E.M. Papper, M.D.*

E.M. PAPPER, M.D.

The close of the Annual Meeting in Las Vegas marked the beginning of a new year for ASA,
under the guidance of E.M. Papper, M.D.

Dr. Papper was formally installed as 1968 President of the American Society of
Anesthesiologists, Oct. 3, at the final session of the House of Delegates at the Sahara Hotel.

Since 1949, Dr. Papper has been Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at
Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. His new role as ASA President brings
another honor to a distinguished career.

Dr. Papper received his A.B. Degree from Columbia University in 1935 at the age of 20. The
previous year he had been elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He then entered New York University
Medical School, where he was granted an M.D., in 1938. He interned at Bellevue Hospital in
New York, and completed a two-year residency there under the pioneer anesthesiologist, E.A.
Rovenstine. From 1939-1940, Dr. Papper was a research fellow in physiology under Dr. Homer
Smith.

Appointed instructor in anesthesiology at New York University, Dr. Papper’s stay was cut short
by World War II. He was called to active duty as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army
Medical Corps, and remained in service until 1946, attaining the rank of major before his
discharge. He then assumed his teaching post at NYU until1949, when he was appointed to his
present position at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.

An active member of many medical and scientific societies, Dr. Papper has served in many
positions of leadership. For example, he was general chairman of the New York Postgraduate
Assembly from 1951 to 1953; co-founder and first president of the Association of University
Anesthetists in 1954; general chairman of ASA’s 1960 Annual Meeting; chairman of the
section on anesthesiology and resuscitation of the New York Academy of Medicine in 1961-62;
President of the American Board of Anesthesiology in 1964 to 1965; and delegate to the World
Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists. He served as ASA’s Second Vice President in
1961 and First Vice President in 1966.

He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology and a Fellow of the American
College of Anesthesiologists. He is also a Diplomate of the Pan American Medical Association,
Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in England, and corresponding member of the
Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.

Dr. Papper has lectured widely in this country, in South America, and Europe. He is also one of
the most prolific writers in the specialty, having authored or co-authored five books and 170
scientific papers. His deep interest and many accomplishments in anesthesiology have led to
service as consultant to many government and military organizations, among them the U.S.
Army, Navy, and Air Force, and the National Institutes of Health. In 1964 he was appointed to
the President’s Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke.

ASA Newsletter. 1967;31(11).