Professor Dr. Leon Eisenberg
Dr. Leon Eisenberg
RIP
9/15/09
"The university is the last remaining platform for national dissent." ~ Dr. Leon Eisenberg
Faculty Speech Rights Rejected December 23, 2009 By Scott Jaschik A bitter dispute over a tenured professor fired by Idaho State University has become the latest case in which a court has suggested that faculty members at public colleges and universities do not have First Amendment protection when criticizing their administrations. While the individual case of Habib Sadid continues to be much debated at the university, the way the judge ruled in the case has advocates for faculty members concerned. The language in the decision "eviscerates the identity and role that a faculty member plays" in public higher education, said Rachel Levinson, senior counsel for the American Association of University Professors. The decision applies to a higher education context several court cases that the AAUP believes should not be applied to higher education, and one case involving higher education that the AAUP believes was wrongly decided because of reliance on the other cases. http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/12/23/sadid
Physician Leon Eisenberg 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award for
Psychiatric Research
Maude and Lillian Presley Professor Department of Social Medicine
and Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus Harvard Medical School Dept.
of Social Medicine, Ruane Prize for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Research.A leader for over 40 years, spanning pharmacological
trials, neurological and psychological theories of autism and social
medicine - from research to teaching and social policy.
BOOKS
NYT obit Dr.
Leon Eisenberg
, Pioneer in Autism Studies
,
Dies at 87 "24 Sep 2009 ... Dr.
Eisenberg
conducted some of the first rigorous studies of autism, attention
deficit disorder and learning delays."
Official HMS (Harvard Medical School)
obituary for Dr. Eisenberg 9/25/09
The flag will
be lowered to half-staff today and tomorrow in honor of Leon
Eisenberg, the Maude and Lillian Presley professor emeritus of
social medicine at HMS, who died on Sept. 15. He was 87 years old. A
child psychiatrist, Eisenberg is known around the world for
innovative research in autism, groundbreaking advances in pediatric
clinical trials and psychopharmacology, and integration of social
experience into the study of disease. He also was a leader of the
Medical School's affirmative action program, established in the wake
of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968. Recently,
Eisenberg had advocated for a rigorous code of ethics to avoid
conflicts of interest in medicine and for depression screening in
the primary care setting. In June, he was recognized by Children's
Hospital Boston with an endowment in his name.**
Born in Philadelphia
in 1922, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Eisenberg grew up to
be bookish and inquiring. He recalled in a recent interview the
experience of listening to English translations of Hitler's speeches
on the radio. "Because of that extreme threat," he said, "I remember
talking to my father and both of us agreeing that the only thing
they couldn't take away from you was what you knew inside your
head." His father dreamed that his son would go to medical school,
and Eisenberg could not remember wanting anything else.
In 1942
, when his turn came to apply, medical schools had stingy quotas for
Jews, he said. Eisenberg was turned down by all the schools he had
chosen, despite his nearly straight A's in college. In despair, his
father intervened with a Pennsylvania state legislator. Days later,
a letter came saying that Eisenberg had been accepted to one of
those institutions, the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine.
Eisenberg graduated as
valedictorian of his medical school class. Yet he was denied, along
with the seven other Jews who applied, an internship at the
University of Pennsylvania hospital. He went to Mt. Sinai Hospital
in New York, where he discovered psychiatry. He was drawn to the
field's promise to "get in and understand things-myself and other
people."
He was also
intrigued by his first reading of Freud's The Interpretation of
Dreams-"It seemed such exciting and out-of-the-way stuff." But he
soon found psychoanalysis "politically unacceptable. How could you
use a treatment that would take so long per person when the burden
of mental illness was so high?"
In 1952, after a two-year
stint in the Army teaching physiology to military doctors, he began
a residency in child psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, where
his doubts about psychoanalysis were encouraged by the great
psychiatrist, Leo Kanner.
