Benjamin Kean, MD Papers

Collection

Identifier: US-NNCORMA-RGPPM-017

No requestable containers
Staff Only
Ask a Question

Scope and Contents

The papers are organized into nine series: General Correspondence (1957-1993), Panama Autopsies (1940-1945), Tropical Medicine Unit, (1944-1993), Other Research (1942-1993), Reprints and Publications (1935-1993), Parasitology Publication (undated), Miscellaneous (1952-1989), and Photographs.

Dates

1949-2009

Conditions Governing Access

Historical records in the Medical Center Archives are protected by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996), internal policies requiring protection and confidential handling of PHI (protected health information), FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), or other institutional polices regarding internal or confidential records, and may require additional permissions prior to access. Some records in this collection are restricted and require additional permissions prior to access. View the container inventory for more information and visit the Medical Center Archives website for the most updated policies and procedures regarding access to historical materials containing restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Materials from this collection cannot be reproduced outside the guidelines of United States Fair Use (17 U.S.C., Section 107) without the advance permission of the Medical Center Archives of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine or the copyright holder. In the event that anything from the collection become a source for publication, a credit line indicating the Medical Center Archives of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine is required.

Historical records in the Medical Center Archives are protected by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) and internal policies which require protection and confidential handling of all protected health information (PHI). Materials containing PHI, personally identifiable information (PII), and/or student information (protected under FERPA) have been restricted and require additional permissions prior to reproduction and use.

Please visit the Medical Center Archives website for the most updated policies and procedures regarding reproduction and use.

Biographical / Historical

Dr. Benjamin Kean was born in Valparaiso, Indiana in 1912. He was raised in West Orange, NJ and New York City. He received an AB degree at the University of California, Berkeley in 1933. He graduated from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1937.

He began his career as an intern at Gorgas Hospital in the Panama Canal Zone in 1937. He continued to work there through the World War II as a physician and pathologist. While there, he became the director of a course in tropical medicine. He also served part of World War II in Europe.

In 1948-1952, he worked at New York University-Bellevue Medical Center as an assistant professor of pathology, a consultant in tropical medicine at the VA Halloroan Hospital (1946-1951) and attending physician at University Hospital (1948-1952).

He came to Cornell University Medical College in 1954 as an assistant professor of public health in parasitology and rose in the ranks to full professor. He founded the Tropical Medicine Unit at the medical college in 1962. He was the head of the Parasitology Laboratory at New York Hospital. He also had a private practice on Park Avenue where he was the physician for several famous people including Oscar Hammerstein, Edna Ferber, Gertrude Lawrence, Martina Navratilova and Salvador Dali.

His expertise was in tropical medicine. He did extensive research in amoebiasis, malaria, toxoplasmosis, and schistosomiasis. He coordinated studies in Mexico on Turista (Traveler's Diarrhea) in the 1950s and 1960s. He was well known for his B. H. Kean Tropical Medicine Course at Cornell University Medical College.

He was also known for being the physician for the Shah of Iran during his terminal illness. He followed the Shah through his treatment at New York Hospital in October 1979 and his flight through Panama and Egypt. He was criticized for not accurately publicizing the medical condition and treatment of the Shah to the America public. The treatment of the Shah in the United States led to the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979-1981.

He died on September 24, 1993.

Extent

13.75 Linear Feet (28 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Mrs. Collette Touey Kean (Dr. Benjamin Kean's widow) donated the papers to the Medical Center Archives of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell in April 1998. In 2011, Dr. [Warren D.] Johnson from the Global Health donated some additional materials (Series VI and X). In 2017, Anne Cote Taylor donated some additional materials.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Elizabeth Shepard in 2002. The finding aid was written by Elizabeth Shepard in 2002 and updated in 2011, 2017, and 2019. Minor modifications to the finding aid were made during migration to ArchivesSpace in 2024.