Dr. Stanley Dudrick, a Nanticoke native who went on to become one of the most influential physicians in the world, has died. He was 84.
Dudrick invented the intravenous feeding method known as total parenteral nutrition — credited with saving millions of lives — as a young doctor. He later taught at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in Scranton.
He died over the weekend at his home in Eaton, New Hampshire, following an illness, according to his cousin Jack Dudrick of Nanticoke.
“When you were in his presence, you felt like you were in the presence of greatness,” Jack Dudrick said Sunday.
Legacy
Known as the “father of intravenous feeding,” Dudrick is constantly ranked among the most influential doctors in world history for his pioneering work, which he unveiled in July 1967 at age 32.
Dudrick invented TPN while a surgical resident at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia.
Colleagues have said Dudrick’s contribution to medicine ranks in importance with the development of open heart surgery and organ transplantation.
In a 2017 article describing Dudrick’s place among the 50 most influential doctors in history, Dr. Robert Jarrett wrote: “Before Dr. Dudrick’s work there were many infants and children who we had to watch literally starve to death because something was preventing their bowels from absorbing nutrition.”
Dudrick believed in his work so much he decided not to patent it — which might have made him a billionaire.
“Like Jonas Salk, (the inventor of the polio vaccine), he didn’t patent anything,” Jack Dudrick said. “He said he created over 200 millionaires because of his invention.”
Coming home
Dudrick became a professor of surgery at Penn. He helped launch the surgery department of the University of Texas Medical School and became chief of surgery at the university’s hospital. He was named chairman of the surgery department at Pennsylvania Hospital, the oldest in the nation. Later, he was tapped as surgery department chairman at the Yale University School of Medicine.
But Dudrick always longed to come back home. And in 2011, he did.
Dudrick became director of the physician assistant program at Misericordia University and was hired as a professor of surgery at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.
A descendant of Nanticoke coal miners, Dudrick never forgot his roots. He grew up in a double-block home his father built on West Union Street.
“He was very proud of being from Nanticoke,” Jack Dudrick said. “We were obviously thrilled every time he came back to Nanticoke. Everyone would make sure they made it a point to see him.”
In July 2017, to mark the 50th anniversary of Dudrick’s life-saving invention, Nanticoke officials recognized a “Dr. Dudrick Day” in the city and unveiled a historical marker outside his childhood home.
Tributes
Dudrick inspired his students, said Ida Castro, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine’s vice president of community engagement.
“Even though he might have been ill, he might have been weak, he would come and dedicate so many hours to their development and nurture their curiosity,” she said.
Alan Goldstein, a Clarks Summit real estate developer, met Dudrick at the medical school, where Goldstein was a volunteer and donor.
They became fast friends.
“Stan was known throughout the world,” Goldstein said. “He developed procedures all the doctors said could not be developed.”
Goldstein described Dudrick as humble.
“You would think he was a regular guy off the street,” Goldstein said. “He was never impressed with himself. He was down to earth. His death is a loss to the whole world.”
State Sen. John Yudichak, I-14, Plymouth Twp., praised Dudrick for the millions of lives he saved.
“Few in the annals of medical history have contributed more to the preservation of life through research and medical advancements than Dr. Dudrick,” Yudichak said.
Nanticoke City Manager Donna Wall said she was “deeply saddened” to hear of Dudrick’s death.
“He was a very special, humble man who never forgot his roots in Nanticoke,” Wall said. “I feel fortunate to have known him. He surely will be missed.”
ERIC MARK and JON O’CONNELL, staff writers, contributed to this report.
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bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com
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