Just 10 years earlier
, Kanner had identified 11 boys with an unusual constellation of
traits-extreme social isolation, an inability to look people in the
eye, a preoccupation with objects and ritual, and hand-flicking and
other repetitive movements. Eisenberg would join him in his
exploration of the newly identified psychiatric disorder, autism,
paying special attention to the social and family setting of the
children in which it appeared.
"What is original
and powerful about Leon's conceptualization is the understanding
that the biological and social are part of one thing," said Felton
Earls, professor of social medicine at HMS and professor of human
behavior and development at the Harvard School of Public Health.
"Biology is not compartmentalized from social reality. Very few
people think like that."
Though Eisenberg suspected
a genetic basis to the then rarely diagnosed disease, it would be
years before the tools existed to look at it. In subsequent years,
he turned his attention to more common childhood problems, such as
school phobia, looking once again at the social setting in which
they occurred.
In 1962, Eisenberg
launched the first randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial of
psychiatric medicine with children. "As simple as it seems, as
straightforward, child psychiatry had gone on for 40 years before
somebody did a randomized clinical trial," said Earls.
Only months after
arriving to head the Psychiatry Department at Massachusetts General
Hospital in 1967, Eisenberg was asked to join a small committee,
including HMS professors Jon Beckwith, Ed Kravitz, David Potter, and
Ed Furshpan, that was working to raise the number of
African-American students at the School. Because of his experience
with anti-Semitism, Eisenberg maintained a deep awareness of what it
feels like to be excluded. His identification with those who face
prejudice was at the heart of what he later considered his greatest
achievement, the administrative restructuring that opened doors at
the Medical School to a fuller, more diverse range of students. This
push for affirmative action was galvanized by the 1968 assassination
of Martin Luther King.
Eisenberg was asked
to chair the HMS commission on black community relations and to
chair the HMS admissions committee for seven years of the early
affirmative action program. "It was a wonderful place to see to it
that the plan was implemented," he said.
Alvin Poussaint, now
faculty associate dean for student affairs at HMS and an HMS
professor of psychiatry at Judge Baker Children's Center, joined the
School in 1969, just in time to welcome the first class to include
black students recruited through the affirmative action efforts.
Eisenberg had helped lead the search for Poussaint, a medical doctor
who could serve as liaison between the new minority students and the
faculty and administration, and who could help continue attracting
top minority students from around the country.
What Eisenberg made happen in 1968 , said Poussaint, "had an impact on diversity efforts all around the country.
Leon cared." At Harvard, he said, Eisenberg was regarded by many administrators, faculty and staff as a "moral compass."
Kravitz, the George Packe
r Berry professor of neurobiology at HMS, emphasized that Eisenberg
had a deep commitment to increasing and supporting diversity at the
School throughout his career. "He was always the first person to be
involved," Kravitz said, "and he spoke with authority and with
knowledge."
"There are too
few tzaddiks [righteous people] in the world," Kravitz added, "and I
am greatly saddened that one of them is now gone."
The rise of affirmative
action at HMS occurred around the same time that the MGH Psychiatry
Department became transformed from a relatively small conclave of
mostly psychoanalysts to one of the most intellectually diverse
departments in the country.
"Leon created an
incredible academic environment-probably there has never been an
environment quite like that as measured by the number of trainees
who went into full-time academic careers," said Arthur Kleinman, the
Esther and Sidney Rabb professor of anthropology at Harvard and
professor of medical anthropology at HMS, who entered the Psychiatry
Department soon after Eisenberg arrived.
Howard Hiatt, HMS
professor of social medicine and of medicine at Brigham and Women's
Hospital and former dean of the Harvard School of Public Health,
said, "Leon Eisenberg set standards for his colleagues and his
students-standards of which we could be proud."
In 1980, Eisenberg
was invited by then HMS dean Daniel Tosteson to build the Department
of Social Medicine (recently renamed the Department of Global Health
and Social Medicine). Under the stewardship of Eisenberg and then
Kleinman, it helped to ignite the careers of students such as Paul
Farmer and Anne Becker, the current chair and vice chair of the
department, and Jim Yong Kim, the previous chair, who now is
president of Dartmouth College. According to Kleinman, the entire
lineage has been shaped by its exposure to Eisenberg.
