Download Maurice Farnandis Rabb, Jr., MD, ScD (hon)

Maurice Farnandis Rabb, Jr., MD, ScD (hon)
(August 7, 1932 to
)
C HAPTER 38
Despite the moniker, “Little Doc,” given by relatives and
friends, Dr. Maurice Rabb (Figure 38-1) did not harbor a
strong desire for the medical profession until he entered college. Yet the stage was being set for Little Doc to become an
internationally known ophthalmologist specializing in retinal diseases. His father, Dr. Maurice F. Rabb Sr., the fourth
of eight sons born to Allen and Emma Rabb of Columbus,
Mississippi, was a family practitioner and civil rights activist
in the town of Shelbyville, Kentucky where Maurice spent
his early childhood. The comfortable lifestyle was disrupted
when a fire consumed their home in Shelbyville. The senior
Dr. Rabb had instilled in Maurice to not let adversity stand
in the way of achievement. The Rabbs left for Louisville following this tragedy. Dr. Rabb, Sr. took the opportunity to
change his medical specialty, becoming the first African
American to gain admittance to the anesthesiology residency
at Louisville. Little Doc was a teenager at that time and segregation was visibly rampant even in the medical profession.
“I recall my father having to eat his meals in his room since
he was not allowed to eat in the hospital cafeteria with his
white colleagues.” Dr. Rabb, Sr. completed the residency in
Louisville and then was appointed to the staff at Jewish
Hospital, becoming the first black physician in the state of
Kentucky to join the staff at a white hospital.
Maurice’s mother, Jewel Rabb, a teacher in the Louisville
public school system for over 30 years, instilled in Maurice
the value of education. As an only child, Maurice developed
a sense of independence early. In 1947, at the age of 14 years,
he and a fellow African American were the only two Boy
Scouts selected to represent the region comprising the states
of Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky at the Boy Scout World
Jamboree in Paris, France. This experience piqued Maurice’s
yearning for travel. “A year later, I took a trip by myself out
West on the Sante Fe railroad to Los Angeles, Tijuana, San
Francisco, Seattle, and back to Minneapolis,” beamed Dr.
Figure 38-1. Maurice Farnandis Rabb, MD, ScD (hon).
Rabb with excitement. This was a trip that he had planned
and executed by himself. His parents gave their approval,
being confident of Maurice’s maturity. “I always had my 16
mm movie camera with me.” His love for photography and
film making would later prove beneficial. In 1947, at the age
of 16, Maurice graduated from all black Central High
School in Louisville, with its school song, “Dear Old Central
‘Colored’ High.” He then attended the University of Indiana
for his first two years of college because blacks were barred
from attending the University of Louisville due to segregation laws at that time.
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Chapter 38
While in college, Rabb obtained a summer job at a cigarette factory. The application form was the same for blacks
and whites. “But blacks were only required to complete the
name and address portion of the application, while whites
completed the entire application which requested information on education,” recalled Dr. Rabb. “I was hired at the
lowest entry level, the ‘push-barrel’.” The push-barrel positions were relegated to blacks except for one black individual
who was awarded the title of “by-products man,” responsible
for collecting the tobacco residue used to make snuff.
Because of his outstanding performance as a push-barrel, the
foreman identified Rabb for promotion as the next by-products man, but only if he did not return to college. “This
showed the inequality of opportunity for blacks. It didn’t
make a difference to that company what the education of the
black person was,” Dr. Rabb said emphatically. “This made
me more determined to obtain the best education possible.”
When segregation laws were ended in Kentucky, Rabb
matriculated to the University of Louisville, becoming one of
the first African Americans admitted to the College of Arts
and Sciences. He earned a baccalaureate degree in biology at
the University of Louisville. Dr. Maurice Farnandis Rabb
then obtained his MD degree upon graduating from the
University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1958. Dr.
Rabb left Kentucky to complete a medical internship at
Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, still uncertain about what field of medicine he wished to dedicate his
life. “Through a process of elimination, I realized it would be
either radiology or ophthalmology,” recalled Dr. Rabb. “I
chose ophthalmology.”
