Thomas Addis Jr. (27 July 1881 – 4 June 1949) was a Scottish

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

-scientist from

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

who made important contributions to the understanding of how

blood clots A thrombus ( thrombi) is a solid or semisolid aggregate from constituents of the blood (platelets, fibrin, red blood cells, white blood cells) within the circulatory system during life. A blood clot is the final product of the blood coagulati ...

work. He was a pioneer in the field of nephrology, the branch of

internal medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

that deals with diseases of the

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

. Addis described the pathogenesis of haemophilia in 1911 and was the first to demonstrate that normal plasma could correct the defect in haemophilia.

Biography

Addis was the son of Thomas Chalmers Addis, a clerk at the local branch of the Inland Revenue Service, and Cornelia Beers-Campbell, who married in Hoboken, New York, in 1880, but he was born in

. Significant influences in his childhood were his grandfather, the Rev Dr Thomas Addis DD, Minister at Morningside Free Kirk, and his grandfather's assistant, the Very Rev Dr Alexander Martin (who came to lead the movement within the Free Kirk for reunification with the Established Church of Scotland). Addis studied medicine in his native Edinburgh, at the Institute of Pathology of Berlin Charité, and in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh Medical School with an MB in 1905 and an MD in 1908. In 1911, he took up a professorship at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where he remained until his death in 1949. Addis married Elesa Bolton Partridge in 1913. They had two daughters, Elesa and Jean. By way of his daughter Jean, Addis is the great-grandfather of Gavin Newsom, the current

governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The Governor (United States), governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constit ...

. Besides his studies in haemophilia, Addis made many contributions to the understanding of

bile Bile (from Latin ''bilis''), also known as gall, is a yellow-green/misty green fluid produced by the liver of most vertebrates that aids the digestion of lipids in the small intestine. In humans, bile is primarily composed of water, is pro ...

pigment metabolism. His investigations into kidney function led to the birth of modern renal physiology. Addis developed a means of measuring the number of red blood cells, white blood cells, epithelial cells, casts, and the protein content in urine specimens, a test used in the diagnosis and management of kidney disease. Towards the end of his life Addis began to study laboratory rats as a model of proteinuria, and was among the first people to note the presence of rodent major urinary proteins. Writing in ''Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation'', Roland Schmitt et al. assessed Addis's contribution to medical science this way: "Since the times of Thomas Addis and other pioneers, no physical examination is said to be complete without the doctor looking at the patient's urine, grossly and under the microscope." At the end of his career, Stanford University took away Addis's laboratory, perhaps on account of his leftist political views. He supported the loyalists in the Spanish Revolution, and was chairman of the San Francisco chapter of the Spanish Refugee Appeal, an organization that aided refugees from Franco's Spain. Addis toured the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1935 and came away impressed by the communist country's medical accomplishments. He was friends with Harry Bridges and other leftwingers. Addis was chairman of the San Francisco chapter of Physician's Forum, an organization that supported national health insurance. Shortly before his death, he was expelled from the

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is an American professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. This medical association was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was 271,660 ...

for refusing to pay his annual membership fee, which he did to protest the AMA's lack of support for President Truman's national health insurance plan. His Stanford colleague Frank W. Weymouth wrote about him:

Injustice or oppression in the next street ... or any spot inhabited by men was a personal affront to Thomas Addis and his name, from its early alphabetical place, was conspicuous on lists of sponsors of scores of organizations fighting for democracy and against
fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...
. He worked on more committees than could reasonably have been expected of so busy a man. ... Tom Addis was happy to have a hand in bringing to the organization of society some of the logic of science and to further that understanding and to promote that democracy which are the only enduring foundations of human dignity.Lemley, Kevin V. and Linus Pauling (1994) ''Thomas Addis: 1881-1949.'' ''Biographical Memoirs, National Academy of Sciences.'' Vol. 63, pp. 27-29.

References

External links

"Before Transfusion Became Established Procedure"
a November 6, 1999 ''British Medical Journal'' article describing Addis's early studies in blood clotting.
"Memorial Resolution, Thomas Addis"
words spoken at Addis' memorial service.
"Thomas Addis (1881-1949), Scottish Pioneer in Haemophilia Research"
a 2003 article about Addis's early studies on haemophilia in ''The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh.''
National Academy of Sciences biographical memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Addis, Thomas 1881 births 1949 deaths 20th-century Scottish medical doctors Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Medical School American medical researchers American nephrologists Medical doctors from Edinburgh Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Newsom family Scottish emigrants to the United States Stanford University School of Medicine faculty

Biography

Further reading

References

External links