Historical Archives

Curth is a relatively unknown giant of dermatology.This eminent pioneer, who could have easily been lost to the persecution of Nazi Germany, does not even have a Wikipedia page!We describe her numerous achievements and contributions to dermatology.She was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), one of four children to Jewish parents.Helen's childhood was traumatic.Her father died before she reached her teenage years and a brother died after drinking a bottle of lye as a child.She later lost her sister during the First World War.Having survived this, Helen graduated from medical school in 1923.She worked with Josef Jadassohn in Breslau investigating the sensitivity of syphilitic skin lesions to a dull probe.The extreme sensitivity of papular lesions of secondary syphilis to touch was later known as the Ollendorff probe sign.This clinical feature is still used as an aid to diagnosing secondary syphilis.She received honours for this thesis at the beginning of what became a brilliant academic career.In 1924 she moved to Berlin under the guidance of Professor Abraham Buschke.They described Buschke-Ollendorff syndrome (in 1928), a rare hereditary disorder of connective tissue.She met her husband Wilhelm Curth during this period.In 1931 the Curths' lives changed.Returning from work by streetcar, Wilhelm witnessed a group of uniformed men board and remove anyone of Jewish appearance.The risk to his wife and child was overwhelming and he suggested that the family leave Germany.Unfortunately, Buschke was later arrested and died in a Nazi concentration camp.The Curths moved to New York, anglicized their names and began academic careers with Columbia University.Helen Curth's main areas of interest were acanthosis nigricans (AN) and disorders of keratinization.She published seminal papers on AN in peer-reviewed journals and contributed to Fitzpatrick's Dermatology in General Medicine.She formed criteria to diagnose paraneoplastic AN; to this day, they are called Curth's criteria.In 1954, with Madge Macklin, she reported a family affected by ichthyosis hystrix, which became known as Curth-Macklin ichthyosis.This made her the first woman to have eponymous syndromes in her maiden and married names.Curth-Macklin syndrome was the first named after two female physicians.Helen worked into her 70s.Tragically, she developed Alzheimer's dementia, and on her death in 1982 she donated her brain for research.She should be an inspiration to all dermatologists, present and future. Posters H05

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