George Wills Comstock, professor emeritus at the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School
of Public Health, died July 15 in Smithsburg, Md.,
after a long bout with
prostate cancer. A distinguished epidemiologist who
conducted seminal research
on tuberculosis control and treatment and on cancer, heart
disease and lung
disease, he was 92.
Comstock taught at Johns Hopkins for more than 40
years. He became
professor emeritus in 2003, but continued to teach courses
on the epidemiologic
basis for tuberculosis control until his death.
Comstock authored hundreds of scientific papers and
received numerous
awards for his work on tuberculosis control, including the
John Snow Award from
the American Public Health Association, Edward Livingston
Trudeau Medal from the
American Thoracic Society, Maxwell Finland Award for
Scientific Achievement from
the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and
National Heart, Lung and
Blood Institute's Career Research Award. From 1979 to 1988,
he served as editor
in chief of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Throughout his career,
Comstock developed and conducted many innovative community
health studies. His
work influenced generations of students who now hold top
leadership positions in
public health agencies and academic organizations
throughout the world.
"George was one of the first people I met when I came
to the school in
1984. I found he epitomized the drive for excellence that
we all share,"
Michael J. Klag, dean of the Bloomberg School, said. "He
was a very kind and
caring man. He will be greatly missed by his family,
friends, colleagues and
students."
Comstock began his career in public health in 1942 as
a commissioned
officer with the U.S. Public Health Service. During the
last six years of his 20
years of service, he was the chief of Epidemiological
Studies, Tuberculosis
Program. Comstock ran the first trials of the BCG vaccine
for tuberculosis in
Georgia and Alabama; the studies conducted there from 1947
to 1951 were
essential to determining the vaccine to be largely
ineffective against
tuberculosis, which led federal public health officials to
decide against
vaccinating children in the United States with BCG. In
1957, Comstock conducted
research in Bethel, Alaska, where tuberculosis was rampant.
His work there
demonstrated the effectiveness of the drug isoniazid in
preventing tuberculosis —
data that the CDC still used in 2000 when the agency
updated its treatment
guidelines for latent tuberculosis.
George Comstock was a model to generations of
epidemiologists, as a
researcher and teacher and above all as a caring person who
worked tirelessly to
make the world healthier," said Jonathan Samet, chair of
the Bloomberg
School's Department of Epidemiology. "He will long be
remembered by students
of the department for his encyclopedic knowledge of
tuberculosis and his
methodological rigor. He was a wise mentor to many,
including myself as chair — I
always listened when George spoke."
In 1962, Comstock founded the Johns Hopkins Training
Center for Public
Health Research and Prevention in Hagerstown, Md., and for
the next three
decades oversaw community-based research studies on
numerous diseases including
cancer, heart disease and eye disease. Renamed in
Comstock's honor in 2005, the
center is an important training ground for epidemiology
students from around the
world.
Born in Niagara Falls, N.Y., on Jan. 7, 1915, Comstock
graduated from
Antioch College in 1937 with honors in biology and
chemistry. He obtained his
medical degree from Harvard in 1941, a master of public
health degree from the
University of Michigan in 1951 and a doctorate of public
health in epidemiology
from Johns Hopkins in 1956.
Passionate about music, Comstock was part of symphony
orchestras at
different times of his life as a woodwind player, most
recently as a second
bassoonist in the Frederick Symphony Orchestra. Early music
was frequently heard
in his household as he taught the whole family to play
recorders and as he
learned to play many baroque- and Renaissance-era woodwind
instruments. He was a
co-founder of both the Elizabeth Towne Consort and the
Washington County Museum
Recorder Consort.
He also was a member of the Torch Club of Hagerstown
and an active
supporter of environmental causes and the Community
Correctional Services
Committee, which works with the prisoners at the Maryland
Correctional
Institution in Hagerstown.
Comstock was predeceased by his wife of 60 years,
Margaret Karr Comstock,
and his sister, Ruth Comstock Dunlap. In 2001, he married
the former Emma Lou
Davis. In addition to his wife, Comstock is survived by
three children and their
spouses, five grandchildren, one great-granddaughter, two
stepchildren and two
stepgrandchildren.
The Comstock family will receive visitors from 7 to 9
p.m. on Friday, July
27, at the Rest Haven Funeral Chapel, 1601 Pennsylvania
Ave., Hagerstown, Md. A
memorial service to celebrate Comstock's life will be held
at 3 p.m. on
Saturday, July 28, at the same location. A service will be
held at the Bloomberg
School of Public Health after Labor Day.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the
Washington County Museum
of Fine Arts Music Program (P.O. Box 423, City Park,
Hagerstown, MD 21741),
Frederick Orchestra (P.O. Box 1439, Frederick, MD 21702) or
George W. Comstock
Center for Public Health Research and Prevention (Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School
of Public Health, Office of External Affairs —
Development, 615 N. Wolfe St.,
W1600, Baltimore, MD 21205).
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