Clark T. Sawin, M.D.
May 23, 1934 - August 11, 2004
Dr. Clark Sawin; Endocrine Specialist,
Educator
Monday,
August 16, 2004;
Page B05
Clark T. Sawin, 70, a medical researcher,
educator, author and lecturer in the fields of endocrinology and medical
history and medical inspector for the Veterans Affairs' health care system
in Washington, died Aug. 11 at the Washington Home hospice. He had cancer
and respiratory failure.
Dr. Sawin, a Washington resident, spent most of
his career in Boston and settled in the Washington area six years ago to
work with the VA health care system. In that job, which he held at the time
of death, he was responsible for monitoring quality of care nationwide for
the VA.
His research interests were in clinical thyroid
disease, focusing on treatment of hypothyroidism and aging-related changes
in thyroid function. His research, published in the New England Journal of
Medicine, identified new risk factors associated with hyperthyroidism.
His lifelong passion, however, was the history
of endocrinology. In this area, he wrote more than 80 articles and
historical vignettes, and he was a regular speaker on the topic at national
and international endocrinology meetings.
At his death, he was president of the American
Thyroid Association and a member of the physician advisory board of the
Thyroid Foundation of America. He also served on a number of national expert
panels to set policy for thyroid testing and treatment of thyroid disease.
Clark Timothy Sawin, a Boston native, was a
1954 cum laude biology graduate of Brandeis University and a 1958
cum laude graduate of Tufts University's School of Medicine.
He served in the Army Medical Corps in Korea
and had a U.S. Public Health Service postdoctoral research fellowship in
endocrinology at the New England Medical Center Hospitals in Boston.
He was a professor of medicine at Tufts medical
school since 1966 and at Boston University's medical school since 1994. He
was chief of the endocrine-diabetes section at the Boston VA Medical Center
from 1966 to 1998.
Dr. Sawin served on the editorial boards of the
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism; Thyroid; the
Endocrinologist; and Endocrine Practice. He authored a textbook on endocrine
physiology.
Among his honors was the 1990 Reynolds Award
from the American Physiological Society for his work in the history of
physiology.
His marriage to Sylvia Epstein Sawin ended in
divorce.
Survivors include his wife of
22 years, Leslie Long Sawin of Washington; three children from his first
marriage, Jennifer Stoddard of Silver Spring, Philip Sawin of Cincinnati and
Kenneth Sawin of Edinburgh, Scotland; three sisters; a brother; and two
grandchildren.
|
