Millennium Magazine_7th Ed

94 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine EDUCATION I nterested in medicine from a formative age, Dr. John K. Spitznagel struggled with medical issues as a child. Learning about the microbial nature of peritonitis, he set his sights on pursuing medicine, particularly infectious diseases and bacteriology. He earned a Bachelor of Arts and MD from Columbia University in 1943 and 1946, respectively, and completed an internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1947. Progressing forward, he completed a residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital in 1951 and began his career as a visiting investigator at the Rockefeller Institute in New York in 1952. A past visiting investigator at the National Institute for Medical Research in London, Dr. Spitznagel joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill in 1957 as a professor of microbiology, infectious diseases and medicine until his departure in 1979. From there, he joined Emory University, where he served as a professor of microbiology and immunology and department chairman until attaining emeritus status in 1993. He also served as an associate dean of research between 1997 and 1998. Subsequently, he co-founded and served as an attending physician at the Good Samaritan Health and Wellness Center from 2002 to 2012, where he was also chairman of the executive board and chief executive officer from 2004 to 2006. He was an ad hoc advisor for the National Institutes of Health from 1971 to 2000. Dr. Spitznagel is renowned for his research on cell biology of human neutrophil polymorphonuclear leukocytes and oxygen independent mechanisms of antimicrobial phagocytoses. He was the first to demonstrate cationic antimicrobial proteins of polymorphonuclear leukocytes granules, and co-discovered a cationic protein of polymorph granules with antimicrobial action and a powerful attractant for mononuclear phagocytes. Dr. Spitznagel earned a Distinguished Service Award from UNC, several Research Career Development Awards from the U.S. Public Health Service, and was honored with a lectureship in his name, the Spitznagel Lectureship on Host Antimicrobial Defense, by Emory University. JOHN K. SPITZNAGEL, MD, FACP PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY Emory University Chapel Hill, NC