Louis Lasagna
Encyclopedia
Louis Lasagna was an American
physician
and professor
of medicine
, known for his revision of the Hippocratic Oath
.
. Born in Queens
, New York
in 1923, Lasagna was raised in New Brunswick
, New Jersey
, by his Italian immigrant parents. He graduated from Rutgers University
in 1943 and earned his medical degree
from Columbia University
in 1947. During his time at Rutgers University, he joined Kappa Sigma Fraternity (Gamma-Upsilon). After completing a clinical research fellowship in anesthesia
at Harvard Medical School
, Lasagna joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University
in 1954, where he established the first ever clinical pharmacology
department. Lasagna taught medicine
and pharmacology
at Johns Hopkins
until 1970, when he accepted the position as the first chairman of the Department of Pharmacology
and Toxicology
at the University of Rochester
, School of Medicine and Dentistry, which he held for the next decade (1970–1980). Early in his fourteen year career at Rochester, Lasagna founded the Center for the Study of Drug Development. In July 1984, the Center moved with Lasagna to Tufts University
, where he became dean of the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences
.
While living in Rochester
, Lasagna was also active in the city's cultural life, serving as the President of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
, supporting the Garth Fagan Dance company, and writing, directing, and starring in the "Mighty Lasagna Players" annual theater production by the University of Rochester, Department of Pharmacology Medical and Toxicology students and faculty.
, abortion
, euthanasia
, and medical experimentation on humans. In 1964, Lasagna wrote a modernized version of the Hippocratic Oath
, which emphasized a holistic and compassionate approach to medicine. Today, the "Lasagna Oath" has been adopted by many medical colleges.
. He served as a consultant to, and headed, several Federal commissions on Federal drug approval. Lasagna's work led to the improvement of controlled clinical trials to test drug effectiveness, and improved the regulation of drugs for effectiveness and safety.
In 1962 Lasagna delivered testimony to Congress during the Kefauver hearings on the 1962 amendments to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. His guidance resulted in, among other things, the requirement for controlled clinical trials as necessary for proving drug effectiveness as a condition for regulatory approval of a new drug which resulted in major improvements in the evidentiary standard in the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) and the pharmaceutical industry. This was the first prescription drug law in the world to specify the criteria for proving effectiveness, and other countries soon followed suit. It may be the largest single advance in the standards and outcome of medical therapy of all time.
Among the subsequent committees that Lasagna served on were: the National Committee to Review Procedures for the Approval of New Cancer and AIDS Drugs, the "blue ribbon" panel to examine the FDA, and the "Rogers Group" aimed at reforming drug regulation processes.
This article incorporates information from the archive, with written permission.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, known for his revision of the Hippocratic Oath
Hippocratic Oath
The Hippocratic Oath is an oath historically taken by physicians and other healthcare professionals swearing to practice medicine ethically. It is widely believed to have been written by Hippocrates, often regarded as the father of western medicine, or by one of his students. The oath is written in...
.
Early life and education
Louis Cesare Lasagna was an internationally recognized and respected expert in clinical pharmacologyClinical pharmacology
Clinical pharmacology is the science of drugs and their clinical use. It is underpinned by the basic science of pharmacology, with added focus on the application of pharmacological principles and methods in the real world...
. Born in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1923, Lasagna was raised in New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, by his Italian immigrant parents. He graduated from Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
in 1943 and earned his medical degree
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1947. During his time at Rutgers University, he joined Kappa Sigma Fraternity (Gamma-Upsilon). After completing a clinical research fellowship in anesthesia
Anesthesia
Anesthesia, or anaesthesia , traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away...
at Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
, Lasagna joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
in 1954, where he established the first ever clinical pharmacology
Clinical pharmacology
Clinical pharmacology is the science of drugs and their clinical use. It is underpinned by the basic science of pharmacology, with added focus on the application of pharmacological principles and methods in the real world...
