ASTMH mourns the loss of longtime member Herbert Tanowitz, MD, a professor in the departments of Pathology and Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Dr. Tanowitz died unexpectedly on Tuesday, July 17, 2018.
From the
Albert Einstein College of Medicine obituary for Dr. Tanowitz: He was a world-class infectious diseases researcher dedicated to science and renowned for his pioneering work in the study of parasites and, in particular, for his work on the pathogenesis of Chagas Disease due to
Trypanosoma cruzi infection. His laboratory investigated the pathogenesis of Chagasic heart disease and the consequences of
Trypanosoma cruzi infection on the pathophysiology of the host. In recognition of his contributions, he was elected in 2009 to the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Tanowitz received his bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College and then attended Einstein. Following graduation from medical school, he returned to the Bronx in 1973, as a fellow in infectious diseases, after completing his residency in internal medicine at the then Einstein-affiliated Lincoln Hospital. But soon after, the US Navy deployed him to Quantico, Virginia, where he served two years in the medical corps at the Naval Hospital. Captain Tanowitz remained a member of the United States Navy Reserve through 2008. In 1975, he returned to Einstein as Assistant Professor of Pathology and of Medicine, and also served as an attending physician at both Jacobi Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center.
In 2010, he received the Dominick P. Purpura Distinguished Alumnus Award and received the Walter Colli Award during the 27th annual meeting of the Brazilian Society of Protozoology, in 2011.
Read the obituary for Dr. Tanowitz from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine