Daniel H. Mintz (1930–2020): An Extraordinary Physician-Scientist and a Pioneer in Islet Transplantation

Abstract

Jewish parents, Jacob and Fanny, and grew up on Long Island, New York, where his parents immigrated in the early 1900s. In his youth he excelled both in sports (basketball) and academically; he was accepted as a premed student at St. Bonaventure College, where he completed his Bachelor's degree cum laude. He entered New York Medical College, which had no quotas for Jewish students (unlike many other schools at that time), and completed his medical training in 1956. While serving his internship at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, he met his future wife, Dawn, a hospital nurse. In 1961, Dan entered residency at Georgetown University School of Medicine and joined the faculty, initiating his research career under the mentorship of Dr. Larry Kyle, Chairman of Medicine, studying parathyroid and bone disorders (1).Dan's first love was clinical medicine, so it is no surprise that he was appointed Chief of Medicine at the then District of Columbia General Hospital in 1964. He once recounted the Daniel Mintz in 2006.