HISTORICAL FACULTY HIGHLIGHT

The Quiet Pioneer: Dr. Harold S. Ginsberg and His Legacy

Dr. Harold S. Ginsberg, former Chair of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, became widely known as a groundbreaking and pioneering virologist best known for his work with adenoviruses. In retrospect, he demonstrated the same keen insight that led to his later successes at the very start of his career.

He was one of the founding fathers of modern virology and microbiology. His discoveries involving the genetics of adenoviruses paved the way for the development of gene therapy.

Early Career
Harold Ginsberg was born on May 27, 1917 in Daytona Beach, FL. He graduated with an A.B. from Duke University in 1937, and an M.D. from Tulane University in 1941. He served in the military as a medical officer during World War II starting in 1943, posted in the United Kingdom. Even as a young physician, Dr. Ginsberg noticed a high incidence of hepatitis in soldiers that had received blood transfusions, investigated, and concluded that the pooled blood plasma being used to treat wounded soldiers was causing hepatitis. His early work resulted in major changes in how blood plasma was used, saving numerous lives, and led to the eventual discovery of the Hepatitis B virus. In 1945, he was awarded the Legion of Merit Award by the U.S. Army for his work, and attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by the time he left the military in 1946.

Entering Academia
After the war ended, Dr. Ginsberg entered academia as an resident Physician Associate at the Rockefeller Institute in New York City in 1946, where he performed research with Dr. Frank Horsfall, developing techniques to block viral infection and replication with chemotherapy. In 1951, Dr. Ginsberg joined the faculty at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland as an Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine. While in the military, he had developed an interest in Acute Respiratory Disease (ARD), which at the time was a disease of unknown origin, and he began to investigate the cause of ARD at Case Western Reserve. There, he demonstrated that adenoviruses, normally found in the adenoid, lymph tissue at the back of the nose, were responsible for ARD, as well as atypical pneumonia and phyarngitis. He showed that the viruses could remain dormant, then become infectious, and described how the viruses invaded host cells and caused disease. This was groundbreaking work, as described by Dr. Saul Silverstein, former Chair of Microbiology & Immunology at Columbia University: “He was one of the founding fathers of modern virology and microbiology. His discoveries involving the genetics of adenoviruses paved the way for the development of gene therapy.”

University of Pennsylvania
In 1961, Dr. Ginsberg joined the University of Pennsylvania as Chair of the Department of Microbiology. There his research focus shifted to understanding the structural components of adenoviruses. Dr. Ginsberg's laboratory isolated a number of temperature-sensitive mutant adenoviruses which not only played a critical role in his subsequent functional characterization of viral capsid proteins, but proved extremely useful to other adenovirus researchers. His laboratory also isolated individual late viral gene products, and made significant contributions to the understanding of viral DNA packaging and host cell changes during viral infections.

Columbia University
In 1973, Dr. Ginsberg accepted the position of Chair and Higgins Professor of the Department of Microbiology at Columbia University, replacing Dr. Harry M. Rose, who had retired. The department blossomed under Dr. Ginsberg's leadership, and he was able to recruit both leading virologists, including Dr. Max Gottesman, Dr. Hamish Young and Dr. Saul Silverstein, and leading immunologists such as Dr. Sherie Morrison and Dr. Kathryn Calame to the department. He led the department by example and praise, and according to his colleagues at the time, inspired the department with true esprit de corps. His former colleague, Dr. Hamish Young, described Dr. Ginsberg as very department oriented, with a keen interest in the lives of the department’s faculty, students and postdocs, and great commitment to the development of students and postdocs. He was very involved with his own students, and always had an idea for another experiment ready for them. On a personal level, Hamish noted that Dr. Ginsberg was a “fiendish tennis player”, which is consistent with his early athleticism – while a student at Duke University, he earned varsity letters in swimming, tennis and football, and only gave up playing football when it began to conflict with his laboratory courses. As Chair of the Department of Microbiology, former colleagues described Dr. Ginsberg’s style as low-key, but effective. Dr. Ginsberg was apolitical, exhibited a scrupulous fairness in his dealings, and was respected by everyone.

Dr. Ginsberg was deeply interested in knowledge for the sake of knowledge, as noted by his former colleague Dr. Dickson Despommier, “He had a true appreciation for the breadth and depth of how life expresses itself.” While a member of the Department of Microbiology, Dr. Ginsberg continued his research on adenovirus, making a number of important contributions to our understanding of adenovirus genetics, biology and tumor transformation, and developed a variety of useful conditionally lethal adenovirus mutants. In addition, he authored two standard textbooks, Microbiology and Virology, which were widely used by medical and graduate students at the time, and served as editor in chief of the Journal of Virology. During his tenure with the department he also served as Chair of Board of Governors of the American Academy of Microbiology, Chair of the Microbiology Committee of the National Board of Medical Examiners, Chair of the Virology study section of the NIH and Chair of the Microbiology and Immunology Advisory Council of the NIH. Dr. Ginsberg was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1979 and the National Academy of Sciences in 1982. Dr. Ginsberg was always modest about his pioneering work and numerous achievements, but despite his quiet demeanor, they spoke for themselves.

Retirement
In 1985, Dr. Ginsberg stepped down as Chair of Microbiology in preparation for retirement, and after 15 years of service to the department, retired and become Professor Emeritus in 1988. Even in retirement, he continued to do research with Dr. Robert Chanock at NIH, further exploring the roots of adenovirus pathogenesis and developing systems for the study of adenovirus. The last of Dr. Ginsberg’s 200 publications was in 1993, on a new model system for adenovirus pneumonia. He passed away on February 2, 2003 at Woods Hole at the age of 85, survived by his wife, Marion Reibstein Ginsberg, an attorney and 1949 graduate of Columbia Law School, and their four children. To the very end, Dr. Ginsberg was a scholar and a gentleman.