Max Askanazy

Max Askanazy (1865 to 1940) was a pathologist of German and Swiss background. Born in Stallupönen in East Prussia, he took his medical doctorate at Königsberg in 1890 and worked in its pathological institute for several years, becoming a professor in 1903. In 1905 he moved to the University of Geneva as professor of general pathology, a chair he held until 1939. His research ranged over blood diseases, parasites, bone disease and the growth of tumours. He gave the first description of the Hürthle cells of the thyroid in 1898, was the first to connect osteitis fibrosa cystica with tumours of the parathyroid glands in 1904, gave an early account of Schaumann bodies in 1921 and in 1923 was the first to describe a carcinoid tumour of the stomach. He wrote around 170 scientific works, including a textbook of pathological anatomy for students and physicians published in 1911. In 1928 he founded the International Society for Geographical Pathology, which came to matter in the study of the spread of cancer.