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by Jay Luxenberg, MD
This week’s Academy Awards will be most memorable for the flub initially awarding best picture to the wrong movie. For me, however, it will be memorable for a brief mention during the acceptance speech by Kenneth Longeran for best original screenplay for his wonderful movie "Manchester by the Sea". Ken thanked his father, who he mentioned had died this year. That’s how I learned of the death of my friend, Ken’s father, Edmund T. “Ted” Longergan, M.D. Ted played a pivotal role as one of our field’s pioneer academic geriatricians.
Ted chaired a committee of the Institute of Medicine on a National Research Agenda on Aging, which resulted in 1991 in the publications of a book “Extending Life, Enhancing Life – A National Research Agenda on Aging”. That same year there was a special report in the New England Journal of Medicine by Ted entitled “A National Agenda for Research on Aging” These two publications really set the agenda for the research that has subsequently informed our care of the elderly people entrusted to us. Ted also edited what at the time was the best-selling textbook in geriatrics, the Lange series text “Geriatrics.” He led three Cochrane collaboration analyses important to our care of the elderly, on the use of benzodiazepines, haloperidol, and valproate for the treatment of agitation in dementia. His careful review of the research literature helped us avoid treatments with limited potential to help and plenty of potential to harm. Ted was a nephrologist and his initial research career was related to that field. Later, Ted led the geriatrics program at the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center in San Francisco, and published widely on topics related to geriatrics. He mentored many who are now leaders in the field, and he established a reasoned and thoughtful agenda for future research that really helped a young field of geriatrics get established. Ted was proud of Ken’s success, and he encouraged me to go to several of Ken’s plays on Broadway and London’s West End. He shared the ups and downs of Ken’s progress with the movies “Margaret” and “Manchester by the Sea”. I know he would have been thrilled with this Oscar for Ken. I will miss my friend, and the field of geriatrics has lost one of our true pioneers. |
