Peter Elsbach M.D. Ph.D.

Peter Elsbach, M.D., PhD., Professor Emeritus of Medicine, died peacefully at home on May 10, 2020 at the age of 95. Dr. Elsbach served on the faculty of NYU for more than 40 years as a teacher and mentor to medical students and prospective PhD. students during his long tenure.

Dr. Elsbach spent his early and adolescent years in the Dutch colonies in Indonesia and was imprisoned by the Japanese during WWII on the island of Java. After the war he returned to the Netherlands and received his M.D. at the University of Amsterdam in 1950, and subsequently received his PhD from the University of Leiden. Dr. Elsbach came to the United States in 1953 as an Assistant Resident and then Chief Resident in Internal Medicine at Bellevue Hospital in New York in the NYU division under Dr. William Tillet. In 1956, he accepted a position at the Rockefeller Institute/University as an Assistant Research Physician, returning to NYUSM in 1959.

Throughout his career Dr. Elsbach and his research group studied host-microbe interactions, focusing on the role of granulocytes in antibacterial host-defenses. Most prominent in this effort was the discovery of the Bactericidal/Permeability Increasing protein (BPI). Studies on the BPI led to its licensing by NYU to the Xoma Corporation where it was cloned for potential therapeutic uses, among others, in fulminant meningococcemia and acute hemorrhagic trauma. The studies in Dr. Elsbach's Lab helped stimulate the broader concept of developing 'endogenous antibiotics' as therapeutic agents when endogenous defenses were not sufficient.

Dr. Elsbach was a member of the ASCI, AAP and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. He was a recipient of an NIH Merit Award and a Faculty Scholar Award from the Josiah Macy Foundation. He received his PhD from the University of Leiden (The Netherlands) in 1964. In 1993 he received an honorary Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Lund, in Sweden.

Dr. Elsbach left an indelible imprint as a scientist and mentor for all those who knew him. Peter is survived by his wife, Patricia (Mosberg) Elsbach, of 61 years, his sons Jan Kees (Kim Elsbach) and Bart (Janet Reich Elsbach), four grandchildren (Hazel, Racha, Pearl, and Asher) and a brother Jan Tromp, M.D. of the Netherlands.

A memorial is being planned for early summer. Donations can be sent to: International Rescue Committee, Doctors Without Borders or Construct - Gt. Barrington, MA, 01230.