Obituary: Herbert N. Hultgren.

Abstract

Herbert N. Hultgren, M.D.. Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular) Emeritus, at Stanford University School of Medicine died on October 18, 1997, at his home on the Stanford University campus. His career epitomized the growth and development of academic cardiology during the last half of the twentieth century that saw a remarkable development of cardiology and cardiac surgery. Herbert Nils Hultgren was born on August 29, 1917, in Santa Rosa. California, a small city in the northern part of the San Francisco Bay area. His parents were of Swedish origin. He attended Santa Rosa Junior College for two years and then transferred to Stanford University, from which he was graduated in 1939. He then attended Stanford University School of Medicine, whose clinical facilities were located in San Francisco, with the preclinical years on the main university campus 38 miles south in Palo Alto. He received the M.D. degree in 1943, stayed at Stanford for a residency in internal medicine, and then served in the U.S. Army in Europe from 1944 to 1945. His period of militay service was notable for his experience at the end of the war with starved prisoners in German concentration camps. He later published careful and systematic observations on severe starvation, using simple methodology; the account displayed a scientific style that remained characteristic throughout his career.'