Telfer B. Reynolds

Telfer B. Reynolds was born in Canada in 1921. He moved to Los Angeles at an early age and earned an undergraduate degree from the University of California in 1941. He got his medical degree from the University Of Southern California School Of Medicine in 1944. He completed his internship and residency at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and joined the faculty in 1950. Reynolds forged a link in hepatology between the United States and Britain. In 1952 he served as a Bank of America-Giannini Foundation Research fellow at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital in London, to study sodium metabolism in heart disease. He found Sheila Sherlock’s (1918-2001) liver unit so compelling that he specialised in liver disease. When he returned to the Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center he started a hepatology programme that became internationally famous and he became Clayton G. Loosli Professor of Medicine. His centre was one of a few in the world at the time.

Reynols was known as an astute diagnostician and demanding teacher who trained more than 100 liver specialists practicing in the United States and abroad. He has been honoured for his leadership and innovative research contributions in the field of hepatology. He was awarded a gold medal by the Canadian Liver Foundation and a distinguished achievement award by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

We thank William Savage, MD, for information submitted.