Posted by SLS on January 6, 2001, at 13:19:00
In reply to Re: Cam...what say you., posted by JohnL on January 6, 2001, at 5:07:50
Spelling...
Nathan S. Kline
Dr. Kline was the mentor of several of the most notable personages in the field, including one of my previous physicians, Baron Shopsin.
Nathan S. Kline Institute
for Psychiatric Research"Nathan S. Kline, MD (1916-1982) was a man of diverse talents and interests whose mind was ever open to new ideas. He was best known for his pioneering work with psychopharmacologic drugs.
In 1952, with a few associates, he started a research unit at Rockland Psychiatric Center (then called Rockland State Hospital), which in 1975 became the Rockland Research Institute.
At that time, the national inpatient population in public hospitals was approaching the half-million mark, and traditional therapies appeared inadequate to treat the growing number of mentally ill patients in hospitals.
Taking an unorthodox approach, Kline and his colleagues at the institute investigated the properties of reserpine, a derivative of Rauwolfia serpentine. Rauwolfia was commonly used in India to treat many somatic complaints, and reserpine was being used in the US to treat high blood pressure. For two years, the researchers conducted trials with hospitalized patients and found that 70% of those suffering from schizophrenia obtained marked relief from symptoms.
Encouraged by his success with tranquilizers, Kline and his colleagues began to investigate the properties of antidepressants. lproniazid, used to treat tuberculosis, also appeared to elevate the patients' moods and Kline used it successfully with psychiatric patients who suffered from depression.
Within a year, patients in psychiatric centers throughout the states were receiving antidepressant medication. The use of drugs to treat two of the major categories of psychiatric illness led to the release of thousands who were able to rejoin society.
Kline's work has been acknowledged as a major factor in opening a new era in psychiatry. For his work with tranquilizers and antidepressants, he was twice awarded the prestigious Albert Lasker Medical Research Award.
During the 1960's the Rockland Research Institute grew to more than 300 staff. Dr. Kline's reputation drew biomedical researchers from around the world. Psychopharmacology was emphasized and numbers of new drugs were given clinical trials, as well as investigations made of the safety and utility of long-term drug use.
Many laboratory techniques were developed to determine safe, effective doses of frequently used medications.
Kline foresaw the potential of applying computer technology to psychiatry, believing that it could be used in large scale epidemiological studies and could streamline the administration of complex health facilities.
He oversaw the installation at Rockland in 1968 of a major computer center, funded by the Federal government, and guided the development of computerized medical systems, many of which led to improvements in the quality of patient care.
As an advisor to international health agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and CARE-Medco, Kline was aware of the dearth of medical treatment for mental disorders in developing countries. He traveled widely and devoted much time to establishing and visiting mental health clinics and programs in other parts of the world.
Kline was founder and director of the International Committee Against Mental Illness. He was also a prolific writer, authoring nearly 500 scientific publications, magazine and newspaper articles for the general public, and a book, From Sad to Glad. He made frequent appearances as a guest on radio and television shows in his attempt to educate the public about mental illness and research.
Upon his untimely death in 1982, the Rockland Research Institute was renamed in memory of Dr. Kline.
poster:SLS
thread:50902
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001231/msgs/51032.html