The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1950
Edward C. Kendall, Tadeus Reichstein, Philip S. Hench
Philip
Showalter Hench was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on
February 28, 1896, the son of Jacob Bixler Hench and Clara
Showalter. After attending local schools he entered Lafayette
College, Easton, Penn., where he graduated Bachelor of Arts
in 1916. He enlisted in the Medical Corps of the United States
Army in 1917 but was transferred to the reserve corps to finish
his medical training. In 1920 he received his doctorate in
medicine from the University of Pittsburgh. After a year as an interne
at Saint Francis Hospital, Pittsburgh, he became a Fellow of the
Mayo
Foundation, the graduate school of the University of
Minnesota's Department of Medicine. His association with the
Mayo Clinic began in 1923 when he became first an assistant,
then, three years later, Head of its Department of Rheumatic
Diseases. Between 1928 and 1929, Dr. Hench studied abroad, at
Freiburg
University and at the von Müller Clinic, Munich. He was
appointed an instructor in the Mayo Foundation in 1928, Assistant
Professor 1932, Associate Professor 1935 and, in 1947, Professor
of Medicine, a position which he still holds.
In 1942 Dr. Hench entered military service as a
lieutenant-colonel in the Medical Corps, becoming Chief of the
Medical Service and Director of the Army's Rheumatism Centre at
the Army and Navy General Hospital. Leaving the army with the
rank of colonel, in 1946, he became expert consultant to the Army
Surgeon General, which position is still held by him.
At the Mayo Clinic he specialized in arthritic disease. In the
course of his work he observed the favourable effects of jaundice
on arthritic patients, causing a remission of pain. Other bodily
changes, for example pregnancy, produced the same effect. These
and other observations led him gradually to the conclusion that
the pain-alleviating substance was a steroid.
In the period 1930-1938, Dr. E. C.
Kendall had isolated several steroids from the adrenal gland
cortex. After several years of collaboration with Dr. Kendall, it
was decided to try the effect of one of these substances,
Compound E (later named cortisone), on arthritic patients. Delay
in implementing this decision was caused by Dr. Hench's military
service in World War II and by the costly and complicated
isolation of the substance. In 1948-1949, cortisone was
successfully tested on arthritic patients. Hench also treated
patients with ACTH, a hormone produced by the pituitary gland
which stimulates the adrenal gland.
Dr. Hench is the author of several papers in the field of
rheumatology, contributed mainly to Hygeia and the
Annals of Rheumatic Diseases. His many awards include the
Heberden Medal (London), the 1949 Lasker Award, presented by the
American Public Health Association, the Passano Foundation Award
and the Criss Award (1951). He has received honorary doctorates
in science from Lafayette College, Washington and
Jefferson College, Western Reserve University, the National University
of Ireland and the University of Pittsburgh. He holds the degree
of master of science from the University of Minnesota.
A Fellow of the American Medical Association and of the American College of
Physicians, he is one of the leaders in American
rheumatology. He is a founder member of the American Rheumatism
Association (President 1940-1941), and holds office in many
rheumatism organizations. He holds honorary membership of the
Royal
Society of Medicine (London) and of rheumatism societies in
Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Denmark and Spain.
In 1927, Dr. Hench married Mary Genevieve Kahler, daughter of
John Henry Kahler. They have two sons and two daughters. He is
interested in music, photography and tennis, and is an authority
on medical history.
From Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1942-1962, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1964
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
Philip S. Hench died on March 30, 1965.
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1950