Simon Flexner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 1st Director of Rockefeller Institute | |
| In office 1901–1935 | |
| Succeeded by | Herbert Spencer Gasser |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 25, 1863 Louisville, Kentucky, US |
| Died | May 2, 1946 (aged 83) New York City, US |
| Education | University of Louisville |
| Awards | Cameron Prize of the University of Edinburgh (1911) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physician, medical educator, and experimental pathologist |
| Institutions | Johns Hopkins University Rockefeller Institute Oxford University |
| Doctoral students | John D. Rockefeller Jr. |
Simon Flexner ForMemRS[1] (March 25, 1863 – May 2, 1946) was a physician, scientist, administrator, and professor of experimental pathology at the University of Pennsylvania (1899–1903). He served as the first director of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (1901–1935) (later developed as Rockefeller University) and a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation. He was also a friend and adviser to John D. Rockefeller Jr.
Among Flexner's most important achievements are studies into poliomyelitis and the development of serum treatment for meningitis. Among his lab assistants were Hideyo Noguchi and Cornelius Rhoads, later directors of Memorial Hospital and the Sloan-Kettering Institute, respectively.
The bacteria species Shigella flexneri was named in recognition of Flexner.[2][3] In addition, Flexner was the first to describe Flexner-Wintersteiner rosettes, a characteristic finding in retinoblastoma, a type of cancer.
- ^ Rous, P. (1949). "Simon Flexner. 1863–1946". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 6 (18): 408–426. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1949.0006. S2CID 159733258.
- ^ Flexner, S. (1900). "The Etiology of Tropical Dysentery". The British Medical Journal. 2 (2074): 917–920. JSTOR 20265833.
- ^ Shigella flexneri at Who Named It?