Joseph B. Kirsner

Joseph Barnett Kirsner (September 21, 1909 – July 7, 2012) was an American gastroenterologist and Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor of medicine at the University of Chicago.

Early life Kirsner was born on September 21, 1909, in a Jewish family. He was the eldest of five children. In 1933, Kirsner moved to Chicago after graduating from the Tufts University School of Medicine. Kirsner married Minnie Schneider, whom he met at Woodlawn Hospital on Chicago's South Side. While at University of Chicago, he published 750 papers and wrote six editions of a textbook on inflammatory bowel disease.

He had been instrumental in founding the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Publications Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Saunders, October 6, 1999, English, Origins and Directions of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Springer, 13 November 2013, English, Pocket Handbook of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Heinle, 21 January 2004, English, Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Guide for Patients and Their Families, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 1 February 1985, English, The Development of American Gastroenterology, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 1 April 1990, English, Crohn's Disease of the Gastrointestinal Tract, John Wiley & Sons Inc, 1 September 1980, English, Diseases of the Colon, Rectum and Anal Canal, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 1 April 1988, English, Growth of Gastroenterologic Knowledge During the 20th Century, Lea & Febiger, U.S., 1 April 1994, English, The Early Days of American Gastroenterology, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 1 October 1998, English,

Death In 2012, Kirsner died of kidney failure in Chicago. He was 102 years old.