"Leon, together with Arthur
, created the environment that allowed all of us to study social
sciences relevant to medicine," said Farmer, who in 1990 received
joint degrees in medicine and anthropology. Subsequently, Farmer
trained at Brigham and Women's Hospital and, along with Kim, was a
founder of Partners In Health, which Eisenberg had supported since
its founding. "Without the MD-PhD program Leon crafted in the
mid-80s, without his example and teaching and mentorship, it would
have been impossible for us to pursue academic careers in social
medicine. The fact that he also supported the development of a new
paradigm in social medicine permitted his students to develop
service projects that eventually led to new training possibilities
for the next generation of physicians."
"I would say Leon
follows in the great footsteps of the
physician-psychologist-philosopher William James," said Kleinman,
"because James argued powerfully for the broad range of normal
experience, for our tolerance of multiple ways of being human."
"Leon Eisenberg
is one of the seminal figures in American medicine and in psychiatry
of the past half century," Kleinman said. "He is surely one of
Harvard's greats."
Eisenberg leaves his wife,
Carola Eisenberg
Nobel Peace Prize winner
,
wikipedia
an HMS lecturer on social medicine and former dean of students at
the School, founder of the
Physicians for Human Rights
Program.
PHR was one of the original steering committee members of the
International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which won the 1997 Nobel
Peace Prize.
Children
Kathy and Dr. Mark Eisenberg Assistant Professor of Medicine,
Harvard Medical School, and Unit Chief, Adult Medicine,
MGH-Charlestown HealthCare Center;
Stepchildren
Alan Guttmacker MD
Director of the National Institute of Child Health & Human
Develpment NICHD on July 22, 2010, after assuming the duties of
NICHD Acting Director on December 1, 2009 and
Dr. Larry Guttmacher Psychiatrist
Grandchildren
Nadja and Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot, Joshua and Rachel Guttmacher, and
John and Kathleen Thornton; daughters-in-law Kristin Guyot, Blake
Adams, Terry Caffery, and Brigid Guttmacher; and
Sisters
Essie Ellis and Libby Wikler.
Niece
Karen Ellis
publisher of this site the Educational CyberPlayGround, Inc. and
Nephews
David Ellis M.D.
and Adam Ellis D.O.
Donations may be made to:
Physicians for Human Rights
2 Arrow Street, Suite 301, Cambridge, MA 02138
** In June 2009, the (endowed) Leon Eisenberg Chair in Child
Psychiatry was established at Children's Hospital Boston.
Leon Eisenberg NYT
EISENBERG--Leon. It is with deep sorrow that the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences mourns the passing of Leon
Eisenberg
, distinguished physician and researcher, inspired teacher and
mentor, advocate of social medicine, and dedicated Fellow of the
Academy for over forty years. To the medical community, he
contributed pathbreaking work in child psychiatry and an abiding
concern with the relation between the practice of medicine and the
lives of patients. As the Communications Secretary of the Academy
for seven years, he informed our work with his gentle humor and his
wide-ranging knowledge and interests. He helped to ensure that merit
and diversity were the hallmarks of our membership and that the
communication of information and ideas across fields and professions
was our responsibility to society. We extend our deepest sympathy to
his wife, Carola; to his family; and to all those touched by his
wisdom and generous spirit. Emilio Bizzi, President Louis W. Cabot,
Chair of the Academy Trust and Vice President Leslie Berlowitz,
Chief Executive Officer
About the Academy
For over 225 years, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences has been honoring excellence and providing service to the nation and the world. Through independent, nonpartisan study, its ranks of distinguished "scholar-patriots" have brought the arts and sciences into constructive interplay with the leaders of both the public and private sectors.
