Serge Voronoff and the History of Wound Care at the New York Academy of Medicine

Join me at the New York Academy of Medicine for the Tenth Annual History of Medicine and Public Health Night on Wednesday, January 30th, when I present my paper entitled Organotherapy, Gilded Manhattan, and Wound Healing Research in the Early 20th Century. This presentation will explore the unrecognized and forgotten contribution of Serge Voronoff (1866-1951) to wound healing research – a story that evolves against the backdrop of medical science and mansions of early 20th Century Manhattan.  Serge Voronoff attained notoriety for his theories of human rejuvenation, accomplished through transplantation of testicles from monkeys into aging men. He maintained a thriving surgical practice until his work became discredited in the late 1920’s, leading him into forgotten obscurity. Few are aware, however, of his research on wound healing, performed in France during World War 1.  Seeing the horrors of war, Voronoff realized the importance of hastening wound healing and its potential benefit to medical science. He collaborated with a nurse, Evelyn Bostwick, a Manhattan heiress who he eventually married, on an effort to hasten wound healing. Evelyn’s father was a founder of Standard Oil with JD Rockefeller, and grew up in a palatial mansion on Fifth Avenue. With her assistance he experimented on artificially induced wounds in animals using slices of testicles.  Although his experiments sounds absurd today, at the time he was at the forefront of medical science. This was ...
Source: Jeffrey M. Levine MD | Geriatric Specialist | Wound Care | Pressure Ulcers - Category: Geriatrics Authors: Tags: Featured Medical Articles Medical History Pressure Injuries & Wound Care Publications pressure ulcers Source Type: blogs