Louis Gdalman (1910–1995) was the director of Pharmacy and Central Services at

Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center Rush University Medical Center (Rush) is an academic medical center in the Illinois Medical District neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It is the hospital for the Rush University System for Health, which includes Rush Oak Park Hospital and Rush ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He is notable for starting the first

poison control center A poison control center is a medical service that is able to provide immediate, free, and expert treatment advice and assistance over the telephone in case of exposure to poisonous or hazardous substances. Poison control centers answer questions ...

in the United States in 1953 along with Edward Press. This effort was driven by 400+ children dying across the country every year from eating high-dose medicine that looked and tasted like candy. Many of these deaths would have been preventable if people had better access to information about antidotes, poison control measures and how to treat a victim. He was the only pharmacist elected a fellow of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gdalman, Louis 1910 births 1995 deaths Pharmacists from Illinois 20th-century American pharmacists