Warren Winkelstein

Warren Winkelstein Jr. (1 July 1922 – 22 July 2012) was an American epidemiologist, professor in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.[1] During the 1960s Winkelstein was considered one of the leading epidemiologists of the time.[2]

Warren Winkelstein Jr.
Born(1922-07-01)1 July 1922
Syracuse, New York
Died22 July 2012(2012-07-22) (aged 90)
Point Richmond, California
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipAmerican
Known forWork on the polio vaccine, air pollution and AIDS pandemic
Scientific career
FieldsEpidemiology, public health
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Berkeley

Winkelstein was born in Syracuse, New York, the son of a prominent lawyer. After graduating from the Putney School, he served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He subsequently attended the University of North Carolina, where he majored in sociology. He then attended Syracuse University for medical school, graduating in 1947. He also obtained a Master's of Public Health from Columbia University in 1950.[3] After working in Buffalo, New York for several years under Abraham Morris Lilienfeld,[4] he accepted an appointment at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, serving as Dean of the school from 1972 to 1981.[5]

Winkelstein has made important contributions in a number of areas of epidemiology. Early in his academic career, he participated in clinical trials of the polio vaccine. During his time in Buffalo, Winkelstein studied the health impact of the city's air pollution, successfully separating the effect of pollution from other confounding social and environmental factors, and also contributed greatly to the understanding of coronary artery disease in women.[5] At Berkeley, Winkelstein did pioneering research on the link between tobacco smoke and cervical cancer. It took over two decades for those findings to be widely accepted.[3]

In the 1980s and thereafter, Winkelstein's work was focused mainly on HIV and the AIDS pandemic. Winkelstein led the San Francisco Men's Health Study, one of the largest and best-described cohorts of people at risk for HIV/AIDS. By studying this cohort, Winkelstein and his collaborators were able to contribute greatly to the understanding of the epidemiology of HIV and AIDS, in particular the modes of viral transmission, risk factors for progression to AIDS, and duration of the incubation period.[5][6] Winkelstein also addressed Peter Duesberg's arguments that AIDS was related to drug use rather than HIV infection, demonstrating, along with immunologist Michael Ascher and other colleagues, that "such claims have no basis in fact."[7][8]

Since retiring and assuming emeritus status, Winkelstein worked on biographical sketches of major figures in the history of epidemiology, including John Snow, Edward Jenner, and his mentor, Abraham Lilienfeld.[5] He died in 2012 at home in Point Richmond, California of complications of an infection at the age of 90.[3]

References
  1. "Faculty Profile: Warren Winkelstein Jr". University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved August 3, 2010.
  2. Daly, Jeanne (2005). Evidence-based medicine and the search for a science of clinical care. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 54. ISBN 0-520-24316-1.
  3. Grady, Denise (August 5, 2012). "Warren Winkelstein Jr., 90, Medical Sleuth". The New York Times. p. B10.
  4. "A History of Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology: Warren Winkelstein". University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Retrieved August 3, 2010.
  5. Winkelstein W (May 2004). "A conversation with Warren Winkelstein, Jr". Epidemiology. 15 (3): 368–72. doi:10.1097/01.ede.0000121803.18250.02. PMID 15097023.
  6. Winkelstein W, Lyman DM, Padian N, et al. (January 1987). "Sexual practices and risk of infection by the human immunodeficiency virus. The San Francisco Men's Health Study". JAMA. 257 (3): 321–5. doi:10.1001/jama.257.3.321. PMID 3540327.
  7. Ascher, M.; Sheppard, H.; Winkelstein Jr, W.; Vittinghoff, E. (1993). "Does drug use cause AIDS?". Nature. 362 (6416): 103–104. Bibcode:1993Natur.362..103A. doi:10.1038/362103a0. PMID 8095697.
  8. Epstein S (1996). Impure science: AIDS, activism, and the politics of knowledge. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 165. ISBN 0-520-21445-5.
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