Σημείωμα του ATS για το θρυλικό John West (από τον ιστότοπο της Αμερικανικής Πνευμονολογικής Εταιρείας)
When John
West, MD, PhD, was born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1928, his parents knew great
things were to come. But they probably never anticipated their son would one
day join Sir Edmund Hillary on one of the most famous Himalayan expeditions in
modern history.
In 1960,
Dr. West joined Hillary and a small group of physiologists on what later became
known as the “Silver Hut” expedition. The team spent several months at 19,000
feet, just south of Mount Everest, where they studied acclimatization and the
effect of oxygen deprivation on human health.
This
experience was the beginning of what has become a lifelong study of
high-altitude medicine and physiology for Dr. West. In, 1981 he returned to
Everest, this time heading up the American Medical Research Expedition where
the world’s first physiological measurements were taken on the summit.
Today at
age 84, Dr. West serves as professor of medicine and physiology at the School
of Medicine, University of California-San Diego, where he has been since 1969.
His research there now focuses on a new technique known as oxygen conditioning.
The limited oxygen at high altitudes can have adverse effects on
health—impacting mental function to pulmonary capacity to sleep. But now with
this new technique, oxygen can be added to air conditioning systems.
“It is not
yet used extensively, but it has a tremendous future,” explains Dr. West, who
serves as editor-in-chief of the journal High Altitude Medicine & Biology.
“Oxygen conditioning will bring great changes. Students will be able to learn
better. The neonatal death rate, which is high at high altitudes, will likely
drop. Overall, people working and living at high altitudes will be able to
function more effectively.”
After
completing his medical degree at the University of Adelaide, Dr. West spent 15
years at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London. It was there that he
became interested in effects of gravity on the lung and participated in a
groundbreaking study that discovered a way to demonstrate regional differences
of blood flow to the lungs. Then, in 1967, he took a sabbatical to the NASA
Ames Research Center.
“At that
time, the U.S. space program was just getting under way. While I was there, I
applied to NASA to conduct research measuring pulmonary function in space. It
was funded, so I moved to California to do this work,” he explains.
Since
moving to UCSD to pursue the project in 1969, Dr. West has not stopped
researching, writing, and teaching. For the past 35 years, he has been in
charge of the physiology course for first year medical students and his book,
Respiratory Physiology: The Essentials, is used by medical students worldwide.
“John West
is one of the giants in respiratory physiology with the ability to take a
complicated topic and make it appear simple, while still retaining the rigor of
the discipline. His lectures on respiratory physiology are simultaneously
accessible and accurate,” says Kim Prisk, PhD, DSc, professor in the Departments
of Medicine and Radiology at UCSD, who has worked with Dr. West for 32 years,
including five space shuttle missions and work on the International Space
Station.
Professor
Frank Powell, PhD, professor of Medicine in the Division of Physiology at UCSD,
agrees that Dr. West is not only a giant in the field, but a visionary. “John
immediately demonstrated his extremely broad interest in physiology, which has
characterized a career that tackled questions ranging from lung function in
astronauts in microgravity in the space shuttle to bar headed geese flying over
Mount Everest.”
Dr. West
joined ATS in1969, and in 2002, he was awarded the Edward Livingston Trudeau
Medal by the ATS, recognizing his lifetime of contributions and leadership in
pulmonary medicine.
“Many
wonder about the future of physiology because of the advances that have
happened in molecular biology,” Dr. West says. “But physiology will always be
the basis of the intelligent practice of medicine. It is not outdated, and it
is extremely important for medical students.”
Dr. West
has a son who is a professor at Stanford University, a daughter who works with
a non-profit in New York, as well as three grandchildren. He enjoys Baroque
music, and he sits on the board of the Bach Collegium San Diego.
