George W. Comstock
George Wills Comstock (born January 7, 1915 in Niagara Falls , New York , † July 15, 2007 in Smithsburg , Maryland ) was an American physician ( epidemiology , public health). He was particularly known for studies on tuberculosis and contributions to its control.
Comstock graduated from Antioch College with a bachelor's degree in 1937 and Harvard University , where he received his doctorate in medicine (MD) in 1941. From 1942 he was in the US Public Health Service (USPHS) and directed a tuberculosis study (Muscogee County Tuberculosis Study) from 1947 to 1951, in which the BCG vaccine was tested (and discarded) on school children in Georgia and Alabama. From 1956 to 1962 he directed the tuberculosis studies of the Public Health Service (and was thereafter tuberculosis advisor to the USPHS). After completing his master's degree in public health at the University of Michigan in 1951 and his doctorate in public health from Johns Hopkins University in 1956 , he became an associate professor in 1962 and a professor of public health at Johns Hopkins University (Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1965) ). In 1962 he founded the Johns Hopkins Training Center for Public Health Research and Prevention in Hagerstown, Maryland, and was its director. In 2005 it was named after him.
He dealt in particular with the epidemiology of tuberculosis, cardiovascular diseases and cancer, in particular investigating the connection between virus antibodies, hormones and micronutrients in blood plasma and cancer. He also dealt with problems of long-term storage of biological products and the interaction between genes and the environment. He also conducted epidemiological studies on histoplasmosis .
He investigated the cause of arteriosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases based on extensive data collection from blood samples and the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) and CHS (Cardiovascular Health Study) studies in Washington County, Maryland.
Tuberculosis studies, which he carried out in Alaska ( near Bethel (Alaska) ) in 1957 (at that time at least every 30th inhabitant there was sick), contributed to prove the effectiveness of the antibiotic isoniazid , which was then often used in therapy.
In 2003 he received the Maxwell Finland Award . He was the editor of the American Journal of Epidemiology from 1978 to 1989 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Birth and career data according to American Men and Women of Science , Thomson Gale 2004
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Comstock, George W. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Comstock, George Wills (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American medic |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 7, 1915 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Niagara Falls , New York |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 15, 2007 |
| Place of death | Smithsburg , Maryland |