Lowell T. Coggeshall
The University of Chicago
May 7, 1901 - November 11, 1987
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Scientific Discipline: Medical Genetics, Hematology, and Oncology Membership Type:
Emeritus
(elected 1949)
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Lowell T. Coggeshall’s research focused on infectious and tropical diseases such as malaria and filariasis. He was a leading authority on malaria, conducting numerous studies on the immunological effects of the disease. Coggeshall discovered a strain of malaria, Plasmodium lophurae, and developed an experimental model to study its effects in birds. He found that sulfonamides, antimicrobial agents, were effective in treating some strains of malaria. He also developed techniques to measure antibodies and found that the level of immunity in a body is represented not solely by the levels of antibodies, but also by the balance between antibodies and infectious agents.
Coggeshall attended the University of Indiana and earned undergraduate and graduate degrees. He was a staff member at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in the International Health Division. The University of Chicago appointed him professor and chairman of the Department of Medicine in 1946. He served as chair of the Department of Tropical Diseases and a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan. During World War II he was a special consultant for medical affairs to the secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. In 1947 he was designated dean of biological sciences at the University of Chicago.
