Write a 1 page essay on Rudolf Virchow
Rudolph Carl Virchow, doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, pre-historian, biologist and politician, popular through his contribution to public health. Considered as one of the founders of social medicine and nicknamed as "the father of modern pathology."
Virchow contributions started with the cell theory, building on previous work by Theodor Schwann, and being the first to recognize leukemia cells. Following the steps of Robert Remak (and plagiarizing Remak’s work), he also explained the origin of cells is the division of preexisting cells. Vichow’s node, also Troisier’s sign, a term coined after Virchow’s discovery that an enlarged left supraclavicular node is one of the earliest signs of gastrointestinal malignancy. He also added a fifth clinical sign, loss of function (function laesa), to signs typically prominent in inflammation. Virchow also developed a standard method of autopsy procedure, named for him, that is still one of the two main techniques used today.
Embolism, another term coined by Virchow, explaining the mechanism of pulmonary thromboembolism. He stated that blood clots ending up in the pulmonary artery originate from venous thrombi, "The detachment of larger or smaller fragments from the end of the softening thrombus which are carried along by the current of blood and driven into remote vessels. This gives rise to the very frequent process on which I have bestowed the name of Embolia." Virchow’s triad resulted from his description of the factors contributing to venous thrombosis.
Interestingly, Virchow was an impassioned advocate for social and political reform which lead him to playing a role in German politics, frequently focusing on the fact that disease is never purely biological, but often socially derived or spread.