Published August 9, 2011 This content is archived.
More than 150 years have elapsed since endometriosis was discovered and described. Yet, until now, no scholarly history has ever been written about the disease, which affects millions of women worldwide.
This summer Springer Publishing released “A History of Endometriosis” by Ronald E. Batt, MD ’58, PhD, professor in the Department of Gynecology-Obstetrics.
In the book, Batt provides a detailed account of the progress made in identifying and treating the once enigmatic condition from its discovery in 1860 by Austrian physician Carl Rokitansky through World War II.
The back cover describes Batt’s task as “daunting” and states that the book “provides a stunning chronological and biographical history of endometriosis.”
An expert in infertility and reproductive endocrinology, Batt also is a noted historian of medicine in Buffalo and Western New York.
He is writing a historical essay on the life and research of Kornel Ludwig Terplan, MD, professor of pathology at UB from 1933 to 1960.
In addition, he is researching a new book on the history of endometriosis from World War II to the present.