Bauer, Walter, 1898-

Walter Bauer (1898-1963) was a rheumatologist and Chief of Medical Services at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was also Jackson Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Bauer's research focused on diseases affecting human bone joints and connective tissue. He defined rheumatoid arthritis as a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the whole body, and defined arthritis as a disease that affects the whole body, and developed the use of hormonal therapies for treatment.

Walter Bauer (WB) was appointed Jackson Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and Chief of Medical Services at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in 1951, and specialized in the study and treatment of rheumatic disease. He was born in Crystal Falls, Michigan, in 1898, and received the BA in 1920 and the MD in 1922 from the University of Michigan. After a residency at Long Island College Hospital, WB became Chief Resident at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1924. In 1926, Bauer was appointed to the faculty of Harvard Medical School as a research fellow. The following year he traveled to England to study liver metabolism with Sir Henry Dale. He returned to MGH to work with Joseph Aub and Fuller Albright as part of the Ward 4 metabolic research staff that discovered that hyperparathyroidism is a condition caused by a tumor in the parathyroid gland. It was in this early stage of his career that WB began to focus on diseases that affect the human bone joints and connective tissue. He directed the Robert W. Lovett Memorial Laboratories for the Study of Crippling Diseases at MGH from 1929 to 1958. WB researched the nature of synovial fluid and discovered how the measurement of changes in the fluid could be used to diagnose rheumatoid arthritis. WB defined rheumatoid arthritis as a chronic inflammatory disease that affects not only the body’s bones and joints, but the whole body. In the 1940s WB developed the use of hormones from the adrenal and pituitary glands as a treatment for patients suffering from rheumatic disease. He published numerous books and articles on his research.

During World War II Colonel Walter Bauer was Medical Consultant and Director of Medical Activities for the Eighth Service Command. He continued to consult to the Army after the war. In 1955, WB received the Heberden Medal for his research in rheumatic disease, and served as president of the American Association of Physicians in 1959. In 1963, after a long battle with pulmonary disease, WB died at the age of 65.