Biography of Louis Wolff, Sir John Parkinson, and Paul Dudley White.

John Parkinson attended University College, London, and subsequently trained in medicine at the University of Freiburg and the London Hospital. He qualified 1907 and obtained a doctorate in 1910. In the early part of his career Parkinson was an assistant to Sir James Mackenzie's (1853-1925) assistant in the department of cardiology at the London Hospital. During World War I he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, and by 1917 he had achieved the rank of major, and he commanded a military heart centre in Rouen. After the war Parkinson returned to the London Hospital, where he became in charge of the cardiac department. Here he was eventually appointed to the consulting staff, a and he was also appointed to the consulting staff of the National Heart hospital, London. From 1931 to 1956 he was a civilian cardiologist to the Royal Air Force.http://spermup.blogspot.com/

In 1948 Parkinson was knighted by King George. The first European Congress of Cardiology was held in London in September 1952 under the Presidency of Sir John Parkinson.

Said by Parkinson's biographers:

"By nature, Parkinson was a shy man. He enjoyed the company of close friends, when he was a generous host, but unless obligatory, he preferred not to dwell long in the company of strangers, other than those with a common interest, and especially the young seeking his advice; to them he would devote unlimited time and help. Those whom he had befriended and trained carried a passport to the world's foremost cardiological centres."

"Intolerant of pomposity, he was wholly unspoiled by the many honours bestowed on him, and though he had under his care many of the world's greatest men he had just as much time for the poor and needy, and his invariable kindness and cheerfulness at the bedside brought great comfort to countless sick folk."

Paul Dudley White was the son of a family doctor in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He was educated at The Roxbury Latin School, proceeding to Harvard University and graduating in 1908. His sister had died at the age of 12 of acute rheumatic fever and it is said that this determined his interest in cardiology. He studied medicine at Harvard, graduating in 1911 and interned at the newly established department of paediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital. For the next two years he was on the medical service with Dr. R. I. Lee and together they developed a technique for measuring blood coagulation, which is still commonly used, called the Lee and White method. This was his first medical publication. Financed by a Sheldon travelling scholarship he then spent a year with Thomas Lewis (1881-1945) studying the electrocardiogram (ECG) at the University College Hospital in London.

At the outbreak of World War I White volunteered and served with the Harvard Unit with the British expeditionary forces near Bologna and in 1917 helped establish the American base at Bordeaux. At the end of the war he organized an American Red Cross expedition to treat a typhus epidemic which was occurring in Macedonia and the Greek islands, and was awarded a decoration from the Greek government.

White returned to the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1919 to establish a cardiac unit. He became professor of medicine and with his outstanding clinical abilities established an international reputation for himself and his department. His classical monograph Heart Diseases, first published in 1931, went into several editions and set the seal on his career. In 1948 he was elected as president of the International Society of Cardiology and was subsequently president of the first World Congress of Cardiology.

In 1955 he attended president Eisenhower during his cardiac infarct and it is said that only he and the president were convinced that the president would survive. His optimistic approach to patients, mixed with common sense and a ready explanation, helped many patients who were frightened by their disease.

White emphasised the importance of prevention of coronary disease and was a strong advocate of fitness and exercise in aiding its prevention. His use of the bicycle was known throughout the world and the 17 miles Dr. Paul Dudley White Bike Path in the Boston-Brookline area is named for him.

White was a founder of the American Heart Association.
Louis Wolff qualified in medicine at Harvard in 1922. He spent his internship at the Massachusetts General Hospital and subsequently specialised in cardiology. He was a visiting physician and chief of the electrocardiographic laboratory at the Beth Israel Hospital.