Dr. Norbert Hirschhorn ’58

In 1964, Dr. Norbert Hirschhorn ’58, VPS’62 joined the United States Public Health Service and was assigned to what is now Bangladesh. While there, he treated cholera and other diarrheal diseases, which left his patients with critical levels of dehydration. Facing a shortage of intravenous fluid salts, at the time the standard treatment for dehydration, Hirschhorn gave patients water with added glucose and salts to quickly rehydrate them. This revolutionary process was not only fast acting but also widely accessible.

As a pioneer of oral rehydration therapy, Hirschhorn went on to work around the world in areas facing health challenges, including Arizona’s White River Apache Indian Reservation, Egypt and Indonesia.

Since then, Hirschhorn’s therapy is estimated to have saved more than 50 million lives. Among his many accolades, he was recognized by President Clinton as an American Health Hero in 1993 and was presented the Michael Pupin Medal for service to the nation in science, technology or engineering earlier this year by the University.

Hirschhorn is also a prolific writer of poetry and essays; his most recent book of poetry, Over the Edge, was released in June.

“One of my favorite stories is from going back to Egypt some 20 years after I’d finished up there,” he recounts. “I was sitting in a taxi talking to the driver and I asked him, ‘Do you remember the programs advertised on television and radio, the program for rehydration?’ He said, ‘Oh yes, it saved my little boy!’ I asked, ‘Where’s your little boy now?’ And he’s studying computer technology in Florida. That’s the thing about international development — you realize that the good you do may come long after.”

— Anne-Ryan Sirju JRN’09