Biographical Memoirs Volume 44 (1974) / Chapter Skim
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2. Thomas Francis, Jr.
2. Thomas Francis, Jr.
Pages 58-112
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From page 59... ...
PAUL 38 THOMAS FRANCIS, JR., was born in Gas City, Indiana, on July 15, 1900, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Anne (Cadogan) Francis.
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From page 60... ...
With high school over, where all records maintain that Tommy was an able student, he attended Allegheny College at Meadville, Pennsylvania, and received the B.S. degree in 1921.
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The recommendations concerned, in part, the introduction of the full-time system into the clinical departments of the medical schools of North America—an idea that
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From page 62... ...
The reason for dwelling so long in this memoir on his academic background is that I am convinced that the training the young Thomas Francis received at Yale opened up a vista of new paths and new opportunities which he eagerly followed. All accounts testify that he was a fun-loving, attractive, and able student, quick to learn and quick to appreciate the idea that the Yale school was supposed to do something out of the ordinary—and to act as a spearhead in a movement of reform
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From page 63... ...
The young Thomas Francis became keenly aware of the Intimate attention that was being bestowed on this first small group of medical students who had been admitted under the new regime. He soon fell under the spell of the newly appointed faculty members, who besides being clinicians were inspiring and high-minded teacher: men such as Francis G
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From page 64... ...
In any event, Blake decided that here was no ordinary young physician—indeed, Thomas Francis was one who might go far. So he advised him to prepare himself further by a period of training at the best contemporary institution that was available for this kind of instruction, namely, the Hospital of the Rockefeller Institute.
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From page 65... ...
It was during this period that the young Thomas Francis began to gain a feeling of confidence that he had arrived as a person to be reckoned with in the field of full-time clinical investigation. Besides his qualifications as an investigator, his clinical abilities as a young physician also came to the fore on the the wards of the Rockefeller hospital.
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From page 66... ...
MacLeod said: "On coming to Avery's laboratory, Francis and William Tillett worked together on cutaneous and serological reactions to products of pneumococcus, particularly the specific capsular polysaccharides and the 'C' or somatic carbohydrate, now known to be a constituent of the bacterial cell wall. Over the three^.
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From page 67... ...
MacLeod, "Thomas Francis, Jr., 1900-1969," Arch. Environmental Health, 21 (1970)
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From page 68... ...
Avery reminding me that we were physicians; that the major concern of this laboratory was lobar pneumonia and that what was done here was in effect to understand the disease and to lick the pants off the pneumococcus—a theme that was developed under Avery and Dubos with the Type III decapsulating enzyme. This is a true view of Avery's intellectual commitment to the clinical problem.
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From page 69... ...
It is a major part of virology—reactivation—recommendation and all." It was during the period when he was on the staff of the pneumonia service at the Rockefeller hospital that he married Dorothy Packard Otton, in 1933. The Francises had two children: Mary Jane and Thomas Francis III ("T"~.
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From page 70... ...
The bottles were then mailed back to New York. The use of BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS glycerine to stabilize viruses present in clinical specimens had been introduced only a few weeks previously as an effective means of transporting and preserving poliovirus present in oropharyngeal washings obtained from patients suffering from poliomyelitis.
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From page 71... ...
Thomas Francis will be remembered, none surpasses his contributions to the elucidation of the problem of influenza. As the first American to recover and to study influenza virus in the laboratory, Dr.
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So, it was no surprise when he was offered and accepted in 1938 the chairmanship of the Microbiology Department at New York University College of Medicine, which carried a supplementary appointment as visiting physician at New York City's Bellevue and Willard Parker Hospitals.
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From page 73... ...
But what is more remarkable, he identified himself continuously with clinical societies besides. Not only did he keep up with old friends at the annual Atlantic City meetings of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, of which he was president in 1945-1946, but of the Association of American Physicians—and he got tremendous pleasure out of these contacts.
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From page 74... ...
Among these three men (Simmons, Blake, and Bayne-}ones) there had been no difficulty in selecting Thomas Francis, fir., as director of the Board's first Commission on Influenza.
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New strains of influenza virus had to be incorporated into the vaccine as they ~ Members of the Commission on Influenza, Board for the Investigation and Control of Influenza and other Epidemic Diseases in the Army, Office of the Sturgeon General, U.S.
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~ On one feature, however, it is necessary to dwell, and that is the antibody response induced by the whole heterogeneous family of influenza viruses. There were infinite complexities, for it was found that when an individual became infected sequentially with a variety of different strains of influenza virus, apparently each one left its footprint, whether heavy or light.
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From page 77... ...
As long as Thomas M Rivers, his old colleague at the Hospital of the Rockefeller Institute, was its scientific mentor, he was willing to throw in his lot with the National Foundation.
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From page 78... ...
Francis, in 1953 he was called upon to administer the truly colossal task of conducting a field trial on the Salk-type vaccine—the largest trial to test the effectiveness of any vaccine that had ever been attempted anywhere. But here I should retrace my steps to indicate that by midcentury Thomas Francis had reached a stage in his career when he had branched out beyond being a specialist in influenza or in the two other diseases he had investigated to date—poliomyelitis and infectious hepatitis.
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From page 79... ...
By keeping abreast of clinical medicine through attendance at various meetings he bridged the gap between the specialty of epidemiology and the whole broad field of the medical sciences. This ability enabled him to take the change in emphasis from infectious diseases to noninfectious diseases in his stride.
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Not until all these conditions were agreed to did he accept the assignment. Thus the Poliomyelitis Vaccine Evaluation Center was quickly established in early 1954 at the University of Michigan.
