Draft:Gilbert B. Forbes
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Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest policy, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. Publicdatauser (talk) 19:57, 23 August 2025 (UTC)
Gilbert Burnett Forbes (1915-2003) was an academic pediatrician who held appointments at Children's Hospital, St. Louis, MO; Southwest Medical School, Dallas, TX; and the University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY. He was an international expert on measuring body composition and pediatric nutrition and a clinician, educator, journal editor, and prolific author.
Education and Career
[edit]Gilbert Burnett Forbes was born in Rochester, NY, to Gilbert de Leverance Forbes, MD, doctor for the town of Kendall, NY, and Lillian Burnett Forbes on November 9, 1915, the oldest of three children. He was the seventh generation of a branch of the Forbes family that emigrated from Scotland to NYC in the early 1700s. He graduated from Kendall Central School at age 16, spent a year at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in Lima, NY, and matriculated at the University of Rochester in 1932, graduating in 1936. He graduated from the University of Rochester Medical School in 1940.[1]
He married Grace Ann Moehlman, daughter of theologian Conrad Henry Moehlman and Bertha Young Moehlman, on July 8, 1939. They had two daughters, Constance Citro (June 9, 1942) and Susan Martin (October 16, 1944).
He interned in pediatrics at Strong Memorial Hospital, Rochester, NY, in 1940-41; completed his residency in pediatrics at St. Louis Children's Hospital, St. Louis, MO, in 1941-43; and was instructor, assistant professor, and associate professor of pediatrics at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 1943-1950 (with a year as pediatrician at the Los Alamos Hospital, Los Alamos, NM, in 1946-47). He served as chair of the Department of Pediatrics, Southwestern Medical School; medical director, Texas Children’s Hospital; and chief of pediatric staff, Parkland Hospital--all in Dallas, TX, in 1950-53. In 1953, he returned to the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry, where he was associate professor (1953-57), professor (1957-1992), co-chair of the department (1974-76), and professor emeritus of pediatrics from 1992 until his death on June 26, 2003. He also held joint appointments in radiation biology and biophysics.[2]
Research on Body Composition, Metabolism, and Nutrition
[edit]From early in his career, Forbes worked collaboratively with radiation biologists to conduct innovative research on body composition, metabolism, and the interactions of body fat and lean weight with both over and under nutrition. During his year (1946-47) as a practicing pediatrician in Los Alamos at the site of the Manhattan project, through an arrangement with the Washington University School of Medicine, he received training in radioisotope methods and techniques. He was first to systematically use the isotopic dilution method for estimating total body sodium in humans in a 1951 journal article.[3] At the University of Rochester, he pioneered the technique of counting potassium-40 emissions from the human body and using the results to estimate people's lean weight (K-40 ions are relatively constant in lean mass) and their body fat, publishing the first article on the application of this method in 1961.[4] Measurements, which he took periodically on himself for many years, in addition to recruiting people of all ages, involved the subject sitting in a comfortable chair in a steel-clad enclosure (whole-body counter) for about 30 minutes. Subjects were provided with earphones to listen to music and were carefully informed that they were not being exposed to radiation--rather, the machinery was counting the potassium-40 ions that the human body emits on a continuous basis. His measurements enabled him to get at longitudinal changes in lean body mass and body fat as influenced by normal growth, overfeeding, fasting, use of anabolic steroids, exercise, and pregnancy. One of several practically important lines of study was his work examining growth curves for lean weight for adolescent boys and girls. Boys gain lean weight at a faster rate than girls and have a longer adolescent growth spurt, hence requiring more nitrogen and calcium than girls and an equal amount of iron during their growth spurt as menstruating adolescent girls. He pulled together his multi-faceted work and observations in a textbook published by Springer-Verlag in 1987, Human Body Composition: Growth, Aging, Nutrition, and Activity.[5]
Today, there are many other techniques for measuring whole body composition. According to DAPA Measurement Toolkit, "TBK [total body potassium] is a classical method of quantifying total-body fat. It has mostly been replaced by newer more accurate techniques. However, as part of a multi-component body composition model, TBK provides a precise and accurate assessment of nutritional status at all stages of life, from loss of vital tissue with age or during disease to growth studies in infants and children."
Recognition
[edit]Forbes held a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Research Career Award for over 40 years (1962-2003).
He received the Borden Award of the American Academy of Pediatrics (1964); the Albert David Kaiser Award of the Rochester Academy of Medicine (1979); the John Howland Award of the American Pediatric Society (1992);[6] and the University of Rochester Arthur Kornberg Research Award (1997).
Forbes served as president of the Society for Pediatric Research (1960-61) and vice-president of the American Pediatric Society (1975-76).
In 1970-71 he was Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford University.
He served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Diseases of Children (AJDC) (1964-73); as associate editor of the AJDC (1964-72); and as chief editor (1973-82). He was also associate editor of Nutrition Reviews (1961-71) and on the editorial board of Pediatrics beginning in 1984.
References
[edit]- ^ Edward G. Miner Library (September 4, 2025). "Gilbert B. Forbes, M.D., Biography". Retrieved September 4, 2025.
- ^ Edward G. Miner Library (September 4, 2025). "Gilbert B. Forbes, MD, Biography".
- ^ Forbes, Gilbert B.; Perley, Anne (1951). "Estimation of Total Body Sodium by Isotopic Solution: 1. Studies on Young Adults". The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 30: 558–565. doi:10.1172/JCI102472. PMID 14841255.
- ^ Forbes, Gilbert B.; Gallup, James; Hursh, John B. (1961). "Estimation of Total Body Fat from Potassium-40 Content". Science. 133 (3446): 101–102. Bibcode:1961Sci...133..101F. doi:10.1126/science.133.3446.101. PMID 13700686.
- ^ Moore, Francis D. (1988). "Book Review: Human Body Composition: Growth, Aging, Nutrition, and Activity". The New England Journal of Medicine. 318 (15): 999. doi:10.1056/NEJM198804143181526.
- ^ Hoekelman, Robert A. (1992). "Howland Award Presentation to Gilbert B. Forbes". Pediatric Research. 32 (4): 499–501. doi:10.1203/00006450-199210000-00024. PMID 1437406.