March 13, 1911–July 31, 1984

BY SEYMOUR S. KETY AND ROBERT E. FORSTER

JULIUS COMROE WAS AN extraordinary teacher who began his medical career as a surgeon, then became an accomplished investigator and did important original research, but gradually directed his considerable energies into teaching basic biomedical research to graduate physicians and explaining its importance to medical practice and the acquisition of new knowledge. After developing the internationally recognized Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI) in San Francisco, he worked tirelessly, in spite of failing health during the last years of his life, to demonstrate to the Congress and the public, that investigator-initiated medical research was essential to improve the nation’s health.

Julius H.Comroe, Jr., was born in York, Pennsylvania, on March 13, 1911, the youngest son of the city’s preeminent internist. His father as well as his older brother, Bernard, had graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, both the college and the medical school, and were very loyal supporters of the institution. Julius naturally followed them and graduated first in his class from the college in 1931. As an undergraduate he was editor of the college humor magazine and demonstrated his penchant for cartoons by publishing a drawing of top-hatted stage-door