Maxwell Myer Wintrobe papers, 1905-1998

Maxwell Myer Wintrobe (1901-1986) was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1921. He received his M.D. from University of Manitoba in 1926, and then moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, to study for his Ph.D. at Tulane University. After receiving his degree in 1929, he joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University. In 1943, he accepted an appointment as a professor of internal medicine and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Utah College of Medicine. He was also named the physician-in-chief for the Salt Lake County General Hospital. He directed the Laboratory for the Study of Hereditary and Metabolic Disorders from 1945-1973, and served as Director of the Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute from 1969-1973. Among his other accomplishments, he received the College of Medicine's first research grant, as well as the first research grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Wintrobe's research in the field of hematology introduced that industry's precise measurement capabilities and his Red Blood Cell Indices for classifying anemia. These actions established hematology as a clinical and scientific discipline. Wintrobe provided an understanding of pernicious anemia, thalassemia, and sickle cell anemia. He was also one of the first to pioneer treatments for cancer through chemotherapy. Wintrobe was the author of the first textbook on hematology, Clinical Hematology (1961) and he was one of the founding editors of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, a widely-used textbook in internal medicine. In addition, he wrote two non-technical books: Blood, Pure and Eloquent (1980) and Hematology, the Blossoming of a Science: A Story of Inspiration and Effort (1985), as well as over 400 articles for professional journals.