Public Health Pioneer Passes Away

NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release

Contact: Jonell Rusinko, Academic Health Center, 612-624-5680
             Sara Buss, Academic Health Center, 612-624-2449

FORMER SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH PIONEER
LEONARD SCHUMAN PASSES AWAY
Schuman was internationally recognized in cancer prevention and infectious disease research

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (May 31, 2005) -- Leonard M. Schuman, M.D., internationally recognized scholar, researcher, and teacher in the areas of cancer prevention and infectious disease, passed away today, May 31, at the age of 92.  Schuman served on the first Surgeon General’s Committee on Smoking and Health from 1962-64 and contributed to the first formal declaration from the government that smoking causes cancer.

He began his career as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service in 1941 where he held many positions until 1954. Beginning in 1951, he spent two years in Korea studying frostbite and cold injury. In 1954, he joined the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota and established the country’s first doctoral program in epidemiology.

Schuman contributed to a historic epidemiological finding while serving on the first Surgeon General’s Committee on Smoking and Health from 1962-64.  It was the first formal declaration from the government that smoking causes cancer.  According to Schuman, he agreed to serve on the Surgeon General’s panel because as a pack-and-a-half-a-day smoker, he didn’t want to believe there was a relationship between smoking and disease.  After reviewing the more than 6,000 pieces of literature over the course of 15 months, he and other panel members issued a unanimous report that there was a clear connection between smoking and disease. 

Schuman reports that it wasn’t until the press conference where the Surgeon General released the findings did he and other panel members “feel the momentousness of the occasion – to affect the lives and health of people all over the world.”

“Doctor Schuman’s contributions to the areas of cancer prevention and infectious disease have made monumental impacts on human life throughout the world,” said John Finnegan, interim dean of the School of Public Health.  “The University of Minnesota and the world of epidemiology have lost one of the greatest leaders, researchers, and educators of our time.”

Schuman also served on the original polio vaccine trial that led to the first population vaccination program in the 1950s.  His research and teaching continued into the 1970s and 80s, with a major study of hemocult testing that aids in the early detection of colon cancer.

Schuman served on more than 50 national and international committees and advisory boards for such organizations as the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the American Public Health Association, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and others.  He authored more than 150 publications on subjects including diphtheria, polio, chronic disease, childhood leukemia, prostate cancer, and smoking and health.

Schuman is preceded in death by his wife, Marie, and is survived by his son, Lowell Schuman; daughter, Judy Cairns; nephews Kevin Hughes and Patrick Hughes; and several grandchildren.

The Academic Health Center is home to the University of Minnesota’s six health professional schools and colleges as well as several health-related centers and institutes. Founded in 1851, the University is one of the oldest and largest land grant institutions in the country. The AHC prepares the new health professionals who improve the health of communities, discover and deliver new treatments and cures, and strengthen the health economy.

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