Frederic Bartter

Frederic Crosby Bartter (September 10, 1914 – May 5, 1983) was an American endocrinologist best known for his work on hormones affecting the kidney and his discovery of syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH) and Bartter syndrome. He had a separate interest in mushroom poisoning.

Early life He was born to an English Anglican minister and his American wife in Manila, Philippines, and grew up in the mountain village of Baguio. At the age of 13 he was sent, together with his brother, to attend the Lenox School until 1930. After teaching in the Philippines for a year, he enrolled at Harvard where he obtained a BA in 1935. After a year at the Harvard School of Public Health, he entered Harvard Medical School, graduating in 1940. He interned at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City in 1941 and 1942. His army service led to academic work on blood products and onchocerciasis (river blindness, a tropical disease). and his work on aldosterone and the kidney handling of electrolytes led to his description, in 1963, of the syndrome that would later bear his name - Bartter syndrome.