Oral history interview with Kenneth M. Brinkhous, 1991

Scope and Contents

Childhood in rural Iowa; college and medical school at University of Iowa; early involvement in medical research in hemophilia; first researcher to discover deficiency in blood-clotting factor; involvement in Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology; names of other early researchers and research journals; fatalism and lack of treatment in people with hemophilia prior to world War II; post-war research into elements ("fractions") of blood plasma; discovery and purchase of dogs with hemophilia and consequent treatment attempts; development of first fresh frozen plasma bank; involvement with NHF; use of frequent transfusions to treat hemophilic dogs; development of first commercial concentrate and economic issues regarding delivery to patients; search for bodily source of Factor VIII; work on molecular genetics and hemophilia; advent of HIV; advantages versus disadvantages of pooling blood products; components of hemophilia "community"; benefits of having an "informed constituency"

Subjects

• AIDS (Disease)--United States--History.
• Animal experimentation.
• Brinkhous, K. M. (Kenneth Merle), 1908-2000--Interviews.
• Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
• Hemophilia--Political aspects.
• Hemophilia--Social aspects.
• Hemophilia--United States--History.
• Interviews.
• Oral histories (document genres)
• Physicians--Interviews.
• Resnik, Susan, 1940- interviewer.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2016