Abstract
Prof. Leslie De Groot.
Leslie J. De Groot, regarded by the Endocrine Society as one of the “founders of modern thyroidology,” died at his home on October 3, 2018, only one month after his 90th birthday.
In 1944, he entered Union College, in Schenectady, New York, majoring in science and graduating at the early age of 20. He was offered a scholarship at Columbia University in New York City where he obtained his MD degree, and he did his residency at New York–Presbyterian Hospital. He served in the Public Health Service at the National Institutes of Health where he worked with Dr. Monte Greer who incited the interest in the thyroid in him. After completing a year as a volunteer medical missionary in Afghanistan, he returned to the United States to become a research fellow in the laboratory of Dr. John B. Stanbury at the Massachusetts General Hospital, later moving with him to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as associate professor of experimental medicine.
In 1968, at the age of 40, he was recruited by the University of Chicago as full professor. This provided the opportunity to set up a program of his own making by assuming the leadership of the medical center's Thyroid Study Unit. Indeed, over the ensuing 36 years, he built the unit to internationally renowned status.
In 2005, Les De Groot took semi-retirement from the University of Chicago to become a faculty member at Brown University where he continued to study thyroid disease in the laboratory run by his daughter Dr. Anne De Groot. In 2008, both he and his daughter transferred to the University of Rhode Island where, at the age of 80, he became a founding member of the Institute for Immunology and Informatics in downtown Providence.
His research accomplishments include the initial purification of thyroid peroxidase, subsequently identifying it as the typical antigen in thyroid autoimmunity, and the identification of the CTLA-4 gene as a common contributor to many human autoimmune diseases. His interest in thyroid hormone action led to the identification of the thyroid hormone receptor alpha2. He instituted recall programs for individuals receiving thyroid irradiation in childhood, developed an adenoviral vector for therapy of medullary thyroid cancer, and performed numerous studies on the therapy of thyroid cancer. His research interests centered on viral-mediated gene therapy for thyroid cancer and genetic mechanisms promoting autoimmune thyroid disease. Later, studies pinpointed the role of specific acidic amino acids in determining the importance of T-cell epitopes of the thyrotropin receptor, the role of regulatory T cells in Graves' disease, and methods for augmenting function and number of regulatory T cells. As a practicing thyroidologist for several decades, the final goal in his research was to utilize the information gleaned from his research to develop methods to combat autoimmune thyroid disease in patients.
Dr. De Groot published 455 papers and edited six editions of Endocrinology, which expanded over 30 years as a highly respected three-volume textbook. His role as educator was attested to in 2004 by the Endocrine Society's Outstanding Educator award, and continued with his creation of two web-based books. Until six months prior to his death, he edited and published
Leslie De Groot is survived by his wife of 63 years, their five children—Katherine De Groot of Fort Edward, NY; Dr. Anne De Groot of Providence, RI; Elyse De Groot of Falmouth, MA; Dr. Henry De Groot of Newton, MA, and Key West, FL; and Jessica De Groot of Philadelphia, PA—plus 11 grandchildren.
Les was an integral part of my life for more than 50 years, from our first meeting at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1966 to our last telephone conversation five days before he died. We worked beside one another for 36 years at the University of Chicago, sharing space and ideas, and socialization with our families and our respective fellows and their families. The Thyroid Study Unit dinners, picnics, apple pickings, smelting, and skiing events were an important part of our extended families for decades. In 1968, three years after we first met, Les moved to Chicago with his family. The following year, he persuaded a reluctant Richard Landau, then Head of Endocrinology, to recruit a young doctor/researcher, very foreign in demeanor and speech, to join the newly established Thyroid Study Unit at the University of Chicago, thus continuing our collaboration and friendship. Les was a man of strong convictions but incessantly fair. As head of endocrinology, he strictly abided by the majority vote of section members, even when it contradicted his own wishes—something unheard of in recent or times passed. In research, he was “a man for all seasons,” delving in all areas of thyroid physiology and diseases.
