Date: February 29, 2008

Time: Noon to 1:00

Title:  "Urea Cycle Disorders: A Rare Genetic Disorder Causing Developmental Disabilities"

Speaker: Mark Batshaw, MD

About Harry A. Waisman:
Harry Waisman received all four of his degrees from Wisconsin:  a B.S. in 1935, M.S. and Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1937 and 1939;  and M.D. in 1947.  He served his internship and residency in pediatrics at the University of Illinois.  He completed post-doctoral training both at Wisconsin and Illinois and was on the staff at Illinois from 1950-1952.

He joined the University of Wisconsin faculty in 1952 as associate professor of pediatrics and was promoted to full professor in 1958.  He became director of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Memorial Laboratories for mental retardation research in 1963. The laboratories grew from an initial grant from the family of President John F. Kennedy, which Waisman was largely instrumental in obtaining.

In association with Harry Harlow and the UW Primate Laboratory, Waisman conducted ground-breaking research on Phenylketonuria (PKU). Waisman's research centered chiefly on this hereditary disease, in which an inborn metabolic error results in an accumulation of the amino acid phenylalanine and its derivatives, causing mental retardation. Detected early enough by a simple test, the defect can be treated effectively by a low-phenylalanine diet. Waisman was an outspoken proponent during legislative battles in the mid 1960s for mandatory testing of infants for PKU.

Prior to his mental retardation work, Waisman was involved in studies related to cancer and leukemia in children.  He co-authored a book with the late UW president and fellow biochemist Conrad A. Elvehjem.

He was a member of numerous professional and honorary societies and won many important national honors for his pediatrics work.  He was one of the driving forces in the establishment of a multidisciplinary center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison dedicated to the study of human development and mental retardation. He died unexpectedly during surgery in 1971.

Where:  Waisman Conference Center
Room T216, Second Floor, North Tower

For Further Information: Contact Teresa Palumbo at 263-5837 or
palumbo@waisman.wisc.edu

The Waisman Center Seminar Series is partially funded by the Friends of the Waisman Center and NIH grant P30 HD003352.