Emery Andrew Rovenstine
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Emery Andrew Rovenstine (July 20, 1895 – November 9, 1960) was an American
anesthesiologist Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative medicine, perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critica ...
best known for organizing the first academic Department of Anesthesiology at New York's Bellevue Hospital. He also helped develop the anesthetic use for the gas
cyclopropane Cyclopropane is the cycloalkane with the molecular formula (CH2)3, consisting of three methylene groups (CH2) linked to each other to form a triangular ring. The small size of the ring creates substantial ring strain in the structure. Cyclopropane ...
, and he was a pioneer in therapeutic
nerve block Nerve block or regional nerve blockade is any deliberate interruption of signals traveling along a nerve, often for the purpose of pain relief. #Local anesthetic nerve block, Local anesthetic nerve block (sometimes referred to as simply "nerve b ...
ing. Upon his death in 1960, the New York Times proclaimed him "one of the world's foremost anesthesiologists."


Early life

Dr. Rovenstine was born in 1895, in Atwood, Indiana, where he clerked at his father's grocery store. He briefly attended Winona College in nearby Winona Lake and taught high school before moving on to
Wabash College Wabash College is a private liberal arts men's college located in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Founded in 1832, by a group of Dartmouth College graduates and Midwestern leaders, the institution was originally named "The Wabash Teachers Seminary an ...
, where he was graduated in 1917. Upon graduation, Rovenstine enlisted in the Army and served in France during World War I. During his three years of active duty, much of which he spent in charge of an engineering demolition squad, he witnessed battlefield pain and suffering which inspired him to pursue a career in medicine.


Medical career

After returning home for several years of teaching and coaching, he decided to attend medical school at
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
, from which he received a degree in medicine in 1928. In 1930, after struggling to maintain a general practice during economically difficult times, he took a faculty post at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
, where he studied under Dr. Ralph M. Waters and served as assistant professor of anesthesia. He and Waters experimented on the gas cyclopropane and were the first doctors to use it on human subjects. In 1935, Rovenstine was appointed chair of the department of anesthesiology at Bellevue Hospital, where he was influential in shaping the department's mission and mentoring future generations of anesthesiologists. During this time he developed a nerve blocking technique and became the first anesthesiologist to set up a nerve blocking clinic for pain relief. Two years later, he was appointed the second American professor of anesthesiology at
New York University School of Medicine The New York University Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, the other being the NYU G ...
. He became director at Goldwater Memorial Hospital in 1938 and director at University Hospital a decade later. Also in 1938, he accepted a guest professorship at
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
in England, and, a year later, at University of Rosario in Argentina. He also accepted visiting appointments in Bohemia, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France, Japan, Mexico and South Africa – and was inducted into the medical society of each respective nation. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Rovenstine served on the Army Advisory Board and was responsible for an order to Army general hospitals placing operating rooms in charge of anesthesiologists. The practice later became general. Rovenstine was a co-founder of the reorganized American Society of Anesthesiologists and served as its president from 1943 to 1944. In 1957, he received that Society's Distinguished Service Award. He was also the founder of the PostGraduate Assembly (PGA) in Anesthesiology and the American Board of Anesthesiology. He was honored by numerous organizations and governments, notably being decorated at the Verdun by the French government (for his service in the war), and being decorated by the Order of the White Lion in Czechoslovakia (for a humanitarian teaching mission there).


Residents

Among Rovenstine's notable residents at Bellevue were Stuart Cullen, Emanuel Papper,
Virginia Apgar Virginia Apgar (June 7, 1909August 7, 1974) was an American physician, obstetrical anesthesiologist and medical researcher, best known as the inventor of the Apgar score, a way to quickly assess the health of a newborn child immediately after bi ...
, Perry Volpitto, John Adriani, Louis Orkin, Sam Denson, Richard Ament, Gertie Marx, Martin Helrich, Sara Joffe, and Lewis Wright. Irwin Glasner Wang, Boardman C., Orkin, Louis, Sutin, Kenneth M., Blanck, Thomas J.J. (2003). “The Contribution of Doctor Emory A. Rovenstine to Anesthesiology.” ''Anesthesiology'' 99, A1271


Rovenstine Lectureship

The Emery A. Rovenstine Memorial Lecture series began in 1962, shortly following Dr. Rovenstine's death. The lecture is delivered by a prominent anesthesiologist each year at the annual American Society of Anesthesiologists meeting, and has become the meeting's premier event.


Athletics

Athletics played a significant role in Rovenstine's life. His first encounter with an anesthesiologist was during a high school basketball game, when he head-butted Arthur Ernest Guedel, a prominent scholar who happened to be officiating. Guedel threw the boy over his knee and gave him a spanking. He later studied under Guedel at Indiana University, and it was Guedel who helped Rovenstine secure the post at the University of Wisconsin. At Wabash College, Rovenstine played baseball, basketball, football, and was sports editor of the school's newspaper. He also played semi-profession baseball on the side under the name "Jack Andrews." Rovenstine coached basketball himself at LaPorte High School in LaPorte, Indiana from 1920 to 1924, where he still has the best winning percentage in the school's history.


Notes


External links

* Knox, Gordon. Anesthesia for Operative Procedures of Short Duration, for Induction Prior to Ether and to Complement Nitrous Oxide-Oxygen. Princeton, New Jersey. UNT Digital Library. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc13623/. * "Meet Emery Rovenstine" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnTbH9h78y4 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rovenstine, Emery Andrew American medical researchers American anesthesiologists 1895 births 1960 deaths Wabash College alumni