Einstein Mourns the Loss of Leading Parasitologist and Consummate Educator
On Thursday, March 25, 2021, Einstein lost a dear and distinguished member of its faculty and professor emeritus of pathology. Dr. Murray Wittner died at the age of 93.
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Dr. Wittner, who served as acting chair of pathology in 1973, was renowned in the field of parasitology for his research on Trypanosoma cruzi and its role in causing Chagas Disease. This research was performed with Dr. Herbert Tanowitz, his longtime collaborator, who died in 2018. The duo conducted critical investigations that resulted in the recognition that T. cruzi infection results in vascular abnormalities that contribute to the development of the chronic cardiomyopathy seen in Chagas Disease. Dr. Wittner was author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications on parasitology, most of which involved this collaborative research program on T. cruzi.
A Leading Expert in Parasitology
Besides his experimental work on Chagas Disease, Dr. Wittner had an enduring interest in clinical parasitology. He was founding director of the diagnostic laboratory for parasitology based at Jacobi Hospital (Bronx Municipal Hospital), which served as a reference laboratory for New York State and collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) parasitology laboratories. For many years, he edited the "Drugs for Parasitic Diseases" section of the "The Medical Letter."
Although Dr. Wittner was trained as a pathologist, he developed and ran a parasitology clinic at Jacobi Hospital, where he treated patients who presented with various parasitic infections. Widely recognized for his clinical acumen, he was sought out to consult on difficult cases, many of which resulted in case reports that extended the clinical parasitology literature. The clinic provided training for many Einstein-Montefiore Infectious Diseases fellows, including Dr. Christina Coyle, who succeeded Dr. Wittner as the clinic’s director and, like her mentor, is a widely recognized expert in the diagnosis and management of difficult parasitology cases. Dr. Wittner’s interest in "travel medicine" led to his providing inoculations and travel consults to Einstein students and staff, and to his patients. He contributed his expertise and patient data to many national studies on travel medicine participating in CDC and National Institutes of Health initiatives on parasitology and travel medicine.
Offering Insights into Global Health
He also teamed with Dr. Tanowitz on developing and teaching a parasitology course for the College of Medicine. A comprehensive survey of medical parasitology not commonly seen as a stand-alone course in a medical school, it helped train generations of Einstein students in global health and the importance of these diseases in the immigrant communities seen in our affiliated hospitals.
“Murray was one of our former titans among the founding faculty,” said Dr. Edward R. Burns, executive dean and member of the class of ’76. “The parasitology course was unique and about the only one in the country. Every year, without fail, some students would complain that it was too long and too granular. They wanted short and sweet for the boards. Also, without fail, at alumni gatherings each year, when I asked alumni to recall the most memorable course of excellence, their response was parasitology. As a result of that course, Murray Wittner had the broadest success in teaching many future physicians about a subject that is most relevant to global health.”
Some Personal History
Dr. Wittner earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Illinois, where he was a student of Dr. Roksabro (Richard) Kudo. As part of these studies, he had to capture wild bats to study their parasites. He delighted in relating the story of being stopped by the police following a collecting trip, particularly the reactions of the officers when they saw the cages filled with bats in the back of his car.
“When I first got to Einstein, Murray had the cages in his laboratory, a souvenir of his master’s research experience,” recalled Dr. Louis Weiss, professor of pathology and of medicine (infectious diseases), who many years later co-edited “The Microsporidia and Microsporidiosis” with Dr. Wittner for the American Society of Microbiology. “The book focused on the research for which Murray's mentor, Dr. Kudo, was internationally famous.”
After earning his master’s degree, Dr. Wittner served in Japan during the Korean War, as the consulting parasitologist to the Air Force’s air surgeon serving the Far East. Following his military service, he received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and his M.D. from Yale Medical School. Following an internship at Massachusetts General Hospital, he completed a pathology residency at Jacobi Hospital. He was appointed as an assistant professor at Einstein in 1965, eventually rising to the rank of tenured professor of pathology.
Dr. Wittmer’s valuable contributions to the fields of infectious diseases and global health are more relevant than ever in our modern era of international travel and pandemics. His legacy lives on in the preparation of present and future generations of Einstein students to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world.
Those wishing to leave a memory may do so by visiting the Remembrance page for Murray Wittner, M.D., Ph.D.
Editor’s Note: Inside Einstein would like to thank Dr. Louis M. Weiss for his helpful contributions in drafting this in memoriam.
Posted on: Monday, April 12, 2021