Robert Allan Phillips MD (July 16, 1906, in Clear Lake, Iowa&nbs
Paperity
Retrieved 2014-11-19. – September 20, 1976) was a research scientist whose research contributed to a transformation in the treatment of cholera.

Education

Phillips received his undergraduate degree at Iowa State University. He studied medicine at

Washington University School of Medicine Washington University School of Medicine (WashU Medicine) is the medical school of Washington University in St. Louis, located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1891, the School of Medicine shares a ca ...

, graduating in 1929. He received a National Research Council Fellowship at

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

and also received surgical training at

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. It is the sixth-oldest m ...

Career

During World War II he developed battlefield methods to evaluate

hemoglobin Hemoglobin (haemoglobin, Hb or Hgb) is a protein containing iron that facilitates the transportation of oxygen in red blood cells. Almost all vertebrates contain hemoglobin, with the sole exception of the fish family Channichthyidae. Hemoglobin ...

levels using

specific gravity Relative density, also called specific gravity, is a dimensionless quantity defined as the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity for solids and liquids is nea ...

saving many lives. This method is used in blood donor clinics to determine whether a person is healthy enough to donate blood. He worked extensively on typhus during the war, including with the United States of America Typhus Commission in Cairo, Egypt and establishing a typhus laboratory at

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

following its liberation. Continuing in the Navy his research turned to

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

where he spearheaded the efforts of Naval Medical Research Unit Two to develop a cure for the disease. He evaluated the course of the disease and developed the protocol for rehydration used today which has saved millions of lives. His research lead the Lasker Foundation to award him a prize in 1967. In his retirement, he collaborated with the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

and the Chinese Government doing research in kidney failure again using hydration as a solution in remote areas of China where dialysis was not available.

Marriage and family

He married Helena de Kay Gilder in 1938. He later married Hope N. Fuess, with whom he had several children.

Death

Philipps died on September 20, 1976, at the Clark Air Base in the Philippines.

References

External links

* * 1906 births 1976 deaths United States Navy Medical Corps officers American medical researchers People from Clear Lake, Iowa 20th-century American scientists Recipients of the Lasker–DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award Military personnel from Iowa Washington University School of Medicine alumni Iowa State University alumni {{US-scientist-stub