Maurice Bolks Visscher

Maurice Bolks Visscher (August 25, 1901 – May 1, 1983) was an American cardiovascular physiologist. He is best known for demonstrating that cardiac muscle declines in efficiency as it fails, and for pioneering the use of isotopes to study electrolyte absorption in the small intestine. He attended Holland's Hope College, graduating in 1922, then studied physiology at the University of Minnesota where he earned a Ph.D., in 1925. He spent the next year doing research at the University of London with Ernest Starling. In 1926, he conducted physiological research with Anton Julius Carlson at the University of Chicago. He earned his M.D. from the University of Southern California in 1931.

Academic career Visscher was an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee from 1927 to 1929. He joined the faculty of University of Southern California, where he was associate professor and chair of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology from 1929 to 1931. He then served as the chairman of the physiology department at the University of Illinois College of Medicine until 1936, when he became the head of the physiology department at the University of Minnesota, a position he held until his retirement.

Professional affiliations Visscher was the 20th president of the American Physiological Society, serving from 1948 to 1949. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1956, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1964, and the American Philosophical Society in 1970. He also served as a co-founder and president of the National Society for Medical Research, He was a volunteer medical advisor to Group Health in the 1950s.

Personal life Visscher married Gertrude Pieters on August 12, 1925. They had two sons and two daughters.

Though raised a Calvinist, Visscher converted to Unitarianism in 1934, when he became a member of the Third Unitarian Church of Chicago. He later credited the rigid doctrines of Calvinism with instilling a lifelong sense of urgency in him.

He died of cancer on May 1, 1983.