Abstract
Stanley G. Schultz
Stanley G. Schultz, MD, professor emeritus and former dean at the University of Texas (UT) Medical School at Houston, died on October 23, 2014 at age 82. Dr. Schultz was widely recognized for his contributions to the study of ion transport in the small intestine, which established the “sodium-gradient” hypothesis and led to development of life-saving oral rehydration therapy.
Dr. Schultz earned his undergraduate degree from Columbia University, graduating summa cum laude, and his MD from New York University College of Medicine. He completed postgraduate training in internal medicine and cardiology at NYU-Bellevue Hospital and Harvard Medical School (HMS). He remained at HMS, working in the Biophysical Laboratories under the direction of A.K. Solomon. He took a two-year leave of absence in 1962, when he was inducted into the U.S. Air Force as a captain in the medical corps. He was stationed at the U.S. Air Force Aerospace School of Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, where he taught radiation biology and conducted research on the biological effects of radiation. He returned to HMS in 1964, where he served for three years before joining the Department of Physiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He remained at Pittsburg until joining the UT Medical School at Houston as professor and chairman of the Department of Physiology in 1979.
During his tenure at UT Houston, Dr. Schultz held the Fondren Chair in Cellular Signaling and the H. Wayne Hightower Distinguished Professorship in the Medical Sciences. He served as interim dean of the UT Medical School at Houston for one year before being named as dean in 2004. He received numerous honors and awards for his work, including the 1999 President's Scholar Award from the UT Health Science Center at Houston. He received the 2003 Daggs Award from the American Physiological Society (APS). In 2006, he received the Prince Mahidol Award in Medicine, given by King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, and was honored by the Houston chapter of RESULTS with a Seeds of Hope Award in 2007. Dr. Schultz was a member and former president of APS as well as an elected member in the Association of American Physicians and the European Academy of Sciences. He was an honorary fellow in the American Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics.