Arnall Patz - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Arnall Patz was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

medical doctor and research professor at Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

. In the early 1950s, Patz discovered that oxygen therapy was the cause of an epidemic of blindness among some 10,000 premature babies. Following his discovery, there was a sixty percent reduction in childhood blindness in the United States. He also conducted pioneering research in the 1960s into the use of lasers in the treatment of retinal disorders. He received the Lasker Award

Lasker Award

The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1946 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, founded by advertising pioneer Albert Lasker and his wife Mary...

in 1956 for his research into the causes and prevention of blindness and the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Presidential Medal of Freedom

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...

in 2004 for his lifetime of work in the field of ophthalmology.

Early years

Patz was born in Elberton, Georgia

Elberton, Georgia

Elberton is the largest city in Elbert County, Georgia, United States. The population was 4,743 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Elbert County and serves as a hub for industry and small business in Northeast Georgia...

. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, and Patz was the youngest of seven children in the only Jewish family in Elberton. He attended Emory University

Emory University

Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...

in Atlanta and received both bachelor's and medical degrees there.

After graduating from Emory University School of Medicine

Emory University School of Medicine

Emory University School of Medicine, a component of Emory’s Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center, is ranked among the nation’s institutions for biomedical education and research...

in 1945, Patz joined the U.S. Army and served at Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Walter Reed Army Medical Center

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center was the United States Army's flagship medical center until 2011. Located on 113 acres in Washington, D.C., it served more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the military...

. After leaving the military, Patz began a residency in ophthalmology

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. An ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye problems...

at Gallinger Municipal Hospital (later known as District of Columbia General Hospital) in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

Study of oxygen as cause of childhood blindness

While Patz was in training at Gallinger, he observed more than 20 infants who had developed severe retrolental fibroplasia after receiving continuous oxygen therapy. An epidemic of blindness among some 10,000 premature babies in the 1940s and the early 1950s became one of "the great medical mysteries of the postwar era." Patz hypothesized that there was a correlation between the high rate of blindness and the use of pure oxygen to treat premature babies. "It had become standard practice to put babies in incubators and crank up the oxygen," Patz said in a 2004 interview with the Baltimore Sun.

Patz proposed a clinical study to test his hypothesis, but the National Institutes of Health

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...

refused to fund the study on ethical grounds, fearing the study would "kill a lot of babies by anoxia

Hypoxia (medical)

Hypoxia, or hypoxiation, is a pathological condition in which the body as a whole or a region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply. Variations in arterial oxygen concentrations can be part of the normal physiology, for example, during strenuous physical exercise...

to test a wild idea." Unable to obtain a grant, Patz borrowed money from his family to conduct a clinical study at Gallinger in the early 1950s. Patz conducted the study between 1951 and 1953 in conjunction with Leroy Hoeck (1911–2009), a pediatrician who was in charge of the newborn nursery at Gallinger. In the study, some infants were given concentrated oxygen, and others were given concentrated oxygen only if they showed signs of respiratory distress. The study confirmed Patz's suspicion as 12 infants on concentrated oxygen went blind while only one of the infants receiving normal oxygen went blind. Further study established that elevated oxygen levels caused abnormal growth of blood vessels in the eye, irreversibly damaging the retina. After Patz's findings became known, the use of high-dose oxygen therapy was limited, and there was a sixty percent reduction in childhood blindness in the United States.

Johns Hopkins

In 1955, Patz accepted a part-time faculty position at Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

while maintaining a private ophthalmology practice. In 1970, he joined the Johns Hopkins faculty on a full-time basis as a research professor. He served as the director of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins from 1979 to 1989. He was also a founder of the Johns Hopkins' Retinal Vascular Center. In the late 1960s, Patz also conducted pioneering research on the use of lasers and collaborated with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory on the development of one of the first argon lasers used in the treatment of retinal disorders. Patz also worked with the Maryland Eye Bank, built an 80-foot radio tower at his home and "became known to ham-radio operators across the country for putting out word on the airwaves whenever corneas were needed for transplant."

Awards and accolades

In 1956, Patz and V. Everett Kinsey, a biochemist who worked with Patz on a larger study that confirmed Patz's findings, received the Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award. Helen Keller

Helen Keller

Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....

presented Patz and Kinsey with the award.

The Wall Street Journal called Patz the man who "helped solve the riddle of how 10,000 babies went blind." The New York Times credited him with "saving countless babies from blindness," and, through his research on the use of lasers, with "preserving the sight of adults with common conditions that cause blindness."

U.S. President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

awarded Patz the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Presidential Medal of Freedom

, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 2004. Patz was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom "for his lifetime contributions to the field of ophthalmology, including his discovery of the most common cause of childhood blindness in the early 1950s." At the time of the award, Bush called Patz "the man who has given to uncounted men, women and children the gift of sight."

Patz also served as president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology

American Academy of Ophthalmology

The American Academy of Ophthalmology is the largest national membership medical association of ophthalmologists–medical doctors specializing in eye care and surgery including medical, surgical and optical care. More than 90 percent of practicing U.S. Eye M.D.s are Academy members, and the...

and wrote more than 250 scientific publications and four textbooks. He was also the recipient of the Friedenwald Research Award in 1980, the inaugural Isaac C. Michaelson Medal in 1986, the first Helen Keller prize for Vision Research in 1994, and the Pisart International Vision Award from the Lighthouse International in 2001.

Later years and death

In his later years, Patz studied the impact of deafness on Beethoven's music. He also received a master's degree in liberal arts from Johns Hopkins at age 78.

Patz died of heart disease in March 2010 at his home in Pikesville, Maryland

Pikesville, Maryland

Pikesville is a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. Pikesville is just northwest of the Baltimore city limits. It is the northwestern suburb closest to Baltimore.The population was 29,123 at the 2000 census...

. Patz died at age 89 one day before the 60th anniversary of his wedding to the former Ellen Levy.

Selected publications