Maxwell Wintrobe

Biography

Wintrobe was born in Austria (Fred 2007), contrary to previous historical records. His family name reflects the Jewish origin of his parents, Herman and Ethel, who emigrated from Austria with their son Max in 1906. Canadian census records show that the family arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1906, where Ethel's four brothers were living at the time. The family moved to Manitoba in 1912. Wintrobe attended the University of Manitoba from the early age of 15, where he graduated in 1921 and obtained his M.D. in 1926. He married Becky Zamphir, and moved to the United States, where he obtained a PhD at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1929; his thesis was titled "The Erythrocyte in Man".

Initially working in Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he served on the faculty, he was appointed as professor of internal medicine at the College of Medicine of the University of Utah in 1943; he also served as the first Chairman of the Department of Medicine and physician-in-chief for the Salt Lake County General Hospital.

In Salt Lake City he led research in hereditary and metabolic disorders (1945–1973) and cardiovascular research (1969–1973). He retired officially in 1965, but remained in function until 1973 (Valentine 1990). In that year he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.