While completing the basic science course in ophthalmology at New York University, Dr. Rabb met Dr. Conrad
Berends, the chairman of New York University’s Basic
Course in Ophthalmology. Dr. Berends was so impressed
with Dr. Rabb that he wrote a letter of support to Dr. Peter
Kronfeld, the chairman of the department of ophthalmology at University of Illinois Eye & Ear Infirmary. Based on the
strength of Dr. Rabb’s application and Dr. Berends’ letter of
recommendation, Dr. Rabb was accepted as an ophthalmology resident at University of Illinois Eye & Ear Infirmary,
ne’er an interview. Dr. Rabb did note surprised facial expressions from some members of the ophthalmology department
at the University of Illinois Eye & Ear Infirmary when they
later realized he was a black man. He completed the ophthalmology residency at the University of Illinois Eye & Ear
Infirmary where he also served as chief resident, becoming
the first African American resident and chief resident at the
institution.1
Dr. Rabb was greatly inspired by Dr. Kronfeld, whom he
described as a “valued mentor who influenced me to excel at
stereo fundus photography and later intravenous fluorescein
angiography”—an extension of Dr. Rabb’s film making past.
1
As an ophthalmology resident, Dr. Rabb presented a scientific exhibit in 1962 at the American Academy of
Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology meeting in Las Vegas
on the “Glaucomatous Optic Disc,” which was awarded
third prize. This was the first scientific exhibit by an African
American at the American Academy of Ophthalmology
meeting. The next year he presented a report and film on
“See-saw Nystagmus” at the American Academy of
Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology meeting. In 1964, Dr.
Rabb presented the first stereoscopic exhibit on “Congenital
Anomalies of the Optic Disc” at the American Medical
Association meeting in New York. He received first prize in
1964 for this work at the National Medical Association
meeting in Ohio.
Following his residency, he joined the faculty at the
University of Illinois Eye & Ear Infirmary and also opened his
private practice office in downtown Chicago, near the crossroads of Washington & State Streets. He was the first black
physician to establish a medical practice in downtown
Chicago. In 1965, Dr. Rabb completed a cornea fellowship at
the University of California at San Francisco (Rabb 1972).
He subsequently obtained a grant from the Illinois Society to
Prevent Blindness to relocate and medically update the
Illinois Eye Bank at the University of Illinois. Dr. Rabb served
as the medical director of its eye bank from 1972 to 1987,
becoming the first African American physician to be a medical director of an eye bank in the Unites States (Rabb 1970).
In 1971, Dr. Rabb became chief of ophthalmology at
Mercy Hospital, a position which he continues to hold. In
1972, he created the first fluorescein angiography service in
Chicago at the University of Illinois and later at Michael
Reese Hospital. He also established fluorescein angiography
at three other Chicago hospitals (Rabb et al 1978). Also in
1972, Dr. Rabb submitted and obtained a competitive grant
from the National Institutes of Health to fund the
Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center at the University of
Illinois. He served as director of the center for 16 years and
accumulated more than $16,000,000 of direct support during his tenure. This pioneering center brought together the
departments of medicine and pediatrics, and the school of
public health to do ground breaking research on sickle cell
disease (Jampol et al 1991; Jacobson et al 1991; Farber et al
1991; Jampol & Rabb 1981; Nagpal et al 1977). At that
time, this was the only center in the United States to diagnose and treat sickle cell eye disease.
In 1972, Dr. Rabb was appointed to the ophthalmic advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration. And
in 1973 he was appointed as an ophthalmic consultant to the
Centers for Disease Control to investigate the reprehensible
Tuskegee study on syphilis. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study
(Roy 1995; Angell 1997) had been conducted by the US
Public Health Service for 40 years, between 1932 until its
Dr. Pierre Gilles of Haiti was the first black to undertake a fellowship in ophthalmology at the University of Illinois Eye & Ear Infirmary
in 1954, after he had completed ophthalmology residency at Provident Hospital.
