We mourn with the sudden passing on, July
17, of Herbert B. Tanowitz, MD, ’67, professor of
Pathology and of Medicine (Infectious Diseases).
A world-class physician-scientist, Dr. Tanowitz was renowned
for his pioneering research on the pathogenesis of Chagas Disease, a
tropical parasitic
infection caused by Trypanosoma cruzi. He
embodied the role of the academic physician and was beloved by his patients,
fellows and students.
After graduating from Einstein and completing his residency
in internal medicine at Lincoln Hospital, he joined our faculty in
1975 as an assistant
professor and became an attending physician at Jacobi and
Montefiore Medical Centers. He went on to serve as director, Diagnostic
Parasitology
Laboratory, and associate director, Parasitology Clinic,
at Jacobi. A frequent lecturer at the medical school, he was
director and principal investigator
of a Fogarty International Training Grant to
train students and postdoctoral fellows from Brazil in research methods in
infectious diseases and
geographic medicine. He served as senior associate
editor, American Journal of Pathology; managing editor, Frontier
Bioscience; and founding
co-editor-in-chief, Journal of Neuroparasitology.
Dr. Tanowitz received numerous awards and honors,
including Einstein’s Dominick P. Purpura Distinguished Alumnus Award, the
Brazilian Society
of Protozoology’s Walter Colli Award, and election to the
Brazilian Academy of Sciences. Beyond his academic medical career, he
proudly served as
a captain in the United States Navy Reserve through 2008.
Herb was a rare person and spirit. His joie
de vivre will continue to guide us and provide a model for the role of
an engaged scholar. We will never
forget his laugh, his passion and all the ways he made us
better.