Pierre-Émile Launois

Who was Pierre-Émile Launois?

Pierre-Émile Launois was a French physician born in Moiremont, a commune in the department of Marne.

He studied in Reims and Paris, where in 1885 he earned his medical doctorate. He became médecin des hôpitaux in 1895, and professeur agrégé of histology in 1898. Afterwards he worked at the Hôpital Lariboisière.

Launois published several articles in the field of histology, but is primarily known for his studies involving the pituitary gland. His name is lent to "Launois' syndrome", which is also referred to as pituitary gigantism. In 1910, with M. Cléret, he described "syndrome hypophysaire adiposo-génital", known today as adiposogenital dystrophy, a disorder associated with an adenohypophysial tumour or lesions of the hypothalamus.

With Raoul Bensaude, he described multiple symmetrical lipomatosis, a disease sometimes known as "Launois-Bensaude syndrome".