Abraham Lilienfeld

Abraham Morris Lilienfeld (November 13, 1920 – August 6, 1984) was an American epidemiologist and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health serving in various roles; from lecturer in 1950, he rose to head of the Department of Chronic Diseases in 1961 and chair of the Department of Epidemiology in 1971 before he resigned in 1975. Lilienfeld was known for his work in expanding epidemiology to focus on chronic diseases as well as infectious ones. He also advocated for the link between smoking and lung cancer as early as 1962. The American College of Epidemiology's most prestigious award, the "Abraham Lilienfeld Award", is named in his honour.

Early life and education Lilienfeld was born in New York City on November 13, 1920. His father, Joe Lilienfeld, came from a wealthy family in Galicia, Ukraine, and worked as a Galician rabbinical scholar. Joe and his wife had immigrated to the United States in 1914 to escape the draft, leaving their money (which was all in German marks) behind in Germany when they did so.

Career Lilienfeld joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health as a lecturer in 1950, and became an assistant professor of epidemiology there in 1952. In 1970, his Department of Chronic Diseases merged with the Department of Epidemiology, and he became chair of the new department, the Department of Epidemiology.

Work Lilienfeld is known for working to expand the field of epidemiology from its original focus on infectious diseases to include chronic diseases, He is also known for, along with Richard Bordow, co-authoring the chapter "Biomedical Evidence for Determining Causality" in the Surgeon General's 1982 report Health Consequences of Smoking: Cancer, as well as for advocating for the link between smoking and lung cancer in a 1962 article he wrote for The Nation.

Death Lilienfeld died on August 6, 1984, of a heart attack in a Baltimore train station, at the age of 63.

The American College of Epidemiology's most prestigious award, the "Abraham Lilienfeld Award", has been awarded annually since 1985. The Society for Epidemiologic Research gives the "Lilienfeld Postdoctoral Prize Paper" in honor of Dr. Lilienfeld.