Shields Warren was born in Cambridge, Massachussets, the son of William Marshall Warren, dean of Boston University's College of Liberal Arts, and Sara Bainbridge. His paternal grandfather had been the first president of Boston University.
Education
He attended Boston University, where he graduated with a B. A. in biology in 1918. He received an M. D. degree from Harvard University Medical School in 1923.
Career
Warren was the first assistant in pathology in the laboratory at Boston City Hospital, where he worked from 1923 to 1925. His initial research was in diabetes, which became the subject of the first of the nine medical textbooks he would write. But he soon shifted his focus to the study of cancer and the way in which it spreads. In 1925, Warren began teaching at Harvard Medical School as an instructor in pathology. In 1936, he became an assistant professor, and, in 1948, a full professor. Warren was known for having a calm, dry manner. One colleague described him as a riveting speaker who had "no pretension whatsoever, " In 1927, he began a fifty-year career as a pathologist at New England Deaconess Hospital, where he became chief pathologist in 1946. He also served other hospitals in the Boston area. Warren's research in the 1930's supported his theory that the lymphatic system might play a role in transmitting cancer cells from one part of the body to another. His observations led to the modern surgical practice of removing the lymph nodes close to cancerous tissue. Warren also proposed the idea that some people might be more predisposed than others to cancer and multiple cases of cancer. By the time the world knew of atomic energy, Warren and a small number of other scientists had already shown in many experiments that radiation overdoses caused injury and death. His knowledge and experience came into play during World War II, which ended with the atomic bombing of two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Warren entered the Naval Reserve as a captain in 1943, and served on the scientific advisory board of the Army Institute of Pathology as an expert consultant to the surgeon general. But Warren's most important duty came after the war. In 1945, he led the medical team of the United States Navy's technical mission to Japan. Warren concluded that the majority of deaths in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were caused by the explosion's radiation and not by the bomb blast itself. The second greatest cause of death, he said, was "flash burns" from the explosion's blinding light. He was given credit for conducting the first systematic study of radioactive fallout. With "ground zero" marking the location where the bomb was dropped, Warren's study noted that flesh burns were observed within a 2. 5-mile radius of ground zero. The study concluded that lethal radiation effects were uncommon beyond a mile radius of ground zero, though some beyond that limit were still exposed to ionizing radiation. Such exposure caused a delayed reaction in human blood cells, similar to damage done by overexposure to X rays. A typical delayed reaction would occur two weeks after exposure and might appear as leukemia or forms of anemia. Warren examined survivors of the atomic blast and found specific symptoms associated with acute radiation. In the short term, damage was done to the bone marrow as well as the lymphoid and gastrointestinal tissue. In the long run, sterility, genetic damage, and cancer could appear. His conclusions helped set safety standards for people who work with atomic energy and radiation. In 1946, Warren was an officer of the Naval Medical Section during the atomic tests on Bikini atoll. He outlined the first program in biology and medicine for the Atomic Energy Commission (now the Department of Energy), and in 1947 was appointed the first director of its Division of Biology and Medicine. That same year, Congress funded the division with $5 million for cancer research. Eventually, the division discovered positive uses of radiation, such as the treatment of diseases with radioisotopes. Warren was director of the division until 1952. His interest in the beneficial uses of radiation prevented Warren from joining scientists who called for an end to nuclear bomb tests after World War II. He felt not only that nuclear energy had peaceful purposes but also that mankind must learn to control its dangers. The Division of Biology and Medicine developed a radiation meter that could be commercially produced at a cost between $10 and $15, compared with a $200 Geiger counter, which was then being used to detect radiation. In a public hearing on Mar. 17, 1950, Warren told the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy that "there was no ground for fears that an atomic blast would cause widespread sterility or other debilities. " As evidence, he pointed to the stable birth rate in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and claimed that there was "no unusual rate of abnormality among children born since then. " He said that penicillin and streptomycin, among other antibiotics, would serve to "eliminate so far as possible secondary effects produced by overwhelming infections. " In the same year as the public hearing, Warren claimed that radioactive tracers had allowed pathologists to revolutionize their techniques in locating diseased tissue and thus provided solutions to previously unsolved problems. For years he studied the positive effects radiation could have on cancerous tissue. In the mid-1940's, with Olive Gates, Warren developed the "cervical smear, " which is used to diagnose cancer of the cervix. From 1955 to 1963, Warren was the United States representative to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. In the last five years of his life, Warren began researching the connection between cancer and the endocrine system. He died in his family's summer home in Mashpee, Massachussets.
Recipient Ward Burdick award American Society Clinical Pathology, 1949. William Proctor award Science Research Society American, 1952. Modern Medicine award, 1953.tempSpaceBanting medal American Diabetes Association, 1953.
Charles V. Chapin medal City of Providence, 1958. Order of Southern Cross in degree of commander Brazilian government, 1961.tempSpaceAlbert Einstein medal and award, 1962. Enrico Fermi award Atomic Energy Commission, 1972.
Life trustee American Board Pathology.
Recipient Ward Burdick award American Society Clinical Pathology, 1949. William Proctor award Science Research Society American, 1952. Modern Medicine award, 1953.tempSpaceBanting medal American Diabetes Association, 1953.
Charles V. Chapin medal City of Providence, 1958. Order of Southern Cross in degree of commander Brazilian government, 1961.tempSpaceAlbert Einstein medal and award, 1962. Enrico Fermi award Atomic Energy Commission, 1972.