chemicalpallidectomy (obliteration of theglobus pallidus by injection of alcohol). The intervention on the right was a success, but the left-sided procedure was complicated byhaemorrhage , which left him aphasic and comatose for the remaining 13 years of his life, during which he was nursed at Massachusetts General Hospital.References
Persondata
NAME=Albright, Fuller
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=endocrinologist
DATE OF BIRTH=January 12, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH=Buffalo, New York
DATE OF DEATH=December 8, 1969
PLACE OF DEATH=
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