Soma Weiss (January 27, 1898 – January 31, 1942) was a Hungarian-born American physician.

Early life

Soma Weiss was born in 1898 in Bistriţa,

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the ...

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with t ...

. He studied

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

and

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. Immediately after the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

and qualified in medicine in 1923. He was from Jewish ancestry.

Ernest Sachs Jr. Ernest Sachs Jr. (October 2, 1916 – December 3, 2001) was an American neurosurgeon. The great-grandson of Goldman Sachs's founder, he was a neurosurgeon at Dartmouth College's Hitchcock Medical Center for 30 years. He promoted the use of the s ...

, a neurosurgeon who was Goldman Sachs's founder Marcus Goldman's great-grandson, was Weiss's cousin.

Career

After initially working at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

, Weiss moved to

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools ...

(HMS) in 1925, and in 1939 became physician-in-chief at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (which merged to form

Brigham and Women's Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two fo ...

in 1980) and Hersey Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic at HMS. He published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, the majority relating to

cardiovascular diseases Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, ...

and

pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemi ...

Death

Weiss died suddenly on January 31, 1942, four days after turning 43. He had developed a sudden, excruciating and enduring headache one day, which he recognized as a ruptured

intracranial aneurysm An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a brain aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel. Aneurysms in the posterior circu ...

; he made it home, where he was briefly cared for by medical staff he had trained, but soon died.

Legacy

In April 1940, Weiss worked with his students, which included his cousin (and future neurosurgeon)

, to launch the Harvard Medical School (HMS) Undergraduate Research Assembly; after Weiss's death, it was renamed the Soma Weiss Student Research Day. The Scholars in Medicine Office of HMS sponsors the annual forum, which "provides students with an opportunity to present their scholarly work and share their findings with faculty and fellow students through poster sessions." The schedule includes presentations of posters and papers, the presentation of a number of student prizes, the announcing of a student scholarship, and the presentation of mentoring awards to professors awards; as of the 80th Soma Weiss Student Research Day, held virtually (due to COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts) on 16 March 2020, the awards included: *Robert Ebert Prize for Health Care Delivery Research or Service *Leon Eisenberg Prize for Medicine in Society Research *Judah Folkman Prize for Clinical/Translational Science Research *Elizabeth D. Hay Prize for Basic Science Research *Charles Janeway Prize for International Research or Service *Martin Prince Scholarship for Student Innovation *Scholars in Medicine Excellence in Mentoring Awards

Medical achievements

* He was the first to describe the

carotid sinus In human anatomy, the carotid sinus is a dilated area at the base of the internal carotid artery just superior to the bifurcation of the internal carotid and external carotid at the level of the superior border of thyroid cartilage. The caroti ...

hypersensitivity syndrome * In 1925, with Hermann Blumgart performed the first application of in-vivo circulating blood radioactive tracers * In 1929, with

G. Kenneth Mallory George Kenneth Mallory (February 14, 1900 – April 8, 1986) was an American pathologist chiefly remembered for describing the Mallory–Weiss syndrome, Mallory–Weiss tear. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts on 14 February 1900, the son of Fr ...

described hemorrhagic lacerations of the cardiac orifice of the stomach due to vomiting: Mallory-Weiss syndrome

References

External links

Soma Weiss papers, 1922-1957. GA 92. Harvard Medical Library, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, Mass.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Soma Cornell University faculty Harvard Medical School faculty American cardiologists 1898 births 1942 deaths People from Bistrița Hungarian emigrants to the United States Deaths from intracranial aneurysm