Jerome L. Schulman
Dr. Jerome L. Schulman, a professor emeritus at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and a pioneering virologist in influenza research, died at his New York City home last Thursday at the age of 89. Death was attributed to advanced cardiac disease; he had been ill for several years.
Born in Brooklyn on Oct. 15, 1927, to Meier Schulman and the former Shirley Strominger, the future virologist graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School as his class valedictorian. At Brown University, where he graduated in 1948, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa; four years later he graduated from New York University’s Medical College.
His internship and residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis was interrupted by two years, 1953 to 1955, as a captain in the Army. He served in Germany and in Austria, near Salzburg, which was an ideal post for a music lover. He attended many festivals.
After completing a residency in internal medicine at Columbia University in 1956, Dr. Schulman took additional training at Cornell University Medical College, where he eventually became an associate professor in the department of public health. During that time he also lived in the Dominican Republic, conducting scientific studies.
Dr. Schulman and his wife, the noted poet Grace Schulman, who survives, met in 1957 — she was playing a guitar in Washington Square Park at the time — and married two years later. The couple were longtime residents of Springs.
Dr. Schulman was torn between practicing medicine as an internist and doing research in virology, said his wife, but finally chose the latter. He was one of the first faculty members at Mount Sinai, serving from 1968 until he retired in 2005, and was also among the first to pinpoint the characteristics of the Hong Kong virus of 1968, by differentiating it from other prevalent Asian viruses. The Hong Kong strain had killed an estimated one million people worldwide.
For many years, Dr. Schulman maintained an active laboratory, with funding from the National Institutes of Health enabling his work on the biochemistry and pathogenicity of influenza viruses. A significant achievement, his colleagues at Mount Sinai said, was the creation of what became the most widely used animal model for several types of influenza viruses. He also pioneered studies on how mice and humans react to the virus.
“Much of the influenza virus work being done at Mount Sinai and around the world builds upon his earlier findings,” Dr. Peter Palese, a Mount Sinai professor and chair of its Department of Microbiology, wrote in a notice to the hospital community.
Dr. Schulman’s wife is his only survivor. A brother, Dr. Edward Schulman, predeceased him.
He was cremated, and his ashes will be spread over Gardiner’s Bay off Gerard Park and Louse Point in Springs, and at Washington Square Park.