Tribute to Patrick J. Mulrow, MD.

The friends and colleagues of Patrick Joseph Mulrow, MD, were saddened to learn of his death on December 3, 2015, just 13 days short of his 89th birthday. Pat is well known to the hypertension research community both for his research on the regulation of aldosterone and his skill as a clinician, but especially for his exemplary gift for leadership. Dr Mulrow did his undergraduate degree (AB, cum laude) at Colgate University, and he graduated from Cornell University Medical College in 1951 (Michaelis Prize for Excellence in Medicine). His further education was a residency at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and an endocrinology fellowship at Stanford University. His earliest publications starting in 1956 are an interesting mix of basic physiology experiments and clinical studies, a format retained throughout his career. The structure of aldosterone was established in 1953, and shortly thereafter, the regulation of aldosterone and clinical application of this knowledge were important topics. Dr Mulrow in collaboration with William F. Ganong, Jr, published 2 critical papers establishing that angiotensin II stimulated aldosterone secretion and that the renal renin–angiotensin system, and not adrenocorticotrophic hormone, was central to the regulation of aldosterone. These important results were the basis for a productive career in endocrinology at Yale University, leading eventually to Dr Mulrow’s appointment as Professor of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine in 1969. In 1975, Dr Mulrow accepted the position as Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the Medical College of Ohio (MCO) which has subsequently become the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences. This was during the early and challenging years of the college, but Dr Mulrow was able to establish a viable clinical enterprise and an inspiring teaching environment, and he had the foresight to emphasize a research component for hypertension in the Department. In 1976, Pat recruited me to MCO, and I brought the Dahl rats with me to Toledo by rented truck driving all night from Philadelphia. During my subsequent 28 years at MCO, Pat was a consistent advocate for research, including my work with the Dahl rats for which I am very grateful. The hypertension research activity that Pat made possible at MCO survives to this day as the Center for Hypertension and Personalized Medicine and is still the home of the Dahl rats. Dr Mulrow has served as the Chairman of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research of the American Heart Association, as the President of the Central Society of Clinical Research, and as the Secretary General of the World Hypertension League. He has been on the executive committees of the International Society of Hypertension and the InterAmerican Society of Hypertension, as well as serving on many research committees of the National Institutes of Health. He was elected to the Association of American Physicians, the American Society of Clinical Investigators, and the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. He is the recipient of the Senior US Scientist Award from the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation of Germany, the Irvine Page-Alva Bradley Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council for High Blood Pressure Research, and the Career Achievement Award from MCO. Dr Mulrow is survived by his wife of 62 years, Jacquelyn, and by four children and eight grandchildren. We can only admire a balanced and productive life so well lived by Patrick Mulrow, the quintessential clinician scientist and teacher. For all Pat Mulrow’s Friends and Colleagues around the world.