Ignatz Leo Nascher

Ignatz Leo Nascher
Born(1863-10-11)11 October 1863
Vienna, Austria
Died25 December 1944(1944-12-25) (aged 81)
New York City, United States
Alma materNew York College of Pharmacy
New York University
OccupationPhysician
EmployerNew York Department of Hospitals
Known forStudy of geriatrics
Notable workGeriatrics: The Diseases of Old Age and Their Treatment
SpouseAugusta Lanzit (married 1886–1943)
Children2

Ignatz Leo Nascher (11 October 1863 – 25 December 1944) was an Austrian-American medical doctor and gerontologist. He coined the term "geriatrics" in 1909.[1]

Born in Vienna, Nascher immigrated to the United States at a young age. He graduated from Columbia University and received an M.D. from New York University. After more than two decades in private practice, Nascher began publishing his ideas on geriatrics. His theories, initially published in the New York Medical Journal, helped lay the groundwork for the modern study of ageing and elder care. In later life, Nascher worked for the city of New York as a medical administrator and attempted to put some of his ideas into effect.

As he aged, Nascher studied and described his and his wife's medical issues. In 1942, Nascher was elected in an honorary role as the first president of the American Geriatrics Society, and died in 1944. Gerontologist A.M. Clarfield wrote in 1990 that Nascher was "a pioneer and a prophet, a man clearly ahead of his time."[2]

  1. ^ Cannadine, David (4 August 2006). "In our age of old age". BBC News. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  2. ^ Clarfield, A. M. (1 November 1990). "Dr. Ignatz Nascher and the birth of geriatrics". Canadian Medical Association Journal. 143 (9): 944–945, 948. ISSN 0820-3946. PMC 1452466. PMID 2224727.