In memoriam: Herbert Joel Meiselman

Herbert Joel Meiselman
August 14, 1940 – February 13, 2025

“Getting old is difficult but it beats the alternative” Herb was born in Jamestown New York in the summer of 1940. Despite a modest and often difficult upbringing in upstate New York, he not only survived but thrived. With his ever positive, can-do attitude that would define his personal and professional life, he began to work after school when he was 14 years old and worked his way through college until his admission to graduate school at MIT. “Not bad for a working-class kid from upstate New York.” Along the way he met Karin Carlson in junior college, a true love at first sight. Although it took him almost six decades, he finally confessed at age 80 that Karin was indeed his first girlfriend. Their love lasted until his recent death, with Karin at his bedside during his final heartbeats.

Herb received a doctorate in chemical engineering but then decided that he’d rather be a physiologist, so he accepted a post-doctoral fellowship in blood flow research at Caltech. During his time at Caltech, Herb led protests against the war in Vietnam in which he lectured the Caltech Board of Trustees (Robert McNamara was there) and was later described as “the Jewish Billy Graham”.

“Start Simple” Following his time at Caltech, Herb became a faculty member at the Keck School of Medicine where his research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health for the next 45 years. While Herb was always willing to panhandle for grant funding, it was never necessary having been supported by NIH funding for over 30 years and earning the prestigious 10-year MERIT Award from the NIH which supported his fundamental studies in biorheology, specifically the mechanism of red blood cell aggregation. He was on the American Heart Association Scientific Advisory Board, and numerous NIH Study Sections. He was the recipient of the prestigious Poiseuille Gold Medal for a lifetime of research achievement in the field of hemorheology and microcirculatory physiology, and the Fåhraeus Award for contributions to fundamental advancements in biorheology from the European Society for Clinical Hemorheology.

Herb’s research interests were broad in scope and he advanced research in fields including sickle cell anemia, atherosclerosis, transfusion medicine, and comparative biology just to name a few. But his most fundamental work focused on the physiological properties of blood and its constituents in the macro and microcirculation in the healthy population, patients with sickle cell anemia and congenital heart disease. He described the fundamental determinants of and proved the critical importance of red blood cell aggregation, aggregability, and deformation not only in humans but also an enormous range of mammals from all over the world, including the chilly Antarctica. Aided by his long-time lab assistant and dear friend, Rose Wenby, he published over 300 peer-reviewed articles, two books on blood flow, and presented at an inconceivable number of national and international conferences.

“Meisel-edits” But besides being a leading researcher in his field, he served as a mentor with an open-door policy and was a role model to over 50 graduate students, post-doctoral candidates, medical students, and junior and visiting faculty. They were keen to join Herb’s lab, even if for a short period of time, to learn from the World’s foremost authority on hemorheology. Countless international scientists flocked to Los Angeles during Herb’s career and were graciously hosted at the famous “Manor Meiselman”, which meant sharing a room with a HAM radio. Many returned to their home country to continue with the research, ultimately becoming highly successful investigators and/or clinicians. Some also got “stuck” in the lab for a prolonged period, like the bright-eyed but inexperienced pediatric cardiologist, the physiologist from Down Under, the German talent hiding in the office on the first floor, and the Hungarian couple who did not realize for a minute that Rose actually speaks Hungarian very well. In addition to his research, Herb lectured in the School of Medicine on all things concerning blood flow, providing lively examples of vascular and circulatory physiology, including the ever popular “Meiselman Theory of Cardiac Predestination.” Building upon that theorem, an anesthesiologist, who had the good fortune to learn from the master, reassured Herb prior to his surgery: “don’t worry, I have learned other stuff since your lectures…”. This is a common theme from all those trainees who had the great fortune to discuss cardiovascular physiology with Dr. Meiselman. “Start with the simple and build out from there, they will always remember the simple.” While the anesthesiologist eventually “learned more stuff,” it was that professor on the table in front of him who taught him the fundamentals, and wanted to ensure that he will always “remember the simple,” because Herb’s oxygen transport depended on it.

The international research community of biophysics, hemorheology and beyond were saddened to hear of Herb’s passing. Herb organized several international meetings including in Big Sky, Istanbul with his close friend Oguz Baskurt, and Penn State in collaboration with “Herb of the East”. Herb loved to travel, and visited all seven continents (yes, including

Antarctica twice!). Karin often accompanied him and attended lectures (no ties, jeans encouraged). While she kinda sorta understood th

e research, she could always laugh at his constant jokes. Anyone can give a lecture, but to give a lecture with laughter that results in long term memory formation requires a rare sense of focus on the important details and an ability to relate those details to everyday life events. Herb was a truly gifted teacher.

“Days are long, years are short” In addition to his illustrious career, Herb’s proudest role in life was a loving daddy to two adorable kids: Sharon Meiselman (Brad Kraus) a physician at Mammoth Lakes Hospital; and Ben (Sharona Partiyeli) a Vice President at Wilshire Associates in Santa Monica. (Note: Herb’s daughter Sharon was one of his students in her second year of medical school; he started each lecture with embarrassing photos of her childhood, cementing his status as a legend amongst her classmates.) He was fond of his three super adorable grandkids, Isaac and Ilana Meiselman and Theodore Kraus.

Memorial service details available upon request. Please email Jon Detterich at jdetterich@chla.usc.edu.

With contributions from: Dr. Jon Detterich, Dr. Tamas Alexy, Dr. Michael Simmonds, Ms. Rosalinda Wenby, and Dr. Sharon Meiselman