Conn, Jerome W., 1907-

Professor internal medicine and director of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Michigan. Conn was discoverer of Primary Aldosteronism (Conn's Syndrome) and its cure through the surgical removal of the adrenal tumor.

Jerome Conn was born in New York City on September 24, 1907. He graduated from Rutgers University in 1932 and then received his medical degree from the University of Michigan in 1935. Conn joined the faculty of the University of Michigan an an instructor of internal medicine immediately upon graduation. He remained at the university until his retirement in 1973 being promoted to full professor in 1950 and also serving as director of the Division of Endocrinology from 1943 to 1973. From 1973 to 1976, Conn was Veterans Administration Distinguished Physician at which time he retired to Naples, Florida where he died in 1994.

Conn was a world-renowned medical pioneer whose laboratory research uncovered a disease caused by an adrenal tumor, now known as Primary Aldosteronism or Conn's Syndrome. Through his research, Conn demonstrated that the disease, caused by an adrenal tumor secreting excessive amounts of the adrenal hormone aldosterone, was a major cause of hypertension and that through the surgical removal of the adrenal tumor, Primary Aldosteronism could be controlled. Because of his research in this and other areas, Conn was a frequent lecturer at professional conferences and author of hundreds of articles.