Harold Leeming Sheehan Explained
Harold Leeming Sheehan (1900–1988) was a British physician, pathologist, and professor of pathology.[2] [3]
Biography
Harold Sheehan, whose father was a general practitioner, was the second of thirteen children (6 males and 7 females). After education at Carlisle Grammar School, Harold Sheehan studied medicine at the University of Manchester, graduating MB ChB in 1921. Harold Sheehan began his practice of medicine by joining his elder brother Gerald, who had taken over their father's practice upon the latter's death. Harold Sheehan worked as a general practitioner from 1921 to 1927.[2]
He became in 1927 a demonstrator, and later a lecturer, in the University of Manchester's department of pathology.[2] There the professor of pathology was John Shaw Dunn,[4] who supervised Sheehan's MD thesis (1931) on the deposition of dyes in the mammalian kidney. In 1932 Sheehan graduated MSc with a thesis on renal elimination of injected urea and creatine. By means of a Rockefeller medical fellowship for the academic year 1934–1935, he studied renal function at the Johns Hopkins Medical School's department of pathology.[2]
In 1935 he was appointed director of research at the Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital and lecturer on pathology.[3] In the years preceding WWII he became an internationally recognised expert on diseases of pregnancy.[2]
He joined the Territorial Army in 1939 and became deputy director of pathology at the allied forces' headquarters in Italy.[3] He was mentioned in dispatches and attained the rank of colonel in the RAMC.[2]
He gained a DSc in 1940 and qualified MRCP in 1941. He was appointed in 1946 to the University of Liverpool's chair of pathology and built up a prestigious department. He acted as a histopathological consultant for the region surrounding Merseyside and monitored obstetrical deaths in the region, promptly performing many autopsies himself.[2]
In 1949, with Victor Kirwan Summers[5] he published an important paper on the syndrome of hypopituitarism.[2]
Sheehan was the president of the section of endocrinology at the October 1960 meeting of the Royal Society of Medicine and gave an address Atypical Hypopituitarism.[6] He retired from the chair of pathology in 1965. From 1965 to 1980 in a room set aside for him at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine he studied his case notes and thousands of histopathological specimens accumulated over many years.[3]
He was elected FRCP in 1947, FRCOG in 1949, and FRCPath in 1964. He went on a number of international lecture tours, always accompanied by his wife, who spoke several languages.[2] He was elected a foreign correspondent of the Académie Nationale de Médecine.[3]
In 1934 in Kensington, London, he married Eve Suzette Gertrude Potter (1905–1986). They had no children. Both of them were buried at Allerton Cemetery.
Selected publications
Articles
- The deposition of dyes in the mammalian kidney. J Physiol. 26 June 1931. 72. 2. 201–246. 1403073. Sheehan. H. L.. 16994207. 10.1113/jphysiol.1931.sp002772.
- with J. S. Dunn and W. W. Kay: The elimination of urea by the mammalian kidney. J Physiol. 17 December 1931. 73. 4. 371–381. 1394391. Dunn. J. S.. Kay. W. W.. Sheehan. H. L.. 16994250. 10.1113/jphysiol.1931.sp002819.
- The renal circulation rate in the rabbit. J Physiol. 8 February 1932. 74. 2. 214–220. 1394446. Sheehan. H. L.. 16994272. 10.1113/jphysiol.1932.sp002842.
- with W. W. Kay: The renal elimination of injected urea and creatinine. J Physiol. 25 October 1933. 79. 4. 359–415. 1394845. Kay. W. W.. Sheehan. H. L.. 16994467. 10.1113/jphysiol.1933.sp003054.
- with H. Southworth: The renal elimination of phenol red. J Physiol. 12 November 1934. 82. 4. 438–458. 1394284. Sheehan. H. L.. Southworth. H.. 16994600. 10.1113/jphysiol.1934.sp003196.
- with William Whittle Kay: Accuracy in the determination of blood-urea by the urease aeration-titration method. Biochem J. 1934. 28. 5. 1784–1794. 1253400. Kay. W. W.. Sheehan. H. L.. 16745575. 10.1042/bj0281784.
- with W. W. Kay: The preparation, storage and use of standard carbonate-free sodium hydroxide solutions. Biochem J. 1934. 28. 5. 1795–1797. 1253401. Kay. W. W.. Sheehan. H. L.. 16745576. 10.1042/bj0281795.
- The renal elimination of phenol red in the dog. J Physiol. 19 August 1936. 87. 3. 237–253. 1395250. Sheehan. H. L.. 16994791. 10.1113/jphysiol.1936.sp003403.
- with Albert Sharman: Endometrial Biopsy. Br Med J. 8 May 1937. 1. 3983. 965-966, 982-1.
- Correction in: Br Med J. 1937 May 22; 1(3985): 1102
. 2092669. Sharman. A.. Sheehan. H. L.. 20780651. 10.1136/bmj.1.3983.965.
- Post-Partum Necrosis of the Anterior Pituitary. Trans Edinb Obstet Soc. 1938. 58. 13–28. 5422597. Sheehan. H. L.. 29612345.