Helen and Leslie De Groot, 2014.
In his leisure, he sailed, made wine, and enjoyed the company of his worldwide network of professional friends and fellows. Dinner-table discussion was an art form in the De Groot household and will be a lasting memory for many of us reading this and those around the world who have had the benefit of Helen and Les as hosts and friends. Today, the world is a lesser place with Les no longer part of it. His mix of intrinsic honesty, decency, and professionalism is of a past era.
Samuel Refetoff, MD
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
E-mail:
After my return to Europe, we remained in close contact by mail and discussions at meetings or visits. Through these contacts, we pursued a scientific dialogue over the years. Les was very critical, stubbornly “Dutch,” but open-minded and friendly. We always had lively discussions on science, clinics, general subjects, and politics. On the latter, he was a Republican (but never Trumpian!), with his wife and myself on the opposing side!
His immense contributions to thyroid research were scientific, clinical, and educational:
Scientific: Les always combined fundamental and clinical research, applying the concepts of the first to the latter and bringing back questions. A first focus was the biochemistry of iodination and synthesis of thyroid hormones. This work was the biochemical basis of our cloning of the genes encoding thyroperoxidase (TPO) and the dual oxidases (DUOX1 and DUOX2). Later, he contributed significantly to the field of thyroid hormone action and the triiodothyronine receptors, the effects of iodide on the thyroid, and autoimmunity and inflammation, among others.
Clinical: During his career, Les studied thyroid dysfunction, thyroid carcinomas, and autoimmune disorders. He published widely on these subjects and contributed much to establish consensus statements, guidelines, and congresses.
Educational: Over the years, Les trained quite a few of the leaders of thyroid research, including personalities such as Aldo Pinchera, Juan Bernal, Furio Pacini, Stefano Mariotti, Kiyoshi Hashizume, Basil Rapoport, and many South American clinicians. However, his major educational contributions for which he will be remembered for a long time are his editing of endocrinology and thyroid textbooks, including the online text Thyroid Disease Manager (TDM). For all the textbooks he edited, Les would read and correct all manuscripts, arguing with the author(s) when he considered it necessary! I hope TDM will survive him. It is a freely available textbook for both professionals and the general public. It is very detailed, updated regularly, and unconstrained by restrictions on bibliography, figures, and tables. This will keep the well deserved Les De Groot reputation alive for a long time!
I do miss him.
Jacques E. Dumont
Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en Biologie Humaine et moléculaire
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Bruxelles, Belgium
E-mail:
I had the privilege of knowing Les for more than 40 years but grew to appreciate him increasingly following my recruitment to TDM as a co-author. The annual dinner meetings of TDM were friendly, sometimes raucous, but with serious periods as well. They were always characterized by good food (sometimes provided from Leslie's farm) and excellent wine. Les called us to order and conducted the business with decorum. TDM was one of his passions and educational achievements, and it should adapt and continue in his memory.
Leslie and Helen De Groot surrounded by their family on the occasion of Leslie's 85th birthday, 2013.
Leslie and Helen De Groot.
Les will be sorely missed as a clinician, scientist, and educator but most of all as a friend and a marvelous human being.
John H Lazarus, MD, FRCP
Past Secretary-Treasurer, European Thyroid Association
Cardiff, United Kingdom
E-mail:
To my great teacher Prof. Leslie J. De Groot
I am deeply saddened by Prof. De Groot's passing. He was my great teacher for thyroid research. I studied thyroidology in the Thyroid Study Unit at the University of Chicago from 1971 to 1973. During my stay in Chicago, he taught me how to undertake thyroid research. I was very happy to join the study on thyroid cancer immunotherapy. After active immunization, lung metastasis disappeared in one patient. This was a really exciting experience. Prof. De Groot was a very open-minded person, and I learnt not only many facets of thyroid research but also many lessons on life. After returning to Osaka from Chicago, I decided to continue thyroid research. Around that time, I experienced one case of postpartum transient hypothyroidism. I wrote a letter to Prof. De Groot about this case. Immediately, he replied and said that I had found “something great.” He encouraged me to continue research on postpartum dysfunction, even though it transpired that this particular patient had a transient problem. As a result, I was successful in clarifying the nature of postpartum thyroiditis and dysfunction. Prof. De Groot also gave me the chance to contribute chapters to the online medical textbooks for endocrinology, EndoText and TDM, as well as for the well-known textbook Endocrinology. In 2002, he asked me to join the task force writing the Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline on thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy and postpartum, which were published in 2007 and 2012. Without the help and encouragement of Dr. De Groot, I would not have been successful in becoming an international thyroid researcher. Moreover, I take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to Helen for her support in making our life in Chicago so pleasant.
