Science & invention
Wolf W. Zuelzer
1909–1987 · pediatric pathologist, hematologist
German-born pediatric pathologist who led research at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit for 35 years and helped show that childhood leukemia could be cured.
- Born
Berlin, Germany- Died
Washington, D.C.
aged 77- Birth name
- Wolf William Zuelzer
- Also known as
- Wolf William Zuelzer
- Detroit years
- 1940s–1975
- Field
- Science & invention
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Zuelzer was born in Berlin in 1909 into a medical family and first studied philosophy and French literature before turning to medicine. After leaving Germany he trained in pediatric pathology in Boston under Sidney Farber and worked in Chicago, and then moved to Detroit to take a post created for him: professor of pediatric research at Wayne State University and director of laboratories at Children's Hospital of Michigan. He briefly chaired the hospital's pediatrics department in 1946 and from 1955 directed the Child Research Center of Michigan. Over 35 years in Detroit he oversaw research across pediatrics and published more than 250 papers. With Gene Kaplan he was the first to describe ABO hemolytic disease of the newborn, and he published one of the first studies showing that acute leukemia in children could be cured with chemotherapy. In 1975 he left for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; he received the John Howland Award in 1985.
Highlights
- Director of laboratories at Children's Hospital of Michigan for 35 years
- First described ABO hemolytic disease of the newborn, with Gene Kaplan
- Early study showing childhood acute leukemia could be cured by chemotherapy
- Director of the Child Research Center of Michigan from 1955
- John Howland Award, 1985
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1940s–1975
Children's Hospital of Michigan
He directed the hospital's laboratories and pediatric research for 35 years.