The Academy was founded during the American Revolution by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock, and other leaders who contributed prominently to the establishment of the new nation, its government, and its Constitution. Its purpose was to provide a forum for a select group of scholars, members of the learned professions, and government and business leaders to work together on behalf of the democratic interests of the republic.
In the words of the Academy's charter, enacted in 1780, the "end and design of the institution is...to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honour, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people."
The British Journal of Psychiatry (2000) 176: 1-5 Editorial
Is psychiatry more mindful or brainier than it was a decade ago?
~ LEON EISENBERG, MD
Dr. Leon Eisenberg [
wikipedia
]
characterizes as "brainless" that style of psychiatry which
emphasizes only culture and social setting (trivializing genes,
neurochemistry and neural hardware), and as "mindless" that style of
psychiatry which does the opposite, emphasizing only genes,
neurotransmitters, etc.(while trivializing culture, social context,
and so on).
Here's his conclusion, with which I hope we can all whole-heartedly
agree:
Biomedical knowledge is essential for providing sound medical care
but it is not sufficient;
The doctor's transactions with the patient must also be informed by psychosocial understanding. Neither mindlessness nor brainlessness can be tolerated in medicine. The unique role of psychiatry will be its contribution to a new paradigm: brain/mindfulness, integrating neurobiology with behaviour in its social context. That is the intellectual challenge ahead.
Gene vs Culture Coevolution
Genes give rise to culture, societies with this culture then affect
the fitness of its members, and hence culture guides genetic
evolution. The product is us.
Culture guides genetic evolution, and in a more immediate way
chemical environment (nutrition, toxins), especially of the young
and yet unborn, guides the expression of genes.
The evidence for gene-culture coevolution is extremely clear, and
the two ideological positions, one that trivializes genes and the
other that trivializes culture are obviously wrong and ideological.
Is psychiatry more mindful or brainier than it was a decade ago?
The Social Brain: A Unifying Foundation for Psychiatry
Academic Psychiatry 26:219, September 2002
2002 Academic Psychiatry Letter
Key Words: Psychiatry, Scientific Foundation Brain and Social
Interaction
TO THE EDITOR: The Research Committee of the Group for the
Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP), a specialty think tank, has
addressed psychiatry's need for a unifying scientific foundation.
Such a foundation would consider the disorders commonly treated by
psychiatrists in terms of the physiological baseline from which they
depart, much as heart disease is understood as deviation from normal
cardiac function. The relevant physiological focus for
psychiatry is the social brain.
The social brain is defined by its function
--namely, the brain is a body organ that mediates social
interactions while also serving as the repository of those
interactions. The concept focuses on the interface between brain
physiology and the individual's environment. The brain is the organ
most influenced on the cellular level by social factors across
development; in turn, the expression of brain function determines
and structures an individual's personal and social experience. The
social brain framework may have greater direct impact on the
understanding of some psychiatric disorders than others. However, it
helps organize and explain all psychopathology. A single gene-based
disorder like Huntington's disease is expressed to a large extent as
social dysfunction. Conversely, traumatic stress has structural
impact on the brain, as does the socially interactive process of
psychotherapy.
Brains, including human brains, derive from ancient adaptations to
diverse environments and are themselves repositories of phylogenetic
adaptations. In addition, individual experiences shape the brain
through epigenesis; that is, the expression of genes is shaped by
environmental influences. Thus, the social brain is also a
repository of individual development. On an ongoing basis, the brain
is further refined through social interactions; plastic changes
continue through life with both physiological and anatomical
modifications.
In contrast to the conventional biopsychosocial model, the social brain formulation emphasizes that all psychological and social factors are biological. Nonbiological and nonsocial psychiatry cannot exist. Molecular and cellular sciences offer fresh and exciting contributions to such a framework but provide limited explanations for the social facets of individual function.
The social brain formulation is consistent with current research and clinical data. Moreover, it ultimately must:
- Unify the biological, psychological, and social factors in psychiatric illness.
