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> Fall 2005 > In Memoriam

Elisha Atkins, Internist

By Molly Dillon

Elisha Atkins, renowned researcher in the Department of Internal Medicine at Yale Medical School and devoted member of the Yale community died of lymphoma on April 22. He was 84.

At Yale, Atkins became one of the leading researchers on the source and function of fevers. Atkins pinpointed a temperature-raising chemical that is released by white blood cells upon encountering infectious bacteria. In doing so, he showed that fevers play a major role in fighting infection.

A native of Massachusetts, Atkins attended Harvard College as a humanities student. Only later did he supplement his education with courses required for his future enrollment in Rochester Medical School. Atkins’s decision to become a physician occurred after his return from the South Pacific, where he was stationed as a Marine during World War II. Atkins was later appointed professor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. At the Barnes Hospital, Atkins began his research of infectious diseases and fever. Atkins also served as a visiting physician at St. Louis City Hospital before joining Yale.

At Yale, Atkins was not only researcher, teacher, and clinician, but also a member of the medical school’s admissions committee, where he spent one year as Acting Associate Dean. From 1975 to 1985, Atkins also served as Master of Saybrook College, exercising his interest in liberal arts and taking an active role in the lives of undergraduates.

Fred Cantor, a long-time friend and colleague of Atkins, said to the Boston Globe, “He was many things—a classic scholar, a war hero, an investigator whose life work produced significant findings. He was a bird-watcher who fancied nature, and he was a husband and father. He was very special person who enriched all of our lives with the many facets of his interest.”