About Arnold S. Relman
Arnold Seymour Relman (June 17, 1923 – June 17, 2014) — known as Bud Relman to intimates — was an American internist and professor of medicine and social medicine. He was editor of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) from 1977 to 1991, where he instituted two important policies: one asking the popular press not to report on articles before publication and another requiring authors to disclose conflicts of interest. He wrote extensively on medical publishing and reform of the U.S. health care system, advocating non-profit delivery of single-payer health care. Relman ended his career as professor emeritus at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. == Biography == Relman was born in Queens, New York, in 1923. He was educated at Cornell University and the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. After Medical school, he contracted tuberculosis. Although an antibiotic called streptomycin had finally been developed by that time, Relman eschewed the opportunity to use it as he feared its side effects which were most toxic. The years of rest without streptomycin delayed his career and during this time he read Thomas Mann's novel "Magic Mountain" about the experience of patients in a tuberculosis sanitarium. The work affected him greatly and he never failed to recommend the work to medical students on his service.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.