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 Newark, NJ—More than 160 rare cardiology texts from the Aaron E. Parsonnet, MD, Cardiology Collection at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center were recently catalogued for the first time by his great-great-grand-niece, Sarah Fletcher, a senior at Cranford High School. The books, from the early 20th century, were originally donated to Newark Beth Israel Medical Center by Dr. Parsonnet, who became the first recognized cardiologist in Newark and was world-renowned for his expertise and knowledge. Also a skilled bookbinder, Dr. Parsonnet restored and bound in leather most of the books in this collection.
“I was really thrilled and excited to be asked to work on this project,” says Ms. Fletcher, who comes from four generations of physicians, including her mother, Dr. Susan Cantor, MD, and grandfather, Jerome Cantor, MD. She found the collection to be in excellent condition and beautifully bound. She herself has not yet decided upon a career. At the moment she is interviewing at various colleges, and is unsure exactly what impact her recent tour into medical history will have upon her.
Dr. Aaron Parsonnet joined his brother, Victor Parsonnet, MD, at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in 1903. After Victor’s sudden cardiac arrest at age 48 in 1920, Aaron’s focus became the mechanics of the heart and the arrhythmias that cause sudden death. In 1937, he founded an evening cardiac clinic for the poor. Over the years he became one of the foremost cardiologists in the world and a co-founder of the American College of Cardiology.
When he wasn’t working, Dr. Parsonnet often spent his evenings with oil painting and bookbinding of many texts from many of the great physicians of that era. The Newark Beth Israel Medical Center collection includes books by:
· Dr. Albert Hyman: invented the first artificial pacemaker in 1932.
· Dr. Ludwig Ashoff: a famed Germany pathologist who singled out dietary cholesterol in artery wall thickening
· Dr. Paul Dudley White, viewed as the founder of preventive cardiology, appointed as President Dwight D. Eisenhower's physician
· Dr. Louis Katz: in the 30s and 40s his laboratory served as a watershed for original research and a training ground for physicians
· Dr. Louis Bishop, one of the nation’s first heart specialists and a former president of the American College of Cardiologists
· Dr. George Balfour, wrote a classic text in geriatric cardiology
· Dr. Peter Latham: who died in 1875 London, was highly regarded by his contemporaries as a physician and teacher
· Dr. Austin Flint: was a pioneer in the use of the stethoscope. His "Principles and Practice of Medicine" (1866) was a leading textbook
Today, Victor Parsonnet, MD, who encouraged the project, is the original Victor’s grandson. He is an internationally renowned cardiac surgeon. A third-generation member of the Parsonnet and Danzis families, Dr. Parsonnet is heir to the tradition of quality medical care practiced by his father, Dr. Eugene Parsonnet, and his grandfathers, the first Victor Parsonnet, MD, and Max Danzis, MD. He began at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center’s department of surgery in 1950 and spent most of his distinguished career there as the chief of surgery. He has been closely involved with such pioneering developments as the pacemaker (the first surgeon in New Jersey to install a pacemaker), cardiac transplantation (he performed the first in New Jersey), and coronary artery bypass surgery.
Recently, Dr. Parsonnet joined his grandniece in the pleasure of reviewing the Aaron E. Parsonnet MD Cardiology Collection. “It is humbling,” he said, “to see how our predecessors considered their current knowledge to be definitive, causing us to wonder how our descendants will regard what we see today as definitive.”
Dr. Parsonnet did find some areas of past medicine to be almost equivalent to modern medicine, particularly the cardiologists’ knowledge of arrhythmias, despite the use of rudimentary electrocardiograms. Some of the challenges faced by physicians in the early 20th century still confound heart specialists today. “The nature and mechanisms of many arrhythmias are still not fully understood,” says Dr. Parsonnet. “We are still challenged by neural and cellular physiology. There is much yet to be learned.”
The Parsonnet family and NBIMC are still assessing the value of the collection and deciding the best use for it. The cataloguing will continue so that researchers and students wishing to review a volume will be able to find its precise location.
Saint Barnabas Heart Center at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, NJ, has a distinguished history in the field of cardiology. Our pioneering physicians performed the first early coronary bypass procedures as well as the first heart transplant in New Jersey. Their work in the development and use of pacemakers is world renowned. Building on that legacy, our nationally respected cardiac physicians, surgeons and researchers continue to make significant advances in cardiac care.
At the Saint Barnabas Heart Center at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, New Jersey residents have access to one of the nation’s finest and most comprehensive cardiovascular programs that was ranked among the nation’s 50 best in Heart and Heart Surgery by U.S.News & World Report’s America’s Best Hospitals 2009-10. Highly specialized care includes minimally invasive and robotic-assisted cardiac procedures, state-of-the-art technology that provides astounding images of the heart for more precise diagnosis, and the latest generation of ventricular assist devices designed to take over the pumping action for a diseased heart. Our heart transplant program remains among the most active in the country, ranking ninth in the nation by volume, with short- and long-term graft survival rates that consistently exceed national benchmarks.
For more information about cardiology services or accessing a cardiology service in your area, please call 1-888-SBHS-123.
Date: August 12, 2009
Contact: Beth Salamon
Public Relations
Phone: 973.322.4926
esalamon@sbhcs.com
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