In 1960 he learned that Sir Edmund Hillary was planning a physiological
expedition to the Himalayas, and he applied and was accepted in spite of the
fact that he had never previously done any climbing. This was the so-called
Silver Hut expedition where a small group of physiologists wintered at an
altitude of 5800 m (19,000 ft) just south of Everest and carried out an
extensive physiological program. Subsequently measurements were extended up
to an altitude of 7440 m (24,400 ft) on Mt. Makalu. This began a long
interest in high-altitude medicine and physiology and culminated in him
leading the 1981 American Medical Research Expedition to Everest during
which 5 people reached the summit, and the first physiological measurements
on the summit were made. The basic scientific question addressed in these
studies is how is it possible for humans to survive in the extreme oxygen
deprivation of these great altitudes which are right at the limit of human
tolerance. His interest in this field continues to this day with a project
on oxygen enrichment of room air at high altitude which promises to be
critically important for commuters who need to work at very high altitudes.
He also edits a new journal, High Altitude Medicine & Biology.
Because of his interest in the effects of gravity on the lung, he thought
it would be valuable to study the lung in weightlessness, and took a period
of sabbatical leave at the NASA Ames Research Center in 1967-1968. During
this time he submitted a proposal to NASA to study pulmonary function in
astronauts. This was funded the following year and he enjoyed continuous
financial support from NASA until 2006. Experiments were conducted on four
Spacelabs in orbit, and on the International Space Station. Of all the
organs in the body, the lung is arguably the most vulnerable to gravity, and
the basic question here is how is lung function altered by exposure to
weightlessness in both the short and long terms. A monograph on pulmonary
function in space has recently been published by his group.
Dr. West joined the faculty of the University of California San Diego in
the spring of 1969 and has been there ever since. His research has ranged
over a wide field including an extensive study of ventilation-perfusion
inequality in the lung. He continues an interest in the pulmonary
circulation and particularly the dilemma of the blood-gas barrier which has
to be both extremely thin and immensely strong. When the pressure in the
pulmonary capillaries becomes high, or the lung is inflated to large
volumes, stress failure of the walls of the capillaries occurs, and this
phenomenon is important in a variety of lung diseases. He is addressing the
basic biological question of how the blood-gas barrier of the lung is
regulated so that it is sufficiently thin for efficient gas exchange yet
strong enough to avoid stress failure.
Dr. West is a dedicated teacher. He was in charge of the physiology
course for first year medical students at UCSD for 35 years and his little
red book Respiratory Physiology: The Essentials has been translated
into 13 languages and is used all over the world. He also has a strong
interest in the history of medicine and has written several books on the
subject. His monograph High Life is a standard history of high
altitude physiology and medicine. He has developed an archival collection of
material in high-altitude medicine and physiology for the special archival
library at the University of California, San Diego.
Dr. West has had many honors including president of the American
Physiological Society, foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
founding fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological
Engineering, honorary doctorates from the universities of Barcelona, Ferrara
and Athens, fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and member
of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.