Max Samter Archives
The papers of allergist Max Samter, MD (1908-1999) are now available for research in the University Archives. The collection documents Samter’s pioneering work in the field of immunology, as well as his experience practicing medicine in Nazi and wartime Germany.
Max Samter began his medical career in 1931 as an intern at the Charite University Hospital in Berlin. He worked there until 1933 when as a Jew, he was barred from continuing his scientific work. Despite the dangers posed to him, Samter remained in Berlin after Hitler's rise to power and established a practice in Berlin-Karow, one of the city's northern suburbs. With the support of town residents and the local Lutheran minister, Samter was able to maintain his practice for four years, despite the legal restrictions against Jews practicing in the professions.
An invitation to work at Johns Hopkins Hospital enabled Samter to immigrate to the United States in 1937. Samter was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in 1943. He participated in the allied invasion of Normandy, and served in the 13th Field Hospital attached to division of the First Army. Samter later served in an administrative capacity as a governor of a small region of Germany as the U.S. Army took over German territory following the Battle of the Bulge. Following his release from the military in 1946, Samter moved to Chicago.
In Chicago, Samter began work at the University of Illinois as a Research Associate in Biochemistry. He was appointed full Professor at the College of Medicine in 1961. Over the course of his career, Samter served as Chief of Staff, University of Illinois Hospital and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs of the Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine. He became Director of the Institute of Allergy and Immunology and Clinical Immunology at Grant Hospital of Chicago in 1975. The Max Samter Institute for Immunology Research at Grant Hospital is named in his honor.
Much of Samter’s pioneering medical research was in the field of drug allergies. Samter’s Syndrome, a condition in asthmatic and allergic diseases characterized by the triad of bronchial asthma, vasomotor rhinitis, and intolerance to aspirin and aspirin-like medications is named for him.
For more information or to use the collection, please contact the University Archives at 312.996.8977 or visit the website at http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/specialcoll/
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