Draft:Herbert Rosenfeld (doctor)

Herbert Rosenfeld was a German doctor who lived in during the 20th century. He was born in 1900 in Germany and died in 1971 in the United States.

Early Life and Education

Herbert was born on April 7th, 1900, in Tilsit (now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad, Russia) to his mother Elise Lachmann – aged 34 – and his father Israel Rosenfeld – aged 49. The family moved to Berlin in 1907, where Herbert would attend school and live for much of his life. While in high school, Herbert met Hans Loewenthal, who would later introduce Herbert to his niece, Elli.

Herbert attended the Fichte-Gymnasium College and graduated in 1918. He would go on to study medicine at the Universities of Freiburg and Berlin, and he passed the State Board Examination to become a medical doctor in November, 1922.

From 1923 to 1924, Herbert worked as an intern at the Charity and City Hospitals in Berlin, where he was tasked with administering medication to violent mental patients, among other things. Likely due to the emotional stress of this job, he soon transferred to the Rudolph Virchow Hospital, where he acted as a Resident in Dermatology and Syphilology from 1924 to 1930. Eventually, he would become the head of his department at the hospital in 1930, a role which he continued until 1933.

Immigration to New York

Herbert fled his home country of Germany to London, the United Kingdom. A likely cause for his emigration was the rise of the Nazi regime and rising antisemitic policy as a result. Herbert's friend Hans was forced to leave his job at the Robert Koch Institute along with eleven other Jewish employees in 1933, and this among other antisemitic acts and laws may have formed the better part of the pressure on Herbert to leave the country. Herbert's own contract at the hospital was cancelled on October 1 of the same year.

Upon arriving in London, Herbert intended to continue his career in dermatology. He requested a permit to open a diagnostic laboratory but was denied. Antisemitism was present in the United Kingdom as well and may have been a factor in this denial. While in London, Herbert reunited with Hans, who also fled Germany. Hans introduced his niece, Elli Loewenthal, to Herbert on January 12, 1934. Herbert and Elli would later immigrate again, this time together to the United States. They travelled aboard a German vessel, the Bremen, from London to Boston, Massachusetts. Herbert then travelled to New York City, New York where he was naturalized as a citizen of the United States in 1939.

While in New York, Herbert married Elli on May 16, 1936. Herbert received a letter of recommendation from Chaim Weitzmann to Dr. Emanuel Libman, who helped connect Herbert to the Mount Sinai Hospital and the Skin and Cancer Hospital at Columbia University. Herbert worked from 1934 to 1941 as a Clinical Assistant, an Assistant in Dermatology, and a Senior Clinical Assistant. At Columbia, he worked as an attendant to Dr. George Miller MacKee. Additionally, Herbert became a diplomat of the American Board of Dermatology and Syphilology.

Herbert and Elli had two children in New York.

Military Service and Post-War Life

Herbert served in the United States Military during World War II. He was the chief of the section of dermatology at Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco, California from September of 1942 to March of 1946. He had the rank of Major. His main role during this time was to treat diseased soldiers returning from the Pacific Theater.

Herbert left the military when the war ended and resumed his civilian life, which included raising his two sons. As of 1949, he was involved in the following organizations:

• the Medical Society of the County of New York,
• the American Medical Association,
• the American Academy of Dermatology and Syphilology,
• and the Society for Investigative Dermatology.

Medical Research

Herbert participated in various studies in the fields of dermatology and syphilology throughout his career, both in Germany and in the United States. Some topics of his research at the Rudolph Virchow Hospital were:

• toxic reaction to bismuth therapy,
• transmission of lymphogranuloma venereum,
• various skin eruptions,
• gonorrhea,
• periarteritis nodosa,
• and the colloidal mastic test on spinal fluid.

Role of Sweat as a Fungicide

Herbert and three other doctors published a paper in JAMA titled

"Role of Sweat as a Fungicide: with special reference to the use of constituents of sweat in the therapy of fungus infections"

in 1939. It concluded that human sweat obtained some fungicidal properties from acidic compounds present within it. Furthermore, the study claimed that balms utilizing concentrations of these ingredients could be used to effectively treat fungal infections of the skin.