Maurice Farnandis Rabb, MD, ScD (hon)
exposure in 1972, during which time treatment was withheld for over 400 black men who had contracted syphilis.
Dr. Rabb also has left an indelible mark on the National
Medical Association, the nation’s oldest organization of
African American people, having been established in 1895.
In 1973, Dr. Rabb organized the most successful pre-convention seminar of all medical specialty sections at the
National Medical Association meeting in New York City.
Presenting at the ophthalmology pre-convention seminar
were eight of the nation’s leading experts on glaucoma. The
meeting was exemplary, elevating and establishing an academic standard that has since been accepted as the model
postgraduate workshop at the National Medical Association
annual meetings.
Dr. Rabb became the first African American to author a
textbook on ophthalmology, with the publication of
Clinicopathologic Correlation of Ocular Disease with Dr.
David Apple in 1974. This textbook is used worldwide and
is now in its 5th edition (Apple & Rabb 1998). Never resting on his laurels, Dr. Rabb (1981) also has published another definitive textbook, Macular Disease. Dr. Rabb has
authored several chapters in other medical textbooks, and
has published numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles in
the ophthalmic literature. In 1977, he became the first black
ophthalmologist to become a tenured, full professor of clinical ophthalmology at a predominantly white institution,
the University of Illinois. He has been the visiting professor
at several institutions throughout the United States, including Case Western Reserve in Ohio, Howard University in
Washington, D.C., Wills Eye Hospital of Thomas Jefferson
University in Pennsylvania, University of Kansas, University
of South Florida, and Medical College of South Carolina. As
an authority on retinal diseases, Dr. Rabb has given instructional workshops and symposiums at universities throughout
the United States and in countries such as Switzerland,
Venezuela, Pakistan, Italy, China, Cuba, Israel, Bolivia,
Canada, Nigeria, Japan, Canada, commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, and Trinidad.
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Dr. Rabb was appointed president of the Chicago
Ophthalmological Society in 1975, the first black to hold
that post. He was appointed interim associate vice-chancellor for urban health at the University of Illinois in 1984, and
served concurrently as acting associate chancellor from 1985
through 1987. In 1985, he was appointed to the National
Advisory Council of the National Eye Institute of the
National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Rabb was selected
in 1999 to serve on the NIH Director’s Committee of Public
Representatives, a newly formed committee which helps set
NIH research priorities. He has earned numerous honors
including becoming the first black person to receive the distinguished Honor Award and also a Senior Honor Award
from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, respectively conveyed in 1977 and 1994. He was honored at the
University of Missouri-Columbia as the Robert Burns, MD
and Lynette Feeney-Burns, PhD Distinguished Lecturer in
2001. He was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree
from the University of Louisville and a certificate of recognition from the College of Medicine in 1983. In 1966, Dr.
Rabb was designated as an alumni fellow by the University of
Louisville board of trustees. In honor of Dr. Rabb’s and the
late Dr. H. Phillip Venable’s dedication to patient care,
teaching, and research, the NMA Ophthalmology Section,
through the generous donation of Merck and Company,
established and first presented the Rabb-Venable
Ophthalmology Award for Outstanding Research at the
2000 NMA Convention. The Rabb-Venable Award for
Outstanding Research is the first academic research award
named in honor of an African American ophthalmologist.
Dr. Rabb has been married for 34 years to his wife,
Madeline. They have two children, Maurice III, a graduate
of Stanford University, and Christopher, a graduate of Yale
College. Both sons are the founders of Stono Technologies, a
technology-based company headquartered in Chicago. Dr.
Rabb continues to be a medical explorer of retinal eye diseases, pushing the outer limits of modern technology to document, diagnose, and treat common and rare diseases of the
eye (Rabb, Mullen, Yelchits et al 1998; Rabb et al 1990;
Rabb, Gagliano, & Teske 1998; Apple et al 1982).