Joseph Goldberger, a medical epidemiologist employed by the United States’ Public Health Service, had observed that while inmates of total institutions, such as asylums and prisons, had high rates of pellagra, the custodial staff did not. This implied to Goldberger that pellagra was not contagious. He, in fact, correctly attributed this disease to a dietary deficiency, which could be prevented with a diet of meat, fresh vegetables, and milk. Goldberger died in 1929, and it was only in 1937 that the specific deficiency was isolated – a deficiency in niacin, a member of the Vitamin B family. Nevertheless, prevention of pellagra did not have to await this very specific discovery. Goldberger’s War, an historical biography published in 2003, recounts the remarkable life of a true hero in epidemiology and American history.

In the course of his vigorous and rigorous pursuit of disease understanding, Goldberger became afflicted with three potentially life-threatening communicable diseases; typhus fever, yellow fever, and dengue fever. A noncommunicable disease, cancer, aggressively and prematurely ended his life.