Walter G. J. Putschar (1904–1987) Andrew E
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Chapter Walter G. J. Putschar (1904–1987) Andrew E. Rosenberg, Donald J. Ortner, and Bruce D. Ragsdale alter G. J. Putschar (fi gure 12.1) was concentrated in zoology and developed a special Won the staff of the Department of Pathol- interest in planktons, and he hoped to become a ogy of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) zoology teacher. His curriculum included eight from 1959 to 1984. His unique attributes left an years of Latin and six of Greek. During this indelible impression on all who worked with period he was awarded a two-year scholarship at him. He lived his life with purpose, insatiable Kremsmünster, a Benedictine abbey founded in curiosity, and personal sacrifi ce and fulfi llment. the eighth century, to which a school was added His many qualities and diverse interests made in the sixteenth century. Th e school possessed him a remarkable physician and an extraordi- collections of rocks, crystals, preserved animals, narily gifted pathologist. botanical specimens, and bones, as well as an Walter Putschar was the son of a civil engi- astronomical observatory. Walter excelled as a neer who helped construct bridges and build- student and advanced through his coursework a ings. Born on January 9, 1904, in Graz, Austria, year ahead of his peers. he was raised during much of his adolescence by Upon graduation, he matriculated at the his much-loved uncle, Dr. Arnold Wittek, after University of Graz to begin his medical train- his father died in 1917. Dr. Wittek was an accom- ing, which he later completed at the Univer- plished orthopedic surgeon at the University of sity of Vienna. During his medical education Graz who founded the fi rst orthopedic hospital he requested advanced studies in histology and in that city (1914) for the rehabilitation of those received instruction at Josef Schaff er’s Institute wounded in war and industrial accidents, and of Histology, where he learned the principles of he also created therapeutic centers for crippled scientifi c investigation and the art and science children and patients suff ering from musculo- of accurate and precise observation. His peers at skeletal tuberculosis (1). His papers covered many the institute included two other Austrians who areas of orthopedic surgery, and he was the fi rst later became leaders of German pathology: Her- to coin the term “Ollier’s disease” for the disorder wig Hamperl, who became recognized for his of enchondromatosis. His hard work led to his research on the oncocyte, a word he coined, and being named an Honoured Citizen of the City of Friedrich Feyrter, who discovered the argentaffi n Graz; his portrait adorns the city hall alongside cell system. Th e next year he studied pathology those of other legendary leaders of the town. He at Wieden Hospital, part of the Vienna hospital had a lifelong infl uence in shaping the character, system, where he studied under Professor Carl interests, and pursuits of his nephew. Sternberg, a privilege granted only to outstand- In high school the young Walter Putschar ing students. Th ere he published three articles on 154 pathology_chap12.indd 154 8/16/11 10:18 AM Walter G. J. Putschar (–) the complications of arsenic in the treatment of requested that each staff member choose a sub- syphilis and the signifi cance of cartilage within specialty to focus on. When asked, “Do you want vertebral bodies (3–5); he received his medical lung, kidney, what?” Walter interrupted, “Put on degree at the end of 1927. my desk that which no one else wants.” Th e next He then completed a practical year at the Uni- day bones and eyes covered his desk and became versity Hospital Vienna, including six months his main purview. His interest in these organs, in ophthalmology. In 1928 he was appointed particularly the skeletal system, had already been an Assistant in Pathology by Professor Georg stimulated no doubt by his well-known uncle, Gruber, Chief of Pathology at the University of and this opportunity helped foster its becoming Göttingen, one of the fi nest German universi- one of his lifelong passions. ties, and home of many Nobel Prize laureates. During this time Dr. Putschar married a Putschar taught anatomic pathology there for woman named Eva, who was from a Hungarian seven years, and was the fi rst to describe glycog- Jewish family. Th ey had two daughters, Elga and enosis (Joannes C. Pompe described it the same Eva, and the family bonds were strong. As the year), a genetic enzyme defi ciency that results political scene of Germany changed and Nazism in heart failure (7). In 1931 he was promoted to grew, Dr. Putschar became an outspoken critic of the equivalent of an American assistant profes- its philosophic tenets. On more than one occa- sor. During