In Memoriam: Michael B. Gregg (1930–2008)

摘要

"He has in his make-up two essential elements—common sense and the will to work ... in collecting [facts] he is diligent, patient, careful, thor-ough and unbiased ... he avoids needless or obfuscating high mathematics and formulae ... he does not twist the facts... He re-mains broad-minded and open-minded ... He is humble in his ignorance but bold in his search for truth" (1). So wrote legendary American epidemiologist Leslie Lumsden (1875–1946). He was responding to the question, posed by the American Journal of Public Health in 1942, "What and who is an epidemiologist." (1).Michael B. Gregg, MD, who died on July 9 in Brat-tleboro, Vermont, was a 12-year-old boy in 1942 when Lumsden described the quintessential epidemiologist. But Gregg (or Mike, as just about everyone at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] called him) grew up to become not only an epidemiologist but also a teacher, a mentor, a friend, and for many the embodiment of Lums-den's ideal. Among the many hundreds of students Gregg taught and in. uenced at the National Institutes of Health, and most notably at CDC, are countless leaders in epide-miology, public health, and the biomedical sciences. They practice all over the country, in health departments, in uni-versities, in federal agencies, and indeed around the world. Roger Bernier, an epidemiologist who trained under Gregg at CDC, has compared Gregg's professional approach to one of his hobbies: gardening. He planted, he nurtured, and he took care of and kept an eye on things; as the garden . ourished, he kept it in bloom by careful but unobtrusive attention, preventive maintenance, and teaching and inspir-ing others to pitch in and help