Abstract
A RECENT article in Nature (May 9, 1944, p. 625) referred to the part played by parasitic diseases in war and to the realization by American physicians that these diseases constitute a grave danger to their troops overseas. Prof. H. W. Stunkard (Ann, New York Acad. Sci., 44, Art. 3, 189; 1943) has referred to the absence of adequate instruction in tropical medicine or of any institution devoted primarily to work on parasitic diseases in the United States. Nuttall, Brurnpt and Fülleborn, he states, thought that New York should provide the financial support for such an institution, because it is the principal shipping and commercial centre in the United States. In time of war, Prof. Stunkard points out, it is one of the chief ports of embarkation and disembarkation, so that there is acute need there for diagnostic, therapeutic and research work. The Columbia University Department of Public Information now announces that plans are being formulated which will, if they are carried out, make New York City a world centre of teaching and research in tropical medicine. Dr. H. S. Mustard, director of the DeLamar Institute of Public Health, Columbia University School of Medicine, states that a substantial beginning has been made, thanks to a temporary grant from the Macy Foundation. An additional grant from the John and Mary H. Markle Foundation has been received for research on filariasis. Instruction in tropical medicine for medical students has been increased at the Institute, and its laboratories are now available to officers of the armed services and to others who need to go to the tropics. Intensive courses for graduates are also being provided and it is expected that very soon a full year's course will be available. There is hope that new buildings will be possible soon after the War.
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Tropical Diseases Investigation in New York. Nature 154, 266–267 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/154266c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/154266c0