Everything about Louis Lasagna totally explained
Louis Lasagna (1923-2003) was a
American physician and
professor of
medicine, known for his revision of the
Hippocratic Oath.
Early life and education
Louis Cesare Lasagna was an internationally recognized and respected expert in
clinical pharmacology. Born in
Queens,
New York, in
1923, Lasagna was raised in
New Brunswick,
New Jersey, by his Italian immigrant parents. He graduated from
Rutgers University in 1943 and earned his
medical degree from
Columbia University in 1947. After completing a clinical research fellowship in
anesthesia at
Harvard Medical School, Lasagna joined the faculty of
Johns Hopkins University in 1954, where he established the first ever
clinical pharmacology department. Lasagna taught
medicine and
pharmacology at
Johns Hopkins until 1970, when he accepted the position as the first chairman of the Department of
Pharmacology and
Toxicology at the
University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry, which he held for the next decade (1970 -1980). Early in his fourteen year career at Rochester, Lasagna founded the Center for the Study of Drug Development. In July 1984, the Center moved with Lasagna to
Tufts University, where he became dean of the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences.
While living in
Rochester, Lasagna was also active in the city's cultural life, serving as the President of the
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, supporting the Garth Fagan Dance company, and writing, directing, and starring in the "Mighty Lasagna Players" annual theater production by the University of Rochester, Department of Pharmacology Medical and Toxicology students and faculty.
Revision of Hippocratic oath
Throughout Lasagna's distinguished career he wrote and lectured extensively on a variety of topics. He was well-known for his simple eloquence, as well as his sense of humor and humanity in addressing such controversial topics as
birth control,
abortion,
euthanasia, and medical experimentation on humans. In 1964, Lasagna wrote a modernized version of the
Hippocratic Oath, which emphasized a holistic and compassionate approach to medicine. Today, the "Lasagna Oath" has been adopted by many medical colleges.
Involvement with US Federal drug regulation
In addition to updating the Hippocratic oath, Lasagna figured prominently in the conceptualization of controlled
clinical trials and the
placebo effect. He served as a consultant to, and headed, several Federal commissions on Federal drug approval. Lasagna's work led to the improvement of controlled clinical trials to test drug effectiveness, and improved the regulation of drugs for effectiveness and safety.
In 1962 Lasagna delivered testimony to Congress during the
Kefauver hearings on the 1962 amendments to the
Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. His guidance resulted in, among other things, the requirement for controlled
clinical trials as necessary for proving drug effectiveness as a condition for regulatory approval of a new drug which resulted in major improvements in the evidentiary standard in the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the pharmaceutical industry. This was the first prescription drug law in the world to specify the criteria for proving effectiveness, and other countries soon followed suit. It may be the largest single advance in the standards and outcome of medical therapy of all time.
Among the subsequent committees that Lasagna served on were: the National Committee to Review Procedures for the Approval of New Cancer and AIDS Drugs, the "blue ribbon" panel to examine the FDA, and the "Rogers Group" aimed at reforming drug regulation processes.
Academic accolades
Lasagna's numerous honors and awards include honorary Sc.D. degrees from Hahnemann Medical School (1980) and Rutgers University (1983); and an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Alcalá in Spain (1998).
Personal life
The "father of clinical pharmacology," died in August 2003, survived by his wife Helen, their seven children, Nina, David, Mosie, Krissy, Lisa, Peter, and Christopher, and grandchildren, Molly, Joe, Maggie, Emma, Carrie, Allison, Deacon, and Carmen.
Archives
Dr. Lasagna's letters and manuscripts are archived at the
University of Rochester
This article incorporates information from an article at (External Link), with written permission.Further Information
Get more info on 'Louis Lasagna'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://louis_lasagna.totallyexplained.com">Louis Lasagna Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
