(Circulation. 1998;97:1338-1339.)
© 1998 American Heart Association, Inc.
Remembering Louis N. Katz, MD (1897–1973)
Allen B. Weisse, MD
The year past, 1997, was a banner
one for century watchers, especially in music. It marked the
bicentennial of the birth of both Schubert and Donizetti, the
centennial of the death of Brahms, and the sesquicentennial of
Beethoven's demise as well. However, we in cardiology
had another muse who should have been commemorated but somehow was
overlooked. If he had lived until 1997, Dr Louis N. Katz would have
celebrated his 100th birthday.
At a time when support for cardiovascular research
seems to be dwindling, when public confidence in the powers of science
may be wavering, when even the virtue of the scientific enterprise is
occasionally called into doubt, it is important to remember Dr Katz:
who he was and what he represented.
The numerous obituaries and reminiscences that appeared after his
passing gave full emphasis to the esteem in which he was held by all
those who had come into contact with him. The present recollection
is from one of the many who admired him only from afar, most often
during periodic encounters at scientific meetings and through the
reading of many of the articles published by his very productive
research group and by him personally. The fact that even such a
secondhand knowledge of him by one of the budding cardiologists of his
era remains so vivid after all this time is, perhaps, an even greater
testimonial to his influence than the recollections that have emanated
from his intimates.
It would be difficult for a neophyte today, when even subspecialties
within the subspecialty of cardiovascular disease are
part of the recognized order of things, to appreciate the breadth of Dr
Katz's interest and contributions to the field. Like a colossus, he
bestrode the entire spectrum of his time: hemodynamics,
electrocardiography, hypertension, experimental
atherosclerosis, the coronary circulation,
myocardial metabolism, and more. They all came with his
"territory," and his important publications, books, and other
articles are simply too numerous to list in an article like this.
Born in Pinsk, Russia, in 1897, he emigrated to the United States
at the age of 3 years and, after public school, attended Western
Reserve, where he received his AB in 1918 and his MD in 1921. It was
there that he first came under the influence of the great Carl J.
Wiggers, who headed the Department of Physiology and who would be so
influential in directing Katz's future career. After working as an
intern and resident at the Cleveland City Hospital, he returned to
Western Reserve for an MA in Medicine, awarded in 1923.
While still trying to choose between a career in either clinical or
laboratory medicine, Dr Katz decided to spend a year with A.V. Hill at
University Hospital in London. Finally, in 1925, Katz decided to cast
his lot with Wiggers at Western Reserve, joining the faculty as an
instructor but still maintaining his clinical interests in the post of
consulting cardiologist at Cleveland's St Luke's Hospital.
The Cleveland experience came to an end in 1930, when Dr Katz accepted
an offer to become head of the Cardiovascular Research
Unit at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago. It was there that he spent
the rest of his professional life, with an additional affiliation in
the Physiology Department at the University of Chicago. His own
disciples, developed over a quarter century of teaching and research at
his home base, were eventually estimated as numbering over 500.
Many honors came to Dr Katz, and he served with distinction on
the editorial boards of many scholarly journals and committees within
the American Heart Association and the American
Physiological Society. But perhaps his greatest
pride was in the influence he had in the advancement of
cardiovascular research, pressing for the idea of
established investigatorships and, later, career investigatorships
sponsored by the American Heart Association. The latter, which had
started out primarily as a public health organ, was turned toward its
investigative mission primarily through the efforts of Katz, along with
others who foresaw the importance of this for the future. Katz's
espousal of investigations by young researchers is memorialized in the
Louis N. Katz Basic Science Research Prize for Young Investigators
awarded each year at the national meeting of the American Heart
Association. Ironically, these acolytes of medical science are unlikely
to know anything about the man whose name is carried by this
recognition.
Indeed, the Katz influence went far beyond his roles in officialdom,
beyond his contributions to dozens of books and hundreds of research
articles. It was, quite simply, a personal aura that was instantly
apparent to any observer at any of the scientific meetings at which Dr
Katz was present.
He looked and sometimes acted flamboyantly leonine. He was rather short
but immediately recognizable by the two triangular tufts of the black,
later gray, steel-wool hair that sprouted sideward and up from his
temples. He squinted at you through rather thick glasses with a gaze
that seemed designed to penetrate any artifice or confusion. He
sported, for lack of a better word, a perennially developing moustache
that never seemed quite able to flourish on his upper lip.
Year after year he could be observed attending the scientific meetings,
always arriving at a session in ample time to obtain his favorite seat
on the aisle in the first or second row. He would sit there, pad in
hand, scribbling furiously throughout each and every paper. It was
almost axiomatic that, after a presentation, he would rise
with a question. However, unlike his unusually lucid written work, his
detailed and convoluted queries often left the speaker in dismay. This
was probably because Dr Katz was taking a bead on an implication three
jumps ahead of the presenter and one that had not entered his
consciousness. Thus it was that whenever one of our group was about to
present a paper at a meeting of the American Heart Association or
the American Physiological Society, the question
frequently uppermost in our minds was likely to be, "But what will
Louis Katz ask?" (It was always pronounced "Loo-ie," but never in
disrespect. His own subordinates in Chicago, in a mixture of awe and
affection, simply referred to him as "The Boss.") The same scene
was, no doubt, repeated in similar laboratories throughout the country
whenever Dr Katz's presence was expected at an upcoming
conference.
The Katz "Reign of Terror" at meetings was not only a spicy
ingredient but, at times, a necessary one. Unimpeded by any distorted
sense of decorum when he detected intellectual dishonesty, Dr Katz
would rise to the occasion and set the record straight. Such was
his reputation for erudition and integrity that his would frequently be
the final word on such matters. Yet, despite the bristling and
contentious exterior he sometimes presented, he was always
gentle and considerate to newcomers to science and went out of his way
to make them feel comfortable and unthreatened not only in public but
on a personal level as well. I recall a private gesture of this type
directed at me when, after being offered a position in Dr Katz's
laboratory following my medical residency, I decided (probably
unwisely) to get my training in cardiovascular research
elsewhere. Dr Katz responded to my letter with one of his own, wishing
me only the best in my future career in cardiovascular
medicine and research. It is only fitting that the Young
Investigator's Award bears his name.
His demise left a vacuum in our research community that has not yet
been filled, but it is not this loss alone that has continued to occupy
my thoughts about Dr Katz over the years. After learning of his death,
I found it impossible to dispel a totally irrational scenario that
unfolded in my mind and that has continued to haunt me ever since. I
envision in my mind's eye a scene at the pearly gates. There an
archangel mentions to a visibly shaken St Peter that Louis Katz is on
his way. "I know," replies the distraught keeper of the keys,
"but what do you think he'll ask?"
