Reginald Heber Fitz (1843–1913) was an American physician known for his research on abdominal disorders.

Biography

Early life

Reginald Heber Fitz was born in 1843 in

Chelsea, Massachusetts Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. As of the 2020 census, Chelsea had a population of 40,787. With a total area of just 2.46 square miles, Chelsea is the s ...

. He graduated in 1864 (

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

, 1868) from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. He also studied in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

Career

He taught at his alma mater, Harvard University. He was instructor in pathological anatomy in 1870–1873, assistant professor in 1873–1878, and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

from 1878 to 1908. In the latter year, he became professor emeritus. In 1886, he published “Perforating Inflammation of the Vermiform Appendix; With Special Reference to Its Early Diagnosis and Treatment”. This groundbreaking paper provided analysis of 466 cases of abdominal disorders that had previously been variously diagnosed and showed that they all involved a diseased appendix. He also introduced the term appendicitis. Dozens of names had previously been used for what had been thought to be a variety of diseases. He also served as physician to the Boston Dispensary in 1871–1882 and to the

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United State ...

from 1887 to 1908. In 1894, he was president of the

Association of American Physicians The Association of American Physicians (AAP) is an honorary medical society founded in 1885 by the Canadian physician Sir William Osler and six other distinguished physicians of his era for "the advancement of scientific and practical medicine." ...

Death

He died in 1913.

Bibliography

''The Practice of Medicine''
(with Horatio C. Wood, 1897). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitz, Reginald Heber 1843 births 1913 deaths American science writers Harvard Medical School alumni Harvard Medical School faculty Writers from Chelsea, Massachusetts Physicians from Massachusetts American expatriates in France American expatriates in Germany