- with A. M. Sutherland: Sex and age factors in acute and chronic valvular disease. Br Heart J. October 1939. 1. 4. 303–324. 503413. Sheehan. H. L.. Sutherland. A. M.. 18609827. 10.1136/hrt.1.4.303.
- with J. Purdon Martin: Primary Thrombosis of Cerebral Veins (following Childbirth). Br Med J. 8 March 1941. 1. 4183. 349–353. 2161360. Martin. J. P.. Sheehan. H. L.. 20783556. 10.1136/bmj.1.4183.349.
- with J. Purdon Martin: Puerperal Cerebral Thrombosis. Br Med J. 25 April 1942. 1. 4242. 538–539. 2160704. Martin. J. P.. Sheehan. H. L.. 10.1136/bmj.1.4242.538-c.
- with James H. Hutchison, J. S. Pippard, and M. H. Gleeson-White: Outbreak of Weil's Disease in the British Army in Italy. Br Med J. 19 January 1946. 1. 4437. 81–83. 2057907. Hutchison. J. H.. Pippard. J. S.. Gleeson-White. M. H.. Sheehan. H. L.. 20786511. 10.1136/bmj.1.4437.81.
- with Ninian M. Falkiner: Splenic Aneurysm and Splenic Enlargement in Pregnancy. Br Med J. 25 December 1948. 2. 4590. 1105–1106. 2092335. Sheehan. H. L.. Falkiner. N. M.. 18103296. 10.1136/bmj.2.4590.1105.
- Retained Placenta and Post-Partum Haemorrhage. Br Med J. 14 May 1949. 1. 4610. 849–851. 2050057. Sheehan. H. L.. 18128805. 10.1136/bmj.1.4610.849.
- with R. T. Cooke: Cases of Hypopituitarism. Br Med J. 22 April 1950. 1. 4659. 928–931. 2037569. Cooke. R. T.. Sheehan. H. L.. 15414316. 10.1136/bmj.1.4659.928.
- with V. K. Summers: Cortisone and A.C.T.H. in Hypopituitarism. Br Med J. 8 September 1951. 2. 4731. 564–568. 2070056. Summers. V. K.. Sheehan. H. L.. 14869647. 10.1136/bmj.2.4731.564.
- with V. K. Summers: Treatment of Hypopituitary Coma. Br Med J. 7 June 1952. 1. 4770. 1214–1215. 2023614. Sheehan. H. L.. Summers. V. K.. 14925426. 10.1136/bmj.1.4770.1214.
- with V. K. Summers: Oral Cortisone Treatment of Hypopituitarism. Br Med J. 27 March 1954. 1. 4864. 723–726. 2084890. Sheehan. H. L.. Summers. V. K.. 13140848. 10.1136/bmj.1.4864.723.
- Coma in Hypopituitarism. Br Med J. 22 October 1955. 2. 4946. 1022–1024. 1981156. Sheehan. H. L.. 13260654. 10.1136/bmj.2.4946.1022.
- with J. C. Davis: Anatomy of the pelvis in the rabbit kidney. J Anat. October 1959. 93(Pt 4). Pt 4. 499–502.1. 1244543. Sheehan. H. L.. Davis. J. C.. 14445711.
- Atypical Hypopituitarism. Proc R Soc Med. January 1961. 54. 1. 43–48. 1869477. Sheehan. H. L.. 19994084. 10.1177/003591576105400111.
Books
- with H. C. Moore: Book: Renal cortical necrosis. Oxford. Blackwell Scientific. 1952.
- with J. B. Lynch: Book: The pathology of toxaemia of pregnancy. Edinburgh. Churchill Livingstone. 1973. [7] [8]
- with J. C. Davis: Book: Post-partum hypopituitarism. Springfield, Illinois. C. C. Thomas. 1982.
Notes and References
- Web site: Sheehan's syndrome. Mayo Clinic.
- Web site: Harold Leeming Sheehan. Lives of the Fellows, Royal College of Physicians, Munk's Roll, Volume VIII. 3 March 2019. 6 March 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190306044036/http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/4021. dead.
- Obituary. H. L. Sheehan, TD, DSc, MD, FRCP, FRCOG, FRCPath. Br Med J. 297. 6661. 1465. 3 December 1988. 10.1136/bmj.297.6661.1465. 220177691 .
- Obituary. J. Shaw Dunn, M.D., MSc. Br Med J. 1 July 1944. 2. 4356. 27–29. 2285736. 10.1136/bmj.2.4356.27.
- Web site: Victor Kirwan Summers. Lives of the Fellows, Royal College of Physicians, Munk's Roll, Volume VI.
- Sheehan, H. L.. Atypical Hypopituitarism, President's Address, Section of Endocrinology, Meeting October 26 1960. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine. January 1961. 54. 1. 43–48. 10.1177/003591576105400111. 19994084. 1869477.
- Lindheimer, Marahall D.. Obstetrics & Gynecology. January 1975. 45. 1. 119. Review of Pathology of toxaemia of pregnancy by H. L. Sheehan and J. B. Lynch.
- Woodcock, A. S.. Review of Pathology of Toxaemia of Pregnancy by H. L. Sheehan and J. B. Lynch. Br Med J. 16 June 1973. 2. 5867. 671. 1589686. 10.1136/bmj.2.5867.671.