German-American physician and medical researcher (1916–2015)
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Dieter Koch-Weser (July 13, 1916 – July 19, 2015)[1] was a German-American physician and social medicine and HIV/AIDS researcher based in the
Harvard Medical School and
Harvard School of Public Health.[2][3] He was a long-time advocate of Dr.
Albert Schweitzer's philosophy of
Reverence for Life and a supporter of the
Albert Schweitzer Fellowship.[4] He was medically noted for his HIV/AIDS research in Peru and authorization of a book on the heterosexual transmission of AIDS.[5] In public health and healthcare, he had long advocated "a shift from treating illness to preventing it."
[6][7]
After receiving his PhD in Pathology, Dr. Koch-Weser became an Assistant Professor of Pulmonology at the
University of Chicago where he did specialized work on
tuberculosis and
immunology. While in Chicago he became an American citizen.[15]
He then moved to
Cleveland, Ohio, to work as an Assistant Professor of
Internal Medicine at
Case-Western Reserve University where he was also Director of the University Institute for Alcoholism Research. In the early 1960s he returned to
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for two years to be Director of the Latin-American division of the U.S.
National Institutes of Health. Returning to the United States he joined the faculty at
Harvard Medical School under the deanship of Robert Ebert as a Professor of Tropical Public Health. During his long tenure there, he also served as Acting Chairman of the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine while Department Head
Julius B. Richmond served as
Surgeon General of the United States in the
Carter Administration, and then Associate Dean for International Affairs. He retired from these positions at Harvard in 1983 but continued his active affiliation with the Medical School until 1996.
Dr. Koch-Weser was a vocal advocate for the extension of access to medical care to underserved populations, and developed a particular interest in the
needs of the African nations struggling with the
AIDS epidemic. He consulted for numerous public health agencies over the decades including WHO (
World Health Organization),
UNICEF,
World Bank, and
NIH.
He spoke several languages fluently and estimated that over his lifetime he had visited more than 90 countries around the ever-changing world of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Acting Chair, Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School (during the years when Dr.
Julius B. Richmond served in Washington, DC as Surgeon General in the Carter Administration)[16][17]
Koch-Weser DA. Book Review: Preventive Primary Medicine: Reducing the major causes of mortality By Robert Lewy. October 1980. New England Journal of Medicine 303(18):1069-1070.
doi:
10.1056/NEJM198010303031828, Accessed June 27, 2019.[20]
Koch-Weser D. The Heterosexual Transmission of AIDS in Africa. Abt Books. (December 1, 1988).
ISBN978-0890116036.
Koch-Weser D. Rifampin, New Hope in the Fight against Tuberculosis. New England Journal of Medicine. September 1970.
Koch-Weser D. Book Review of Rifampin in the Treatment of Drug-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infections" by Vall-Spinosa. 1970.[21]
After retirement, Dieter and his wife Sophie moved in 1997 to the Edgewood Retirement Community in
North Andover, Massachusetts in 1997, where he known as "the Mayor" for his combination of friendly personality and commanding presence. Although not especially tall, Dieter could always be identified in a room by his lush, swept-back mane of white hair. He continued to work as a consultant at the
Education Development Center (EDC) in
Boston, Massachusetts, later
Newton, Massachusetts, and served as an author and reviewer of professional publications until his final years.
Death
Dieter celebrated his 99th birthday with family, friends, former colleagues at Edgewood one week before his death. Dr. Koch-Weser was survived by his brother Jan Koch-Weser, MD,[24][25] and by two daughters, Carol-Ann Koch-Weser of
Fremont, California and Suzanne (Koch-Weser) Anderson, a physician of
Trumansburg, New York, and was predeceased by his wife, Sophie, in 2010. He had many nephews and nieces and six grandchildren, Meghan, Evan, Danica, Collin, Duncan, and Zoe, and had only recently enjoyed the then newly born first great-granddaughter, Acadia. One granddaughter is a social worker, and their grand niece, Susan Koch-Weser, ScD, who also speaks German and Thai, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine in the
Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston,[26][27] where she contributes also to health issues prevalent in Asian women.[28][29]
^"Divisão Territorial do Brasil" (in Portuguese). Divisão Territorial do Brasil e Limites Territoriais, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). July 1, 2008. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
^Mainka, Peter Johann (2008), Roland und Rolândia im Nordosten von Paranà: Gründungs- und Frühgeschichte einer deutschen Kolonie in Brasilien(1932- 1944/45), Cultura Acadêmica,
ISBN978-8598605272
^Koch-Weser, D. (1970). "Rifampin, new hope in the fight against tuberculosis". The New England Journal of Medicine. 283 (12): 655–6.
doi:
10.1056/NEJM197009172831210.
PMID5450639.