The Passing of a Mentor

The official obituaries have been written for Dr. Lewis Braverman, who died earlier this year.1-3 They all acknowledge his huge contributions to our understanding of thyroid physiology and pathophysiology. He had the insight to predict in 1963 the etiology for the escape from Wolff-Chaikoff4 and the tenacity to prove his hypothesis (in 1999) after the discovery of the iodine symporter allowed him to conduct the conclusive experiments.5 His clinical research with key collaborators provided critical insights about the peripheral conversion of T4 to T3,6 the role of amiodarone in thyroid disease,7 tainted hamburger meat as a cause of thyrotoxicosis,8 the importance of iodine following nuclear accidents and thyroid hormone in metabolic bone disease.