Ebbe Curtis Hoff was chairman of the Department of Neurological Science at the Medical College of Virginia, founding Dean, School of Graduate Studies http://www.medschool.vcu.edu/gp/history.html and founding director of the Virginia Division of Substance Abuse.

He earned a bachelor's degree with honors at the University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

 in 1928 and a Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 in physiology

Physiology

Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...

 from St. Catherine's College, Oxford in 1932 where he studied neurophysiology

Neurophysiology

Neurophysiology is a part of physiology. Neurophysiology is the study of nervous system function...

, writing his thesis on the theory of the synapse

Synapse

In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another cell...

 under Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...

 laureate Sir Charles Sherrington. He worked as a physiology instructor at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 in 1934 and later as a research assistant. He attended medical school (United Kingdom)

Medical school (United Kingdom)

In the United Kingdom, medical school generally refers to a department within a university which is involved in the education of future medical practitioners...

 earning Bachelors of Medicine and Surgery and Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degrees from Oxford and the London Hospital Medical College finishing in 1940.

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, he served in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 as a flight surgeon

Flight surgeon

A flight surgeon is a military medical officer assigned to duties in the clinical field variously known as aviation medicine, aerospace medicine, or flight medicine...

 and became a leading authority on diving hazards and precautions

Diving hazards and precautions

Divers face specific physical and health risks when they go underwater or use high pressure breathing gases. Some of these conditions also affect people who work in raised pressure environments out of water, e.g...

, as well as submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 and aviation medicine

Aviation medicine

Aviation medicine, also called flight medicine or aerospace medicine, is a preventive or occupational medicine in which the patients/subjects are pilots, aircrews, or persons involved in spaceflight...

. He authored the first comprehensive text on compressed air diving and submarine medicine. He participated in developing the modified G-Suit

G-suit

A G-suit, or the more accurately named anti-G suit, is worn by aviators and astronauts who are subject to high levels of acceleration force . It is designed to prevent a black-out and G-LOC caused by the blood pooling in the lower part of the body when under acceleration, thus depriving the...

 design adopted for US Navy pilots. He took part in unsuccessful attempts to develop a shark repellent

Shark repellent

A shark repellent is any method of driving sharks away from an area, object, person, or animal. Shark repellents are one category of animal repellents.-Overview:Shark repellents have been of interest to human beings for many years, for a number of reasons...

. He also served as a Naval Attaché

Attaché

Attaché is a French term in diplomacy referring to a person who is assigned to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency...

 at the American Embassy, London. He left active military service with the rank of Commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 in 1946 but remained in the Naval Reserve

United States Navy Reserve

The United States Navy Reserve, until 2005 known as the United States Naval Reserve, is the Reserve Component of the United States Navy...

.

Dr. Hoff was a member of Phi Beta Kappa national scholastic honor society, Sigma Xi

Sigma Xi

Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society is a non-profit honor society which was founded in 1886 at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a handful of graduate students. Members elect others on the basis of their research achievements or potential...

 science honorary society, the American Physiological Society and the Medical Society of Virginia.

He was a member of the Torch Club of Richmond, the Richmond Astronomical Society and St Mary's Episcopal Church, Goochland County, Virginia where he served as director of the Sunday School, senior warden and vestryman. He was also a member of the Baker Street Irregulars

Baker Street Irregulars

The Baker Street Irregulars are any of several different groups, all named after the original, from various Sherlock Holmes stories in which they are a gang of young street children whom Holmes often employs to aid his cases.- Original :...

, a club of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...

 devotees. He held amateur radio

Amateur radio

Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...

 licence WA4CBM. He spent many summer holidays tenting in Westmore, Vermont

Westmore, Vermont

Westmore is a town in Orleans County, Vermont, United States. The population was 306 at the 2000 census, making it the least populated town in the county...

 on Lake Willoughby

Lake Willoughby

Lake Willoughby is a lake in the town of Westmore in Orleans County in the northeast section of Vermont, United States. Willoughby is a glacial lake over deep in places, the deepest lake entirely contained in the state....

.

Selected publications

• Alcoholism: the hidden addiction (New York: Seabury Press, 1974)
• A bibliographical sourcebook of compressed air diving and submarine medicine (Washington, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Navy Dept., 1948-1954)
• A bibliography of aviation medicine (Springfield, Ill., Baltimore, Md., C.C. Thomas, 1942)
• United States Army Medical Service. Preventive Medicine in World War II - a seven volume series which he edited with his wife Phebe Margaret Hoff (Washington, DC: Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army) including Volume III: Personal Health Measures and Immunization and Volume VI: Communicable Diseases: Malaria
• A New Holmesian Treasure Trove (The Problem of Biffley Vicarage), Novella, Baker Street Journal [V14,#3-4,09-12/1964] (with Phebe M. Hoff)