- Dissect components of illness into meaningful functional subsets that deviate in definable ways from normal physiology.
- Improve diagnostic validity by generating testable clinical formulations from brain-based social processes.
- Guide psychiatric research and treatment.
- Provide an improved language for treating patients as well as educating trainees, patients, their families, and the public.
- Account for the role of interpersonal relationships in brain function and health.
The concept of the brain as an organ that manages social life provides significant power for psychiatry's basic science. Burgeoning developments in neural and genetic areas put added demands on the conceptual structures of psychiatry . Findings from such incoming work must be juxtaposed and correlated with the behavioral and experiential facets of psychiatry to give it a complete and rational basis. Psychiatry's full and unified entry into the realm of theory-driven and data-based medical science has been overdue. The social brain concept allows psychiatry to utilize pathogenesis in a manner parallel to practice in other specialties.
--
In Passing: Professor Leon Eisenberg, M.D., Autism Studies Pioneer2003 Ruane Prize Winner at NARSAD Known for Innovative Research
<snip>
Born in Philadelphia in 1922, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Eisenberg grew up to be bookish and inquiring. He recalled in a recent interview the experience of listening to English translations of Hitler's speeches on the radio. "Because of that extreme threat," he said, "I remember talking to my father and both of us agreeing that the only thing they couldn't take away from you was what you knew inside your head." His father dreamed that his son would go to medical school, and Eisenberg could not remember wanting anything else.
In 1942, when his turn came to apply, medical schools had stingy quotas for Jews, he said. Eisenberg was turned down by all the schools he had chosen, despite his nearly straight A's in college. In despair, his father intervened with a Pennsylvania state legislator. Days later, a letter came saying that Eisenberg had been accepted to one of those institutions, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Eisenberg graduated as valedictorian of his medical school class. Yet he was denied, along with the seven other Jews who applied, an internship at the University of Pennsylvania hospital. He went to Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, where he discovered psychiatry. He was drawn to the field's promise to "get in and understand things-myself and other people."
--
"Human rights last only as long as people are willing to fight for them," Eisenberg said. "As doctors, we have a chance to speak out as the champions of the underprivileged. That gets more attention when it comes with an MD degree."
Department of Global Health and Social Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Educational Institution; 10,001+ employees; Higher Education
industry http://ghsm.hms.harvard.edu/
Global Healthcare Delivery Science, Social Policy, Medical
Anthropology, Culture & Medicine
All physicians, regardless of specialty, work in settings where
social, economic, and political forces powerfully influence who gets
sick, the diseases that afflict them, available treatments, and
treatment outcomes. Department integrates social medicine theory
& practice how these forces affect all persons through (1)
determinants of disease; (2) why patterns of disease differ between
different societies and change over time; (3) causes of health
disparities inter/nationally; (4) medical & public health
interventions to combat health disparities.
http://www.GHSM.HMS.Harvard.edu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Eisenberg
Maynard Clark
Worked with Department founder, Dr. Leon Eisenberg, and linked with
World Health Organization & numerous continental and national
professional, medical, and social science policymaking bodies.
We spent 5 years developing and running medical education
conferences for medical educators, students, and clinicians in
applying the incoming tidal wave of new information from genomics
research to the teaching and practice of medicine, including
critical education about the inherent limits of such information. We
developed the departmental research seminars and have raised funding
for at least one named Chair/Professorship, prepare formal
presentations for named lectures all over the world, and mentor
faculty, clinicians, educators, administrators, and medical
students. In the course of doing my work, I skimmed or read many
medical journal articles daily/weekly, conducted research, and
helped edit Dr. Eisenberg's speeches, chapters, and articles.
I developed & edited Dr. Eisenberg's Wikipedia page
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Eisenberg]. After Dr. Eisenberg's
passing in mid-September 2009, I scanned and electronically archived
ALL (bu 11 of his) 62+ years of refereed publications (nearly 1000
journal & encyclopedia articles, and book chapters).