American pathologist

Oscar Auerbach (January 1, 1905 – January 15, 1997) was an American pathologist and medical educator who significantly helped tie cigarette smoking to cancer.

Early life and education

Auerbach was born in Manhattan, New York City. He was the first child of European Jewish immigrants, Max and Jennie Auerbach. He attended Staten Island Academy but never completed high school or college. He entered New York University based on exams, then left without a degree to enter New York Medical College, receiving his MD in 1929. He later studied pathology in Vienna, where he met his wife.

Career

Auerbach worked at Staten Island's Sea View Hospital and Halloran Hospital in the 1930s and 1940s. Beginning in 1952, he worked for the Veterans Administration, holding the title senior medical investigator at his death. He also taught medicine at New York Medical College for 12 years and New Jersey Medical School for about 30 years.

Auerbach studied the link between smoking and cancer, and was called a "tireless" researcher. His studies were cited prominently in the 1964 Surgeon General's report on smoking, taking the evidence against smoking beyond statistical studies.

A resident of the Short Hills section of Millburn, New Jersey, Auerbach died at the age of 92 on January 15, 1997, at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey.