Victor Dubowitz | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1931-08-06)6 August 1931 (age 93) Beaufort West, South Africa |
| Nationality | South African |
| Alma mater | Groote Schuur Hospital University of Cape Town |
| Awards | FRCP |
| Scientific career | |
| Doctoral advisor | Everson Pearse |
Victor Dubowitz (born 6 August 1931) is a Britishneurologist andprofessor emeritus atImperial College London.[1] He is principally known along with his wifeLilly Dubowitz for developing two clinical tests, theDubowitz Score to estimategestational age and the other for the systematic neurological examination of the newborn.[2][3]
Dubowitz is the son of Charley Dubowitz and Olga née Schattel.[4] He was educated inBeaufort West Central High School in South Africa. Dubowitz graduatedDoctor of Medicine from theUniversity of Cape Town in 1954,[5][4] and moved to the United Kingdom in April 1954 to gain some clinical experience, and culture and theatre. Dubowitz planned to return to South Africa after 18 months and return to general practice there,[3] but never did, as he encountered SirFrancis Fraser at theRoyal Postgraduate Medical School who directed him into a position atUniversity Hospital Lewisham working as anophthalmology locum.[3] He later took another locum position atNew End Hospital inHampstead.[3]
Two medical conditions are named after him,Dubowitz syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterized bymicrocephaly, growth retardation and a characteristic facial appearance of unknown genetic cause; andDubowitz disease, a particular form ofspinal muscular atrophy, a severe neuromuscular disorder affecting mainly infants and children.
A medical and research institution at theGreat Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, bears his name (the Dubowitz Neuromuscular Centre).[6][7]
Dubowitz marriedLilly Magdalena Suzanne née Sebők in July 1960, who was also a paediatrician.[8][9] They had four children, all boys, David born 1963, Michael born 1964, Gerald born 1965, and Daniel born 1969.[4]
Dubowitz started his clinical career in 1954, after graduating in medicine, as a resident in medicine and surgery atGroote Schuur Hospital, for the standard 6 months period in each specialisation.[3] Dubowitz started his UK clinical career in 1958 with 3 week locum position atQueen Mary's Hospital where he saw his first case ofMuscular dystrophy in two wards of patients, he became a paediatric resident[5] a subject where he been involved in clinical and research aspects of muscle diseases ever since.[3] He remained at this position for two years before becoming a lecturer and a houseman for a year as aclinical pathologist at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, later calledNational Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, performingmuscle biopsies. An interest in research followed, studying for an MD thesis on muscular dystrophy in childhood, in 1960 at theUniversity of Sheffield, where he would eventually stay for the next 13 years.[10][5]Ronald Illingworth was Dubowitz's professor at Sheffield.[3] Between 1961 and 1965, he was employed as a senior lecturer in child health, and Senior House Officer in hospital and was promoted toDr.phil at the University of Sheffield. The thesis was based on Dubowitz's pioneeringhistochemical studies and sponsored by ProfessorEverson Pearse, on developing and diseased muscle.[5] He continued in that position for another two years before being promoted to areader in Child Health and Developmental Neurology, at Sheffield, a position Dubowitz held until 1972.[3] In 1973, Dubowitz applied and received the Chair of Paediatrics and Neonatal Medicine at the Postgraduate Medical School ofHammersmith Hospital, now part of Imperial College London.[3][5] A large number of researchers followed Dubowitz to the unit, which eventually became theJerry Lewis Muscle Research Lab, after the building was funded by theMuscular Dystrophy Association. Jerry Lewis actually came an open the unit.[3]
Dubowitz was a founding member of theBritish Paediatric Neurology Association and the president from 1992 to 1994.[11]
In 1996, Dubowitz was made professor emeritus of paediatrics at theUniversity of London.[5] Dubowitz was honorary member of theEuropean Paediatric Neurology Society since 2005.[12] Dubowitz was president of theMedical Art Society from 1997 to 2000. From 1972 to 1996, Dubowitz was the director ofMuscle Research Centre.[13] From 1999 to 2003 Dubowitz was president and later honorary memberEuropean Neuromuscular Centre in The Netherlands.[14][10] From 1972 to the present, Dubowitz has been an honorary consultant paediatrician at theHammersmith Hospital.[10]
The syndrome that eventually became the Dubowitz syndrome was first described in 1965. Dubowitz held a clinic incystic fibrosis and noticed a baby girl born at full term atJessop Hospital who weighed around 3 to 4lbs. Dubowitz commented that the baby had an unusually shaped face,recessive and it’s an unusual face, with odd ears and a particular nose, and doesn’t quite fit in and the mother commented that her previous child had a similar shaped face. Dubowitz being interested in the case, through his cystic fibrosis clinic, researched all the different face shapes within syndromes of dwarfism and found that none matched. Dubowitz decided to write aCase report, that was published in the BritishJournal of Genetics. Then geneticist,John M. Opitz, noticed a similar case in a baby girl in Germany, and published an identical case. Opitz stated that they had identical features, and could almost be sister. From that point on the condition eventually became theDubowitz syndrome.[15]
The idea for theWorld Muscle Society began in 1995, when Dubowitz discussed the formation of a new society with the pediatrician Luciano Merlini, principally due to the quickening of medical advances in the field and it was felt that the interval between the 4-year meetings of theWorld Federation of Neurology was too long. Dubowitz felt that a new multidisciplinary society was needed that would meet frequently and focus more on the current research community rather than established figures in the medical community. Dubowitz further discussed the proposal with Italian pediatricianGiovanni Nigro and later with the French pediatricianGeorge Serratrice in Marseille while travelling.
The nameWorld Muscle Society was finally chosen as it was the most easily recognisable name. The society was legally established in London. Dubowitz wrote to 60 potential members asking the following two questions:
15 people replied and attended the first meeting in London on Sunday 4 June 1995.[16]
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