Lester Breslow

Who was Lester Breslow?

Lester Breslow was an American physician who promoted public health. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota, which is also where he received his MD and MPH. Breslow served in the United States Army during World War II, and when he returned took a position with the California State Department of Public Health.

While in medical school he was studying to be a psychiatrist, and as a junior he worked for a summer in the Fergus Falls Minnesota State Hospital for the Insane. His experience there left him discouraged once he realized that in that time, there was not much they could do for those patients except keep them out of harm's way. When he returned to medical school for his senior year he told a friend on his, also a faculty member, about his feelings and was introduced to a new professor of public health, Gaylord Anderson. Anderson was the one that got Breslow set on a career in epidemiology. Breslow was considered an exemplary doctor as well as a genuinely good person.