Tinsley Randolph Harrison
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 Tinsley Harrison Research Tower, University of Alabama at Birmingham University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a public university in Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama. Developing from an extension center established in 1936, the institution became an autonomous institution in 1969 and is today one of three institutions in the University of Alabama System... School of Medicine |
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Tinsley Randolph Harrison (March 18, 1900 – August 4, 1978) was a US physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and editor of the first five editions of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine
Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine
Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine is an American textbook of internal medicine. First published in 1950, it is presently in its eighteenth edition...
.
Biography
Harrison was born in TalladegaTalladega
Talladega can have multiple uses:*Talladega, Alabama, a city in northern Alabama, USA*Talladega County, Alabama, which has the city of Talladega as its seat*Talladega National Forest in Alabama...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, on March 18, 1900. He was the son of Groce Harrison, himself a sixth-generation physician. Having graduated from high school at the age of 15, Harrison attended the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, where he also completed one year of medical school before transferring to Johns Hopkins
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...
School of Medicine
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine , located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., is the academic medical teaching and research arm of Johns Hopkins University. Hopkins has consistently been the nation's number one medical school in the amount of competitive research grants awarded by the National...
in the fall of 1919. His roommate and tennis partner at Johns Hopkins was Alfred Blalock
Alfred Blalock
Alfred Blalock was a 20th-century American surgeon most noted for his research on the medical condition of shock and the development of the Blalock-Taussig Shunt, surgical relief of the cyanosis from Tetralogy of Fallot—known commonly as the blue baby syndrome—with Vivien Thomas and pediatric...
, with whom he developed a close lifelong friendship. He completed his internship at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, returned to Hopkins for further training in internal medicine
Internal medicine
Internal medicine is the medical specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. Physicians specializing in internal medicine are called internists. They are especially skilled in the management of patients who have undifferentiated or multi-system disease processes...
, and completed his residency at Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
.
Harrison's special field of interest was cardiovascular medicine as well as the pathophysiological
Pathophysiology
Pathophysiology is the study of the changes of normal mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions, either caused by a disease, or resulting from an abnormal syndrome...
mechanisms of disease. His name is best known among medical practitioners as the founding editor and editor-in-chief of the first five editions of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine
Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine
Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine is an American textbook of internal medicine. First published in 1950, it is presently in its eighteenth edition...
. The text initiated several unique approaches to medical textbook writing, and remains, in its current edition, one of the most widely read and regarded textbooks in medicine.
Harrison's career included extensive work in research, publishing, medical education, and medical practice. He taught at Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
's school of medicine, at what was then the Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University is a private, coeducational university in the U.S. state of North Carolina, founded in 1834. The university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, is...
in North Carolina and at what is today the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
.
Harrison spent the greatest part of his teaching career at the University of Alabama School of Medicine
University of Alabama School of Medicine
The University of Alabama School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham is a public medical school located in Birmingham, Alabama. The UAB School of Medicine has branch campuses in Huntsville and at the University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences in Tuscaloosa...
(UASOM) in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, where he served as Dean and chairman of the Department of Medicine. At UASOM, Harrison helped initiate a rapid period of growth that included recruitment of nationally known physicians from the faculties of such institutions as Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and the Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice and medical research group specializing in treating difficult patients . Patients are referred to Mayo Clinic from across the U.S. and the world, and it is known for innovative and effective treatments. Mayo Clinic is known for being at the top of...
. This period saw UASOM rise from local to international prominence. The Tinsley Harrison Research Tower at UASOM is named in his honor.
Harrison died in Birmingham at the age of 78.