his tenure his department chairman sion he commented that Germany was not big enough for both himself and Hitler. Not long thereafter, he became concerned about the safety of his family, so in 1935 he decided to forfeit his promising career, and he and his family overcame diffi cult bureaucratic obstacles in Germany and immigrated to the United States. In the 1930s the United States provided expe- dited entry and permanent resident status to immigrant professionals and their families if they were qualifi ed for teaching posts at Ameri- can institutions of higher learning. By the time Dr. Putschar arrived in the United States, many academic positions in pathology had been fi lled by central European pathologists, and in 1935 he accepted a temporary position as Assistant Pro- fessor of Pathology on the faculty of the Univer- sity of Buff alo medical school. Th e off er had been extended by the chairman, Dr. Kornel Terplan, who had known Dr. Putschar in Vienna in the 1920s. Dr. Putschar remained at the University of Buf- falo for one year, until a disagreement between Dr. Terplan and a senior hospital administrator ended the arrangement. In 1937, Dr. Putschar accepted an off er to become the Director of Lab- Figure 12.1 Walter G. J. Putschar as a young man oratories at the General Hospital in Charleston, 155 pathology_chap12.indd 155 8/16/11 10:18 AM Keen Minds to Explore the Dark Continents of Disease West Virginia. Beginning with only a small room Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) in in the basement at Charleston General Hospital, Washington, D.C., during his Charleston years, Dr. Putschar single-handedly created and staff ed and this affi liation played an important role for a new pathology laboratory that became an the rest of his career. Colonel James E. Ash, the important center for the training of both pathol- director of the AFIP, had trained in Vienna before ogists and laboratory technicians. Th e program World War I, and he appreciated the expertise of included a two-position pathology residency in European pathologists. Accordingly, he recruited combined anatomic and clinical pathology and Dr. Hans Smetana as Chief of the AFIP. Dr. Sme- an outstanding 18-month school for laboratory tana had known Dr. Putschar in Vienna, and he technicians. Dr. Putschar ran a “tight ship” and, invited him to become a Civilian Resident Con- according to Dr. Arturo Michelena, one of his sultant for the AFIP in 1949. Th ere Dr. Putschar residents from that period, autopsies were per- began a productive, 30-year-long collaboration formed promptly upon arrival of the deceased, with Dr. Lent C. Johnson, Chief of the Ortho- under his supervision, even if that happened to pedic Pathology Department. Dr. Putschar also be midnight. arranged for Dr. Erwin Uehlinger, a distin- Life in Appalachia during the Great Depres- guished pathologist from Zurich who had a spe- sion was dramatically diff erent from that in cial interest in orthopedic pathology, to become a the intellectual milieu of Göttingen, but Dr. consultant at the AFIP. Subsequently, Uehlinger, Putschar had the motivation and self-discipline Editor of Virchows Archiv, dedicated one of its to build his own academic and cultural environ- issues to the centenary celebration of the AFIP, ment. During his tenure at Charleston he did not to which Putschar contributed. Putschar in turn collaborate with his former German colleagues dedicated his last major work (on gross skeletal who had acquiesced to Hitler’s regime and who paleopathology) to Uehlinger, whom he recog- by then had become leaders of German pathol- nized as the dean of European pathologists. ogy. Instead, he transformed the pathology pro- Dr. Putschar’s recruitment to the MGH was gram at the hospital and helped bring culture to initiated by Dr. H. Robert Dudley Jr. Dr. Dudley the city. He loved classical music and founded a was a young MGH pathologist who was interested chamber music society. in bone pathology; he often visited Dr. Johnson Dr. Putschar remained at Charleston General at the AFIP to strengthen his diagnostic skills. Hospital for 21 years, until 1958. Only near the end It was there that Dr. Dudley met Dr. Putschar of his time there did he hire an associate patholo- and was impressed by his breadth of knowl- gist, Dr. Willis Garrer, who was primarily a clini- edge and expertise. Dr. Dudley arranged for Dr. cal pathologist. In the late 1950s Dr. Putschar’s Putschar to meet Dr. Benjamin Castleman, the wife died suddenly of complications from giant Chief of Pathology at MGH (fi gure 12.2). At the cell myocarditis while traveling in Europe. Eva, “interview,” Castleman was impressed with Dr. the younger of his two daughters, had died from Putschar and in 1959 hired him as a consultant leukemia, and these two losses were devastating pathologist. Dr.