Irving J. Selikoff belongs to the medical record as a figure whose work changed what could be treated.
The record lists Irving J. Selikoff as American physician (1915-1992).
Irving J. Selikoff was born at Brooklyn in 1915. His recorded nationality is United States. He trained at Columbia University.
Antibiotics, imaging and the randomised trial defined twentieth-century medicine; evidence replaced authority as the standard.
Medicine advances against a moving target, and its successes are counted in lives rather than papers.
Recognition followed: Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award (1955).
That the work was done from United States matters: hospitals, training and research funding are unevenly distributed, and they decide which questions can be asked.
Irving J. Selikoff died in 1992, aged 77. What survives is the change in practice, which is how a medical life is actually measured.
Achievements
- Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award — 1955
