Lotte Strauss
Lotte Strauss was a female Jewish pathologist born in Germany in 1913, and at just 20 years old, she was forced to flee to Italy, and later to the US, to escape persecution. Dr. Strauss was a pioneer in perinatal and pediatric pathology, with her most well-recognized discovery being that of Churg-Strauss syndrome, now known as Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis. This syndrome is an autoimmune disorder that results in inflammation of blood vessels and seems to begin in the respiratory system. Dr. Strauss, along with her colleague Dr. Jacob Churg, first described this disease based on a case series of 13 patients with a pattern of severe asthma, fever, blood eosinophilia, and autopsy evidence of granulomatous necrotizing vasculitis. Another area of her research was fetal development pathology. Dr. Strauss’s professional history includes working at Mount Sinai Hospital, Lebanon Hospital, and Columbia University, as well as being a founding member of the Society for Pediatric Pathology.
-Sarah
