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Isaac Starr

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Isaac Starr
Isaac Starr, M.D.
Born(1895-03-06)March 6, 1895[1]
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania
DiedJune 22, 1989(1989-06-22)(aged 94)[2]
Roxborough,Philadelphia,Pennsylvania
Alma materUniversity of Pennsylvania School of Medicine,1920
OccupationPhysician
Known fordeveloped the first practicalballistocardiograph
AwardsAlbert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research(1957)
Kober Medal (1967)
Burger Medal (1977)

Isaac "Jack" Starr(March 6, 1895 – June 22, 1989), known as the father ofballistocardiography,[3][4]was an Americanphysician,heart diseasespecialist, andclinical epidemiologistnotable for developing the first practicalballistocardiograph.[5][6]His early academic positions included being an assistant professor in pharmacology and later the first Hartzell Professor of Research Therapeutics at thePerelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania[2]as well as dean of the school from 1945 to 1948.[7]

Education[edit]

Starr attended primary and secondary school inPhiladelphia,graduating from theChestnut Hill Academyin 1912.[2]From there he went toPrinceton Universitywhere he received hisBachelor of Sciencedegree, graduatingmagna cum laudein 1916.[8][9]He received hisDoctor of Medicinedegree from thePerelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvaniain 1920.[2]

After receiving his M.D., Starr went toMassachusetts General HospitalinBostonwhere he completed his internship before returning to Penn, where he later became aheart diseasespecialist, motivated by the heart disease-related death of his mother.[2]

Career[edit]

After returning to Penn, Starr joinedAlfred Newton Richards' group investigating mechanisms by which the kidney created urine.[5]At the request of Richards, Starr became one of the first assistant professors at theUniversity of Pennsylvania School of Medicinein 1928, doing research which used physics and mathematics in the study of the heart,[2]and leading a course inclinical pharmacologyfor the medical students.[5]

In 1933, he became the first Hartzell Professor of ResearchTherapeuticsat the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and held the position until 1961.[2]The endowed chair funded everything except for salaries for hisresearch assistants.[5]

Starr had known thatheart diseasecould precedecongestive heart failureby several years, but at the time heart disease was typically diagnosed at autopsy by a pathologist.[5]This led him, shortly after joining Penn, to participate in acardiac outputmethods program by theAmerican Physiological Society.At this program, his colleague,Yandell Henderson,demonstrated an apparatus for measuringcardiac output,aballistocardiograph.This project, a suspended bed rigged with springs to pick upresonance frequenciesand amplify them, inspired Starr to develop a practical version for use in his own research, with the help of theEldridge Reeves Johnson Foundation for Medical Physics.This new device used an optical recording system for more accurate readings, however, due to the low natural frequency ofheartbeats,patients had to hold their breath while using it.

The issue with led him to modify the design of the bed to counteract the minute movements using springs, thereby fi xing this flaw and allowing the patients to breathe. The final device, introduced in November 1939 by Starr and Dr.Henry A. Schroeder,was used to measurecardiac outputand led to the first accurate physical measurements and to detection of when theheart chambersdo not contract simultaneously.[5][10]The most notable use, however, was that of detecting heart abnormalities much earlier and more accurately in patients, leading to further development and extensive contributions to the field from 1930 to 1960.[2][11]

Before the redesign, however, in 1936, Starr had secured records on multiple healthy people, namely medical students, faculty, friends, and family members. Over the next 40 years, he would study his subjects and eventually report a clinical series on them, detailing such observations as, "Patients with clinical evidence of ischemic heart disease who also had abnormal BCGs developed twice as many recurrences as did those having ischemic heart disease and normal records."[12]

DuringWorld War II,Isaac Starr and Dr.Eugene A. Steadwere members of a committee of theNational Research Councilthat was tasked with deciding which chemicals and medications were considered important tomedicine.Stead noted in a memoir he felt indebted to Starr for taking him to theNational Gallery of Artduring some free hours after a day of work which lead to his appreciation of art.[12]

Starr was one of the first people to suggest thatvenous congestionwas related to the volume of blood and the muscle tone of the vessels, while a weakened heart's contributions were less important than previously thought. He also questioned whether the kidney and itsendocrinefunction were involved in the disease's pathogenesis.[12]

TheUniversity of Pennsylvaniaheld a symposium in honor of Isaac Starr in 1978, and then awarded Starr with anhonoraryDoctor of Science(Sc.D.) degree in 1983 for his contributions to medicine.[12][13]

Awards[edit]

Selected publications[edit]

