Harold Carpenter Hodge (1904–1990)

Paul E. Morrow*,1, Hanspeter Witschi{dagger}, M. Vore, P. E. Hakkinen, Judith MacGregor, James MacGregor, Marion W. Anders and Calvin Willhite

* University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14620; {dagger} University of California, Davis, California 95616

Received August 30, 1999; accepted September 3, 1999

Harold Hodge was the first president of the Society of Toxicology. Elected to the office by the nine founding fathers of our society on March 4, 1961, he immediately assumed a very active role in organizing the society by looking for support from all those who were interested in the science of toxicology. At two national meetings, FASEB in Atlantic City and the Society of Pharmacology in Rochester, he led discussions in which the goals of the newly created society were explained to interested scientists. Many questions had to be answered. But on April 15, 1962, he would preside over the first annual meeting of the Society of Toxicology. The Society was conceived as a learned society for people trained in various disciplines related to toxicology. In his opening remarks, Hodge pointed to the occasion as being truly historical. The Society would draw together all those with an interest in this particular science; the scientific discipline would from now on have an independent and unique voice. He emphasized that criteria for membership would be based primarily on original research publications. He also stressed that the newly born society should encourage universities to develop curricula in toxicology and should help in the development of standards for the training of toxicologists. These two major goals remain as valid today as when they were formulated by our first president in 1962.

The stipulation that membership was contingent upon publication of original research in toxicology—reviews, technical bulletins, or reports were not considered acceptable—did not go unchallenged. At one time, Harold Hodge raised the pertinent question whether it would not be appropriate having another classification of membership for those engaged in the field of toxicology who had not published, or had not had the opportunity to publish original research, but nevertheless needed the society and would have access to its meetings. The decision was deferred at the time and publication remained the gold standard for membership. As an aside, it must have been gratifying to publish papers in those days. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, published the first time in 1959 by Academic Press, became the official journal of the new society. One proviso in the contract stipulated that the publisher would make available to the society 15% of the income for reprint orders above 1000 copies of a given paper. Clearly, reprints were more in demand then than they are now, before the widespread advent of electronic photocopying machines.

It was 25 years later that Harold Hodge, together with the other founders of SOT, was officially honored at the annual meeting. He served as honorary co-chair in a symposium entitled "Frontiers in the Study of Toxic Lung Damage." He fulfilled his role with his usual grace and, not surprisingly, contributed to the overall success of the symposium with his incisive questions and comments.

Harold Hodge received his BS degree in 1925 from Illinois Wesleyan University and his PhD in 1930 from the State University of Iowa. His first scientific paper was published in 1927, and eventually he published close to 300 papers and 5 books. In 1931 he came to the School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, New York. At the time, he was fascinated by teeth and fluoride and thereby became involved in early research toward the prevention of dental caries. He spawned a great interest in the university in dental research that continues today. Apparently George Eastman, the founder of Eastman Kodak, had bad teeth and so he gave a lot of money to the university to build the medical school, provided that they develop both medicine and dentistry. The development of dental research met Eastman's proviso and the School of Medicine and Dentistry flourished.

Appointed initially in biochemistry, Hodge pursued dental research including the toxicity of fluoride, as there was a huge stigma against using fluoride for the public health. (It was, after all, a rat poison.) Today, of course, we fully recognize the benefits of adding fluoride to drinking water. When the Atomic Energy Commission came to Rochester at the beginning of World War II, they and the medical school created the Manhattan Project by selecting key people from many departments of the university. Harold Hodge was chosen to head the Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology. The thrust of the project was the toxicology of materials being utilized and developed in the atomic energy program, especially after inhalation. The inhalation toxicology of uranium and beryllium were the first great challenges given to Hodge's division. Hodge had the capable hands of Dr. Herbert Stokinger to lead the early inhalation work. Their inhalation efforts were pioneering—the term "Rochester Chamber" remains well known today—and Rochester soon gained a reputation internationally for its inhalation toxicology program and its work with metals. When a new department of pharmacology was created in 1958, Harold Hodge became its first chairman, a post he held until he retired in 1970.

Harold Hodge received many awards. Illinois Wesleyan University bestowed on him an honorary DSc degree in 1949 and Western Reserve University did so in 1967. Other prestigious awards include the National Institutes of Health Annual Lecture, sponsored by the National Institute of Dental Research (1954), the SOT Merit Award in 1969 and the first Education Award in 1975, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Inhalation Specialty Section in 1984, and the first Prize in Preventive Odontology awarded by the Swedish Patent Revenue Research Fund, the Swedish Medical Research Council, and the Karolinska Institute in 1988.

It was fitting that Harold Hodge was the first recipient of the Education Award. He was a superb teacher. The medical students to whom he taught pharmacology as well as the department graduate students really appreciated him. Many of his lectures (fluoride, food additives, and history of toxicology) were polished performances that led graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to attend over and over.

The Atomic Energy Commission, in its first days, relied on many army technicians. Hodge quickly instituted a graduate program in toxicology and pharmacology and thereby created and expanded major research efforts in both metal and inhalation toxicology. Most of the inhalation programs that developed after World War II throughout the United States were spawned by Harold Hodge's graduates.

In 1957, the first edition of Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products appeared, edited together with M. N. Gleason, R. E. Gosselin, and R. P. Smith. Eventually, a total of 5 editions were published. This volume, considered to be the authoritative and practical clinical guide to poisoning, was important for the establishment of poison control centers throughout the United States and still can be found on the shelves of innumerable emergency rooms.

After his retirement in 1970, Harold Hodge moved to the University of California at San Francisco, where he stayed until 1983. As Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pharmacology, he remained very active in developing a toxicology training track for doctoral students. A colleague of his remembers how in his "retirement" status Dr. Hodge only worked 5–6 days per week, and his work load in the evening was light—he "only dictated letters and such." Dr. Hodge believed that students should get into the laboratory as soon as possible and should not be loaded up with coursework for 2–3 years. However, he insisted that all students, no matter how senior, participate in a 2 hr/wk course that rotated among various topics in toxicology, and that each student present a lecture each quarter. Junior faculty members were strongly encouraged to attend as well, to their benefit. He always showed interest in what was going on in the labs and classrooms, and always had time to talk with the toxicology graduate students and others. He was firm and principled and became a role model for many toxicologists by example and his advice to "play it straight." A super negotiator, politician, and ever the gentleman, it was impossible to say no to any of his requests.

Dr. Hodge also religiously visited what he called "the library across the street," where he routinely trounced the graduate students at squash. As one former graduate student remembers, Harold Hodge broadened his UCSF experiences by introducing him to the wonderful sport of squash. He was a very patient and good teacher of squash, playing with a great deal of agility and skill. He was at that time in his early seventies but played like someone in their 20s or 30s. One of the best moments ever in sports was when the student was finally able to beat him in squash after more than a year of playing him almost every week.

Dr. Harold Hodge died October 8, 1990. The Department of Pharmacology at the University of Rochester established a Harold C. Hodge Memorial Fund and, in the fall of 1992, the First Annual Harold C. Hodge Lecture was given. To those who knew him, Harold C. Hodge will always be remembered as an exceptional scholar and a true gentleman.

NOTES

1 To whom correspondence should be addressed at 200 Laney Road, Rochester, NY 14620-3018. Fax: (716) 473-5434. Back





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