Paul Nugent Johnstone (1900-1973) Papers (KC138)

Paul Nugent Johnstone was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1900.  He received an A.B. from the University of Missouri in 1922 and an M.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1926.  After his internship and residency, Johnstone returned to Kansas City in 1928 and commenced practicing medicine with a specialization in surgery.  While practicing medicine, he held concurrent positions as assistant instructor of surgery at the University of Kansas Medical Center from 1929-1948 and as professor of vertebrate anatomy at the University of Missouri-Kansas City from 1964-1972.

Johnstone commenced research about 1950 on the reasons for kidney failure.  He, along with eight other Kansas City men, devised an artificial heart-lung machine with which they conducted experiments to determine the nature of kidney failure and to observe the effect of certain medication, especially papaverine hydrochloride, on malfunctioning kidneys.

The research results were initially published in the journal of the American Medical Association in 1956 and received wide acclaim.  Further study followed along with additional publications.

When Dr. Johnstone's article, "Studies in the Etiology and Treatment of Acute Renal Failure," appeared in 1956, he began gathering news clippings, correspondence and other material related to its publication and the professional reaction to his findings.  He continued to place correspondence and other materials related to his work into a scrapbook through 1967.  This collection is the contents of that scrapbook.  1956-1964.

15 folders.

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updated: Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Kansas City
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