Karlman Wasserman (12 March 1927 — 22 June 2020) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out chemical and ...

and professor. Wasserman worked extensively on

pulmonary The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart. Their function in the respiratory syste ...

physiology, using exercise testing for the interaction of cardiovascular, ventilatory and metabolic responses. He is the founder of the Wasserman 9-Panel Plot.

Biography

Wasserman was born in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of 17 he enrolled at Princeton University to study Engineering. His studies at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

were cut short by service in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during the

occupation of Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II from the surrender of the Empire of Japan on September 2, 1945, at the war's end until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect on April 28, 1952. The occupation, led by the ...

from 1945-1946. Upon returning to the United States, Wasserman abandoned his study in engineering, graduating from

Upsala College Upsala College (UC) was a private college affiliated with the Swedish-American Augustana Synod (later the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and located in East Orange in Essex County, New Jersey in the United States, with an additiona ...

in 1947 with a degree in chemistry and a minor in biology. He then attended the

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

where he earned his PhD in Physiology in 1951. Wasserman was a professor at Tulane University Department of Physiology when he was admitted to the Tulane University School of Medicine in 1954. He continued to be on the faculty at Tulane University while completing his Medical Degree. He continued his medical training with an internship on the Osler Service at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He then had a fellowship at University of California, San Francisco. He was a member of the faculty at Stanford University from 1961 to 1967. In 1967, he accepted the position of Professor at the UCLA School of Medicine and Chief of the Division or Respiratory and Critical Care Physiology at Harbor-UCLA School of Medicine in Torrance, CA. At the time of his death he was Professor Emeritus at the UCLA School of Medicine. Wasserman worked extensively on

physiology. He was one of the first persons who used exercise testing for the interaction of cardiovascular, ventilatory and metabolic responses. He is the founder of the Wasserman 9-Panel Plot, named after himself. This Nine-Panel Plot is a standard layout for the

graphical representation Graphic communication as the name suggests is communication using graphic elements. These elements include symbols such as glyphs and icons, images such as drawings and photographs, and can include the passive contributions of substrate, colour a ...

data Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted for ...

produced by a

cardiopulmonary exercise test A cardiac stress test is a cardiological examination that evaluates the cardiovascular system's response to external stress within a controlled clinical setting. This stress response can be induced through physical exercise (usually a treadmill) o ...

. He also described the "gear wheel model" used for explaining results obtained from the exercise test in humans. He described how to determine the “

anaerobic threshold Lactate inflection point (LIP) is the exercise intensity at which the blood concentration of lactate and/or lactic acid begins to increase rapidly. It is often expressed as 85% of maximum heart rate or 75% of maximum oxygen intake. When exercisin ...

” by using ventilatory and cardiovascular gas exchange responses during exercise testing. Dr. Wasserman defined the “anaerobic threshold” in 1964 as the exercise intensity beyond which the molecule, lactic acid, accumulates in the blood. He recognized the significance of this finding, as lactic acid accumulation may reflect health risk due to a deficit in oxygen supply. He showed that the anaerobic threshold can be used to determine a health risk due to inadequate oxygen availability. He defined the theory and practice of detecting the anaerobic threshold by analyzing changes in the composition of the expired air. The anaerobic threshold is now used in diagnosis of diseases and in the training of athletes internationally. Dr. Wasserman was a mentor to numerous physicians and scientists in training. The Wasserman Visiting Professorship at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center was established in 1999 and is awarded annually to a leader in pulmonary medicine. This is an event when trainees, some from decades ago, reunite to visit and learn the latest in advancements in pulmonary medicine. He was chief of the division of “Respiratory and Critical Care Physiology and Medicine” at the

UCLA Harbor Hospital Medical Center The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Cal ...

in Torrance, CA between 1967 and 1997. After 1997 he continued doing research and teaching at this location. He was Professor Emeritus on Recall at the UCLA School of Medicine. He has written nearly 400 peer-reviewed articles, 5 books, several book chapters and scientific reviews in his career that spanned 70 years. Amongst the most noteworthy was his 1967 landmark paper entitled, Interaction of Physiological Mechanisms during Exercise. He is father of the physiologist Dr. David H. Wasserman of

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) is the graduate medical school of Vanderbilt University, a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee. The School of Medicine is primarily housed within the Eskind Biomedical Libra ...

. He died in

Palos Verdes Estates, California Palos Verdes Estates is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and neighboring Rancho Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills Estates. The city was master-planned by the noted American ...

on 22 June 2020, aged 93.

References

External links

Scientific article dedicated to Wasserman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wasserman, Karlman 1927 births 2020 deaths American physiologists Exercise physiologists Scientists from Brooklyn Upsala College alumni Princeton University alumni United States Army soldiers David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA faculty Physicians from New York City Tulane University School of Medicine alumni Tulane University faculty