Robert Heptinstall

Heptinstall was born in Great Britain and earned his medical degree from Charing Cross Hospital Medical School in London. He served in the British Army during World War II as part of Force 136, parachuting into Japanese-occupied Thailand to care for freed prisoners of war. After the war, he did postgraduate study under Alexander Fleming. He moved to the United States in 1954 to serve a fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital.{{cite news|url=http://pathology.jhu.edu/department/about/news/index.cfm#Heppy|title=In Memoriam - Robert H. Heptinstall, M.D.|work=Johns Hopkins Medicine - Pathology|accessdate=10 January 2021|archive-date=30 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130041615/http://pathology.jhu.edu/department/about/news/index.cfm#Heppy|url-status=dead}}

From 1960 to 1962 Heptinstall was a visiting professor of pathology at Washington University School of Medicine. In 1962, he moved to Hopkins as a professor. He was appointed acting director of the pathology department in 1966. In 1969 he was named the Baxley professor of pathology, pathologist in chief, and director of the department, titles he held until 1988.{{cite web|url=http://pathology.jhu.edu/department/about/history/Spear2.cfm|title=Brief history of Jerry Spear's many contributions to renal biopsy at Johns Hopkins|work=Johns Hopkins Medicine|accessdate=10 January 2021}} He continued at Hopkins as a professor of pathology until 1991 and as a distinguished service professor emeritus until 2014.{{cite web|url=http://pathology.jhu.edu/department/about/history/catalog/EmployeeChart.cfm?catid=383|title=Robert H. Heptinstall|work=Faculty and Resident Catalog, 1889–2014|accessdate=10 January 2021}}

His research and publishing on the subject of renal disease helped to establish the link between hypertension, kidney disease, and atherosclerosis. His book Pathology of the Kidney, first published in 1966, is now in its seventh edition and is known as Heptinstall's Pathology of the Kidney.{{cite book|last1=Jennette|first1=J. Charles|last2=D'Agati|first2=Vivette D.|last3=Olson|first3=Jean L.|title=Heptinstall's Pathology of the Kidney|edition=7th|year=2015|publisher=Lippincott Williams and Wilkins|isbn=978-1451144116}} It is described as "the singular textbook on renal pathology"{{cite journal|last=Rohan|first=John|date=February 16, 2015|title=Book review: Heptinstall's Pathology of the Kidney|journal=Journal of Clinical Pathology|volume=68|issue=252|url=https://jcp.bmj.com/content/68/3/252}} and "the Bible of renal pathology".Kokoroski P, Koh CV: "Book Review: Heptinstall’s Pathology of the Kidney, vols 1 and 2". [https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/206936 JAMA. 2007;297(18):2031-2035].

==Offices held==

Offices held included:

• President of American Society of Nephrology, 1972–1973
• President of the Renal Pathology Society, 1980–1983
• Vice president of the International Society of Nephrology, 1981–1984.

==Recognition==

Recognition during his lifetime included:

• Gold medal from the Danish Surgical Society
• David M. Hume Memorial Award from the National Kidney Foundation
• Jean Hamburger Award from the International Society of Nephrology
• In 2011, the Renal Pathology Society renamed its lifetime achievement award as the Robert H. Heptinstall Lifetime Achievement Award.
• In 2020 to honor his hundredth birthday, Hopkins established a Robert H. Heptinstall Fellowship.

He died on 5 January 2021, a few months after his hundredth birthday.

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Category:British pathologists

Category:Johns Hopkins Hospital physicians

Category:Alumni of Charing Cross Medical School

Category:British Army personnel of World War II

Category:1920 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:English men centenarians

Category:English expatriates in the United States

Category:Washington University School of Medicine faculty

Category:Johns Hopkins University faculty