Fine, Jacob, 1900-

Jacob Fine, (JF), 1900-1980, AB, 1920, Harvard College; MD, 1924, Harvard Medical School, was Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Surgeon-in-Chief at Beth Israel Hospital. His research focused on traumatic and septic shock.

Jacob Fine (JF), appointed Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and Surgeon-in-Chief at Beth Israel Hospital (BIH) in 1948, specialized in the study and treatment of shock. He was born in Massachusetts in 1900, and received the BA in 1920 from Harvard College and the MD in 1924 from HMS. JF completed his training at Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio and at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He was appointed Assistant in Surgery at HMS in 1928 and Outpatient Surgeon at the newly founded BIH where he remained for 45 years. After becoming emeritus in 1967, JF continued his research at the Sears Laboratory of the Harvard Surgical Service.

In 1943, JF began to study role of blood and plasma volume in traumatic and septic shock. His research greatly benefitted from government funding during and after World War II. In seeking to understand the causes of shock, JF sought collaborators in the areas of microbiology, cell biology, and biochemistry. JF discovered that endotoxins from intestinal bacteria might be responsible for death when shock fails to respond to treatment. Further, he discovered that death from shock was linked to injury to the reticuloendothelial system (RES) which has many functions including the destruction of bacteria and bacterial endotoxins. In addition to two books, The Care of the Surgical Patient and Bacterial Factor in Traumatic Shock, JF published over 200 scientific papers.

In the 1950s, JF was awarded memberships to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. He was a long-standing officer in the Boston Surgical Society. JF was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to Australia in 1966.

In addition to his professional honors, JF was an active member of the Boston Jewish community. Responding to the plight of Jews in Nazi Germany, he advocated to grant entry visas for political refugees. During World War II, he worked to place foreign doctors in American institutions. In the immediate postwar period, he committed himself to the new state of Israel and the establishment of medical training in Israel. During the 1950s, he supported social justice issues, aided visiting Israeli doctors, and sponsored European political refugees. In the 1960s, through the Middle East Institute, JF sought to promote inter-regional development and cooperation in the Middle East. In 1980, he died at the age of 80.