James Corson Niederman
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James Corson Niederman | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 27, 1924 Hamilton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | March 2, 2024 (aged 99) Bethany, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Kenyon College, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine |
| Known for | Epstein–Barr virus, infectious mononucleosis |
| Spouse | Mimi (Miriam) Camp Niederman |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Virology, epidemiology |
| Institutions | Yale School of Medicine, Yale School of Public Health |
James Corson Niederman (November 27, 1924 – March 2, 2024) was an American epidemiologist whose research identified the Epstein–Barr virus as the cause of infectious mononucleosis in a study published in 1968.[1][2]
James Corson Niederman was born on November 27, 1924, in Hamilton, Ohio. He graduated from Kenyon College in 1946,[3] and received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1949. For many years, he was a residential college associate at the Yale School of Public Health.[4]
Medical research
Beginning in the late 1950s, Dr. Niederman and Robert W. McCollum collected sera from Yale University freshmen.[5] Students who tested positive for EBV antibodies never developed infectious mononucleosis (IM). The pre-illness samples of students, who later developed infectious mononucleosis tested negative for EBV antibodies. Therefore, the presence of EBV antibodies indicated immunity from infectious mononucleosis.[6] The study demonstrated that EBV is not simply a passenger virus, it is the etiologic agent of infectious mononucleosis. This was a remarkable discovery, since at the time the cause of IM was a mystery.