Banners of the online textbooks Thyroid Disease Manager and Endotext.
May Prof. De Groot rest in peace!
Nobuyuki Amino, MD, PhD
Amino Thyroid Research Laboratory
Osaka, Japan
E-mail:
He wrote an authoritative text, The Thyroid and its Diseases, and later published Endocrinology, a comprehensive three-volume textbook, now in its seventh edition and a standard in the field. While he achieved the publication of more than 400 articles, reviews, and chapters, arguably his most important impact involved the development of free online textbooks. Restless at the age of 85, he retired and became Professor Emeritus from the University of Chicago. He continued to be active in research in the laboratory run by his daughter Annie De Groot, but now with the desired time to fulfill his dream of supplying electronic texts (Endotext and TDM) to distribute free, updated, and reliable information to the world, especially to developing countries. He would say that this was his legacy. In his heart and mind, knowledge had to be disseminated and accessible to all. His ongoing efforts to entice renowned leaders in the field of thyroid (TDM) and general endocrinology (Endotext) to contribute to this endeavor were amazing, while he managed the textbooks at home, single-handedly, working endlessly. Those who have collaborated with him on these projects appreciated his passion and dedication, and he was personally running the display booth promoting his online textbooks at every Endocrine Society and American Thyroid Association meeting, often accompanied by the love of his life, Helen. There he would remind his eternal fellows to be ambassadors of the online texts, would remind authors of the urgent need for updates, and embrace the diversity of physicians who would stop by his booth for a picture or scientific advice. Not only was he a role model for the scientific community, but as a mentor, he also had a special talent to change the course of people's lives for the better.
He changed my life, and I am one of many others who were fortunate to “become crew members on his boat.” The number of leaders in endocrinology on all five continents who were trained by Les De Groot is a testament to his mentorship. We feel lucky not only to have been under his scientific umbrella and guidance, but also for his continuous friendship and care. We would start as “fellows” of Dr. De Groot and soon become dear friends of Les and of his wonderful family.
Les De Groot led by discussion and example, faithful to his beliefs. Above all, he loved being with his family or at a gathering of friends, especially at Nonquitt, MA. There, he shared his love of sailing with his children and racing crew, experimented with winemaking, contributed to local nonprofit organizations, and spent many lively hours at the dinner table, debating politics with his children and then his grandchildren. The Restless was the name of his boat that he loved to sail on Buzzards Bay. However, “restless” is how we will always remember this charismatic and generous leader, husband to Helen, father to Katie, Annie, Elyse, Henry, and Jessica, a dear grandfather of 11 grandchildren, and mentor to a diaspora of endocrinology fellows and an uncountable number of friends. Here was a man that rest-Les-sly contributed to change the course of science and of many lives of both physicians and patients around the world. He will continue to welcome us every time we check into TDM and Endotext online. Those superb collaborative online textbooks are a wonderful representation of his life's work. Every time we sign in to Endotext or TDM, we are reminded that these are “The best clinical endocrinology sources in the world, and FREE”—in capital letters!
Valéria Guimarães, MD, PhD, FACE
Thyroid Study Unit, University of Chicago (1991–1995)
Brasilia, Brazil
E-mail:
Mario A. Pisarev, MD
E-mail:
J. Larry Jameson
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
E-mail:
