Education

In the fall of 1927, Kirsner began his premedical education at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. Despite the financial constraints of the Great Depression, Kirsner persevered. He completed his premedical education in 1929 and moved on to medical school at Tufts, a testament to his unwavering determination.

In 1933, Kirsner graduated near the top of his class with his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree, and shortly after, he began a two-year internship at Woodlawn Hospital, which was located on the south side of Chicago in Hyde Park. Originally, Kirsner was in the Allergy Unit in the General Medicine Section of the University of Chicago Medical Center, but after learning there was a lack of research opportunities within the allergy track, he began to look for another unit to study and research. He transferred to the Gastroenterology Section, which was under the direction of Dr. Walter L. Palmer. Palmer developed the Gastroenterology field in 1927 by conducting clinical studies to understand peptic ulcer pain. His work with peptic ulcers changed the way ulcers were treated and made major findings in understanding and treating inflammatory bowel disease and gastric cancer.

Kirsner heard lectures from Dr. Palmer as he interned for him and was entranced by the new field the doctor described. In 1935, Kirsner began working full-time at the University of Chicago Medical Center and, after his internship, continued working for Dr. Palmer. Kirsner’s approach to understanding and studying gastroenterology was to apply the scientific method to his research. At about the same time as starting his permanent full-time position at the University of Chicago Medical Center, he enrolled in a Ph.D. program in biology at the University of Chicago, which he completed in 1942.

Kirsner’s employment and status changed rapidly through the University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Medical Center between the 1940s-1970s. He became an associate professor in 1947, professor in 1951, Chief of Gastroenterology in 1960, and in 1971, he was named the Chief of Staff and Deputy Dean for Medical Affairs. He continued to work at the University of Chicago Medical Center even after he stepped down as Chief of Staff and worked until the age of 95, when he officially retired in September 2009.