Aug 26, 2014

Via @sgvcrime Sad news A prominent doctor, pioneer in the field of environmentally caused illnesses, died last week

Kaye was the Ralph Edgington Professor of Medicine at USC and for decades the editor of the Archives of Environmental Health. 

He made many contributions, among them publishing the 1999 consensus definition Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, which he co-authored with 33 others.  He devoted much of his later years to researching MCS causes [he focused on H2S] and treatments.

He will be missed....


A prominent doctor, pioneer in the field of environmentally caused illnesses and longtime Pasadena resident died last week at age 82.Read more by  Brian Day (@sgvcrime) , at San Gabriel Valley Tribune
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/obituaries/20140816/pioneering-pasadena-doctor-kaye-h-kilburn-dies-at-age-82

Dr. Kaye H. Kilburn died Aug. 7, at a rehabilitation center from complication of a stroke he suffered July 12, said his wife of 60 years, Gerrie Kilburn.

The doctor worked throughout the nation and in London during his accomplished career. He founded his own practice, Neuro-Test Inc., in 1987 to study the effects of environmental chemicals on people and treat illnesses caused by toxic exposure, ranging from mold to asbestos to hydrogen sulfide gas. After retiring from his position as Ralph Edgington Chair of Medicine at the University of Southern California in 2006, Kilburn continued his research and cutting-edge treatments with the use of a clinical trial drug from a clinic at his Pasadena home, where he moved with his wife in 1980.

The doctor was absolutely dedicated to his patients, his wife said.

“The patients always came first,” she said.

But Kilburn also had a wide variety of other interests, including painting, Civil War history, travel and debate.

“He was a renaissance man, there was no question about it,” Gerrie Kilburn said. “He was diverse and willing to try and look at almost everything.”

Kilburn loved travelling and meeting a wide array of people, his wife said. They couple enjoyed traveling the world together.

“He had a dry sense of humor. He was very thoughtful in what he said,” Gerrie Kilburn said.

“I think he liked solving problems,” she said, adding that he often consulted with colleagues around the world to offer his expertise. Kilburn was adamant about a well-researched, fact-based approached to his science, without presumption or bias.

Kilburn has published three books, with a fourth he was working on currently being edited, and more than 250 scientific papers. During his long career, conducted a great deal of important research that still affects society today, Gerrie Kilburn said.

He conducted one of the most extensive studies into asbestos, helping to expose its danger in an industrial setting, his wife said.