  • Starr, Isaac (1978). Alfred P. Fishman (ed.).Heart Failure.Washington: Hemisphere Pub. Corp.ISBN978-0-07-021118-6.LCCN78059673.
  • Starr, Isaac; Alfred Newton Richards (November 1969). "Alfred Newton Richards, Scientist and Man".Annals of Internal Medicine.71:Suppl 8:1–89.PMID4901554.
  • Starr, Isaac; Abraham Noordergraaf (1967).Ballistocardiography in cardiovascular research: Physical aspects of the circulation in health and disease.Philadelphia: Lippincott.LCCN67020019.
  • Starr, Isaac (1965). "Progress towards a Physiological Cardiology".Annals of Internal Medicine.63(6): 1079–1105.doi:10.7326/0003-4819-63-6-1079.PMID5320951.
  • Starr, Isaac (1964). "Prognostic Value of Ballistocardiograms".Journal of the American Medical Association.187(7): 511–517.doi:10.1001/jama.1964.03060200043008.
  • Starr, Isaac; Francis C. Wood (1961)."Twenty-Year Studies with the Ballistocardiograph: The Relation between the Amplitude of the First Record of" Healthy "Adults and Eventual Mortality and Morbidity from Heart Disease".Journal of the American Heart Association.23(5): 714–732.doi:10.1161/01.CIR.23.5.714.
  • Starr, Isaac (1953).Physiologic therapy for obstructive vascular disease.New York: Grune & Stratton.LCCN53006413.
  • Starr, Isaac; Francis C. Wood (1943). "Studies with the ballistocardiograph in acute cardiac infarction and chronic angina pectoris".Journal of the American Heart Association.25(25): 81–101.doi:10.1016/S0002-8703(43)90383-7.

References[edit]

  1. ^"Isaac Starr".WWII Draft Registration.National Archives. 1942-04-27.{{cite web}}:Missing or empty|url=(help)
  2. ^abcdefghijHepp, Christopher (24 June 1989)."Penn's Isaac Starr, 94, Pioneer In Cardiology".The Inquirer.Retrieved9 November2011.
  3. ^Pinheiro, Eduardo; Postolache, Octavian; Girão, Pedro (2010)."Theory and Developments in an Unobtrusive Cardiovascular System Representation: Ballistocardiography".The Open Biomedical Engineering Journal.4:201–216.doi:10.2174/1874120701004010201.PMC3111731.PMID21673836.
  4. ^Alwan, Majd; Felder, Robin, eds. (2008).Eldercare Technology for Clinical Practitioners.New York: Humana Press. p. 92.ISBN978-1-58829-898-0.
  5. ^abcdefCooper, David Y. III; Marshall A. Ledger (1990).Innovation and Tradition at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine: An Anecdotal Journey.Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 193–6.ISBN978-0-8122-8242-9.Retrieved9 November2011.
  6. ^"Isaac Starr".Princeton Alumni Weekly.Princeton University Alumni Council. Archived fromthe originalon 18 July 2010.Retrieved13 November2011.
  7. ^Duffin, J. M."School of Medicine: Deans of the Faculty of the School of Medicine".University History.University of Pennsylvania.Retrieved9 November2011.
  8. ^Catalogue of Princeton University.Princeton: Princeton University. 1916. p. 441.
  9. ^Schnabel, TG Jr (Mar 1990). "Memoir of Isaac Starr, 1895–1989".Transactions & Studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.12(1): 114–8.PMID2181739.
  10. ^Kurumaddali, B.; Marimuthu, G.; Venkatesh, S. M.; Suresh, R.; Syam, B. S.; Suresh, V. (2014). "Cardiac Output Measurement Using Ballistocardiogram".The 15th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering.IFMBE Proceedings. Vol. 43. pp. 861–864.doi:10.1007/978-3-319-02913-9_222.ISBN978-3-319-02912-2.
  11. ^"Accelerating Cardiac Care".Heart Force Medical, Inc. Archived fromthe originalon 25 April 2012.Retrieved13 November2011.
  12. ^abcdStead, Eugene A. Jr. (April 1979). "An Appreciation of Isaac Starr".New England Journal of Medicine.300(16): 930–931.doi:10.1056/NEJM197904193001622.PMID370599.
  13. ^"Chronological Listing of Honorary Degrees".Penn: Commencement.University of Pennsylvania. Archived fromthe originalon 10 June 2011.Retrieved9 November2011.
  14. ^"1957 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award".The Lasker Foundation. Archived fromthe originalon 4 April 2012.Retrieved9 November2011.
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