West, John B. (John Burnard)

Physiologist educated at the University of Adelaide, Australia, (M.B.B.S., M.D.) and London University (Ph. D.). West is the author of numerous articles and book-length studies including Ventilation / bloodflow and gas exchange (1965), Respiratory physiology (1974), Pulmonary pathophysiology (1977), and Everest--the testing place (1983). High-altitude physiology and "mountain sickness" have been central themes in West's research. In 1960-1961, he served as the physiologist on Sir Edmund Hillary's Himalayan Scientific and Mountaineering Expedition, also known as the Silver Hut expedition. In 1981, he organized and led the American Medical Research Expedition to Everest.

From the description of Papers, 1911-1997. (University of California, San Diego). WorldCat record id: 39021027

Biography

John B. West was born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1928. He received a medical degree from the University of Adelaide at the age of 23. After a year of residency, he moved to London, where he earned his Ph.D. from London University (1960) and began postdoctoral work at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School. West's early research used oxygen-15 to study the topographical inequality of blood flow caused by gravity and gravity's effect on regional differences of ventilation, gas exchange, and alveolar size.

In 1960, West, who had no previous mountain climbing experience, applied and was accepted to Sir Edmund Hillary's Himalayan Scientific and Mountaineering Expedition of 1960-1961. Referred to as the Silver Hut expedition, the physiologists performed a variety of experiments at high altitudes just south of Mt. Everest and on Mt. Malaku. This experience ignited West's interest in high-altitude medicine and physiology. In 1981, West led the American Medical Research Expedition to Everest (AMREE), during which five climbers reached the summit and the first physiological measurements of the summit were made. West continues to study human adaptation to extreme oxygen deprivation at high-altitudes.

After returning from the Silver Hut expedition, West spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow and assistant professor at the University of New York-Buffalo. West returned to London and the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in 1962, where he remained director of the Medical Research Council Respiratory Group for five years. In 1967-1968, West took a period of sabbatical leave to further study the effects of gravity on the lung at the NASA Ames Research Center. While at NASA, West submitted a proposal to NASA to study pulmonary function in astronauts. The proposal was funded and continues to receive financial support from the agency. The study has sent four experiments on four Spacelabs in orbit and one experiment to the International Space Station.

West came to the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine in 1969 and remains an active faculty member. His laboratory experiments have covered a wide range of subjects including studies of ventilation-perfusion inequality in the lung, pulmonary circulation, and the regulation of the blood-gas barrier in the lung. In addition to his laboratory work, West has been in charge of the physiology course for first-year medical students for over 30 years and has taught several courses on the history of medicine and high-altitude physiology.

West has received many honors, including president of the American Physiological Society (1984-1985), foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, founding fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, honorary doctorate from the University of Barcelona, and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

From the guide to the John B. West Papers, 1957 - 1998, (University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.)