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The field trial had been inadvertently taken out of its proper setting as a scientific experiment ~nr1 he,] ^~^,1 _~ 1 - - ~ Ant ^~ ~_111~_15~= an a prime cremate spectacle.
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From page 82... ...
The annual meeting of the American Epidemiological Society was considered, but the body was excluded as being too small an organization to handle such big news. Gradually the forces of publicity and sensationalism took over and since the Poliomyelitis Vaccine Evaluation Center had been established at the University of Michigan, it seemed that this university had the right to capitalize on the project which had become such a national issue.
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From page 83... ...
And yet, although his scientific reputation had been jolted, through it all Tommy Francis kept his head. He had not been responsible for the manner in which his excellent field trial had been downgraded, or for events which had followed close
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From page 84... ...
As Sigerist, the medical historian, had said: "Every civilization makes its own diseases." It was such a philosophy that enabled Francis to make the transition easily from microbiology and the epidemiology of infectious diseases to the epidemiology of the whole broad field of noninfectious conditions, such as heart disease, cancer, and other chronic illnesses including mental illness. After all, for the epidemiologist the shift was not to a different field but was just a matter of applying epidemiolot,ical methods to other conditions.
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and was important enough, he must have a look at it. Such was the impetus behind his contribution to the work of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC)
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From page 86... ...
K Cannon, "Contribution to the Work of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC)
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Perhaps his interest in the subject of neoplasms had been stimulated as far back as the 1950s, when Francis recorded a great moment in his varied career. This event occurred after lunch one day at the Rockefeller Institute when he encountered Dr.
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From page 88... ...
Wegman, "Thomas Francis Jr.: An Appreciation," Arch. Enviro'~me~ztal Health, 21 (1970)
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Thomas Francis, Jr., and airs. Arthur J
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(Hon.) 1941-1955 Director of the Commission on Influenza, Armed Forces Epidemiological Board, Department of Defense; Mem ber, from 1941 onward 1955-1967 Member, Armed Forces Epidemiological Board, Department of Defense; President, 1958-1960
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89 Lecturer, Tropical and Military Medicine, Army Medical School, Washington, D.C., during World War II Overseas missions to Natousa, Etousa, Antilles, and Pacific area during the war
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Army 1967 The Memorial Medal and Badge of the Gamaleya In stitute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, for recognition of his contribution in advancing biological research 1969 ABCC, NRC Commemorative Medal for distinguished service MEMBERSHIPS IN PROFESSIONAL, HONORARY, AND LEARNED SOCIETIES Harvey Society (Secretary, 1938-1 94 1 ~ Society of American Bacteriologists (Chairman, Medical Section, 1940; Editorial Board, Bacteriological Reviews; Vice President, 1946; President, 1947) American Society for Clinical Investigation (Editorial Board, 19401944; President, 1 945-1946)
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American Philosophical Society (Committee on Membership, Class II, Geological and Biological Sciences) American Society of Experimental Pathology Association of American Physicians Association of Schools of Public Health Constantinian Society Central Society for Clinical Research History of Science Society National Academy of Sciences, elected 1948 (Member of the Governing Council, 1958-1961; Member of the Executive Committee and Member at Large of the Division of Medical Sciences, 1960-1963; Member of the Kovalenko Fund, 1954-1959; Chairman, Section on Pathology and Microbiology, 1963-1966; Chairman, Marsh Fund Committee, 1963; Editorial Board, Proceedings, 19581961)
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From page 94... ...
Sci. American Journal of Medical Sciences Am.
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II. Treatment with an enzyme which decomposes the specific capsular polysaccharide of pneumococcus type III.
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The antibody response of human subjects vaccinated with the virus of human influenza.
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Studies on the nasal histology of epidemic influenza virus infection in the ferret.
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1940 Ann. Internal Intranasal inoculation of human individuals with the virus of epidemic influenza.
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Science, 96:499. 1943 A rationale for studies in the control of epidemic influenza.
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Additional studies of the inactivation of the virus of epidemic influenza by soaps.
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The protective effect of vaccination against epidemic influenza B
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The neutralization of the mouse-adapted Lansing strain of poliomyelitis virus by the serum of patients and contacts.
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The incidence of poliomyelitis virus in cases of mild illness during a severe urban epidemic.
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From page 104... ...
Failure to demonstrate antibody in feces of monkeys vaccinated with poliomyelitis virus, Lansing strain.
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From page 105... ...
Influenza: method of Thomas Francis, Jr. In: Current Therapy, ed.
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From page 106... ...
An Evaluation of the 1954 Poliomyelitis Vaccine Trials; Summary Report. Ann Arbor, Michigan, Poliomyelitis Vaccine Evaluation Center, University of Michigan.
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From page 107... ...
Bull., 21:153-55. Evaluation of the 1954 poliomyelitis vaccine field trial: further studies of results determining the effectiveness of poliomyelitis vaccine (Salk)
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From page 108... ...
Evaluation of the 1954 Field Trial of Poliomyelitis Vaccine; Final Report. Ann Arbor, Mich~gan, Edwards Brothers, Inc.
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American journal of Medicine, 26: 39. Adventures in preventive medicine: the Founder's Day address Allegheny College Bulletin, June.
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS 1963 Epidemic influenza.
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From page 111... ...
Standards required in vaccine field trials. In: Proceedings of the Cholera Research Symposium, Honolulu, January 24-29, 1965, publication 1328, pp.
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From page 112... ...
Epidemic influenza: immunization and control.
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