department. Lasagna taught medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and pharmacology
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
at Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins was a wealthy American entrepreneur, philanthropist and abolitionist of 19th-century Baltimore, Maryland, now most noted for his philanthropic creation of the institutions that bear his name, namely the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the Johns Hopkins University and its associated...
until 1970, when he accepted the position as the first chairman of the Department of Pharmacology
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
and Toxicology
Toxicology
Toxicology is a branch of biology, chemistry, and medicine concerned with the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms...
at the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
, School of Medicine and Dentistry, which he held for the next decade (1970–1980). Early in his fourteen year career at Rochester, Lasagna founded the Center for the Study of Drug Development. In July 1984, the Center moved with Lasagna to Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
, where he became dean of the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences
Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences
The Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences is one of the eight schools that comprise Tufts University. It is located on the university's health sciences campus in the Chinatown district of Boston, Massachusetts.-Organization and Degree Programs:...
.
While living in Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, Lasagna was also active in the city's cultural life, serving as the President of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra is an American orchestra based in the city of Rochester, Monroe County, New York. Its primary concert venue is the Eastman Theatre at the Eastman School of Music....
, supporting the Garth Fagan Dance company, and writing, directing, and starring in the "Mighty Lasagna Players" annual theater production by the University of Rochester, Department of Pharmacology Medical and Toxicology students and faculty.
Revision of Hippocratic oath
Throughout Lasagna's distinguished career he wrote and lectured extensively on a variety of topics. He was well-known for his simple eloquence, as well as his sense of humor and humanity in addressing such controversial topics as birth controlBirth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
, abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
, and medical experimentation on humans. In 1964, Lasagna wrote a modernized version of the Hippocratic Oath
Hippocratic Oath
The Hippocratic Oath is an oath historically taken by physicians and other healthcare professionals swearing to practice medicine ethically. It is widely believed to have been written by Hippocrates, often regarded as the father of western medicine, or by one of his students. The oath is written in...
, which emphasized a holistic and compassionate approach to medicine. Today, the "Lasagna Oath" has been adopted by many medical colleges.
Involvement with US Federal drug regulation
In addition to updating the Hippocratic oath, Lasagna figured prominently in the conceptualization of controlled clinical trials and the placebo effectPlacebo effect
Placebo effect may refer to:* Placebo effect, the tendency of any medication or treatment, even an inert or ineffective one, to exhibit results simply because the recipient believes that it will work...
. He served as a consultant to, and headed, several Federal commissions on Federal drug approval. Lasagna's work led to the improvement of controlled clinical trials to test drug effectiveness, and improved the regulation of drugs for effectiveness and safety.
In 1962 Lasagna delivered testimony to Congress during the Kefauver hearings on the 1962 amendments to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. His guidance resulted in, among other things, the requirement for controlled clinical trials as necessary for proving drug effectiveness as a condition for regulatory approval of a new drug which resulted in major improvements in the evidentiary standard in the Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
(FDA) and the pharmaceutical industry. This was the first prescription drug law in the world to specify the criteria for proving effectiveness, and other countries soon followed suit. It may be the largest single advance in the standards and outcome of medical therapy of all time.
Among the subsequent committees that Lasagna served on were: the National Committee to Review Procedures for the Approval of New Cancer and AIDS Drugs, the "blue ribbon" panel to examine the FDA, and the "Rogers Group" aimed at reforming drug regulation processes.
Academic accolades
Lasagna's numerous honors and awards include honorary Sc.D. degrees from Hahnemann Medical School (1980) and Rutgers University (1983); and an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Alcalá in Spain (1998).Death
The “father of clinical pharmacology” died in August 2003 of a lymphoma. He is survived by his wife Helen, their seven children, Nina, David, Mosie, Krissy, Lisa, Peter, and Christopher, and grandchildren, Molly, Joe, Maggie, Emma, Carrie, Allison, Deacon, and Carmen.Archives
Dr. Lasagna's letters and manuscripts are archived at the University of Rochester.This article incorporates information from the archive, with written permission.