Leon E. Rosenberg, Geneticist Who Wrote of His Depression, Dies at 89

After spending decades as a pioneer in the field of medical genetics revealed that he had spent decades struggling with manic depression and urged doctors to be more open about their own mental health, Dr. Leon E. Rosenberg died on July 22 at his home in Lawrenceville, N

His wife said that he was sick.

He was a clinical and laboratory medicine doctor. He called himself a physician-scientist because his research methods began and ended at the bedside of a patient.

He specialized in cases in which the body is unable to process certain compounds and can accumulate and poison a patient.

A 9-year-old boy named Steven was one of his first patients. Steven had a high level of amino acids in his urine. The boy's parents told him that they had had two other children with the same conditions and both had died. Steven passed away a short time after.

The author of the article said he was unable to change the course of the illness. He changed my career path. Asking research questions based on seeing patients was akin to medical detective work, according to him. He kindled my interest in genetics.

He moved to the Yale School of Medicine to solve mysteries like Steven's. He was the founding chairman of the department of human genetics.

He became a member of the National Academy of Sciences after scaling the peaks of his career. He was a candidate to run the National Institutes of Health.

Steven had his own first episode of depression, which he called his "unwanted guest", not long after. He felt like a failure in his first months at the National Institutes of Health.

He never talked about the episodes or sought treatment until he attempted suicide in 1998. His doctor gave him a diagnosis and he took a drug.

Doctors can suffer from depression, just like everyone else, but Dr. Rosenberg was the only one who spoke openly about it in his book, "Genes, Medicines, Moods: A Memoir of Depression."

Image

He asked his fellow doctors to speak up for their own sake and for the sake of their families, colleagues and patients.

He wrote that the list of writers who have described their suicidal attempts is long and illustrious. Doctors and scientists who commit and attempt suicide at a higher rate than other people have been remarkably silent.

He marveled at the coincidence that his professional career and personal struggles were both related to inherited disorders.

He wrote in his memoir that it is possible to live a successful career in medicine and science while battling a serious mental illness.

He was born in Madison, Wis., on March 3, 1933. He did not meet his parents until they settled in Waunakee, a Madison suburb.

Abraham opened his own store after working as a peddler. He was able to relate to his customers because he was able to learn English quickly. She kept her thick Yiddish accent.

All but her thumb and forefinger were lost when she was a child because of a mill accident. While holding her left hand in both of my hands, I told her that I wanted to be a doctor so I could fix her hand.

Leon was an excellent student, graduating summa cum laude from the University of Wisconsin in 1954. He moved to the National Institute of Health as a research fellow in 1959 after working at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

He had a divorce from Elaine Lewis. He is survived by his wife, as well as his brothers, sons, daughters, and one great-grandchild.

Despite skepticism from colleagues, Dr. Rosenberg led research into inherited metabolic disorders. He was told not to be silly by a Yale doctor. There is nothing like that.

The doctor proved him wrong. Steven was one of the children who presented inexplicable disorders, which he repeatedly showed to be caused by their bodies' inability to metabolize various acids, and which could be easily treated.

He was a researcher and advocate for equity in medicine. He was the dean of the Yale School of Medicine from 1984 to 1991 and made it easier for people of color and women to get senior faculty positions.

In 1991 he became the chief science officer at BristolMyers. In 1998 he joined the faculty of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs as a lecturer in molecular biology and as a lecturer in the school's school of public and international affairs.

He testified before a Senate subcommittee in 1981 in favor of a bill that would have defined life as beginning at conception. He was the only one of the doctors invited to disagree with the bill.

He said that science and medicine cannot justify that course. Ask your conscience, your minister, your priest, your rabbi, or even your god, because it's in their domain.

Soon after, the bill failed.