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René Burnand

Born  1882
Died  1960

Related eponyms

French physician, Born June 9, 1882, Versaille; died April 29, 1960, Lausanne.

Biography of René Burnand

René Burnand was the son of the famous naturalist painter Eugène Burnand (1850-1921). He began his medical studies at Montpellier in 1900 and obtained his diploma in 1906. He was director of the Sanatorium Populaire in Leysin in the Canton of Vaud and of the Al Hayat sanatorium near Cairo. There he made important discoveries in the fight against tuberculosis.

In 1922 he became a Privat-Dozent, then part-time lecturer to the University of Lausanne where he was made professor emeritus in 1954. He was made Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1959.

For a long time Leysin lodged tuberculous of the whole world in its Sanatorium where the patients benefitted from the favourable sunning of the station. In 2006, Leysin celebrates the 50 years of a reconversion successful as a tourist resort, and while having become the host many international schools.

René Burnand, one of the great TB specialists at the time, said of contemporary chest surgeons: "they were a generation of surgeons who had only the crudest armamentarium and who in spite of a few victories had to face a terrifying percentage of defeats, but had nevertheless the courage to persevere because they had the faith in the validity as well as the promises of their therapeutic concept".

Time Magazine, Monday, May 21, 1951
Modern medical science has produced scores of wonder drugs and made enormous technical advances. Has it meanwhile been losing the human touch? Yes, says Swiss Dr. René Burnand, who believes it is high time for a return to some forgotten fundamentals.
Writes Burnand, a lung specialist, in Paris' Concours Médical: "We live under the rule of pharmacy . . . The equation
'Disease a equals drug a' not only tyrannizes the minds of the public, it haunts the practitioner, whose professional capacity is rated according to the skill with which he applies the formula. There is something still worse; mass medicine, socialized, mechanized to excess, tends to substitute an even more deceitful equation: 'Symptom b equals drug b.'
"Faced with a difficult case, too many physicians think it advisable to try a series of drugs, in the hope that a happy accident will point out the one, good, effective drug after a series of failures.
"The doctors are positively forgetting that the human organism possesses in itself the defences, a potential for cure, which they should utilize more often, with more faith. Who in our day thinks of the resources of another age—morale, the will to health, valor . . .? But these things are still powerful . . . The faith of the patient, his will to recover and to live, to recover by life and for life, are a powerful support for our prudent counsels."

Bibliography

    Non-medical works:
  • L'étonnante histoire des Girardet, artistes suisses.
    Neuchâtel, éditions de la Baconnière, 1940
    Astonishing history of Girardet, Swiss artists.
  • Eugène Burnand au pays de mireille. Editions Spes, Lausanne, 1941.
  • Silence d'une vieille maison. With illustrations by David Burnand.
    Silence of an old house. Lausanne, Ed. Librairie Payot, 1940, 1941, 1943.
  • Histoire de la dame en rose, Madame de Pont-Wullyamoz , vaudoise emigrée.
    Lausanne, F. Rouge, 1944
    [History of the lady pink, Madam of Bridge-Wullyamoz, of Vaud emigrated.]
  • Al Hayat: Sanatorium du désert.
    Lausanne, Editions de l`Eglise Nationale Vaudoise,1946. 242 pages.
    Préface d`Edouard Burnier.
  • Jeunesse de peintres : Eugène Burnand et ses amis.
    Lausanne, éditions Spes. 1949. 172 pages.
    Youth of painters: Eugene Burnand and his friends.

  • Châteaux en Bretagne. Lausanne 1955, 208 pages. Lausanne 1953, 207 pages.
  • Secret des visages. Genève : Labor et fides, 1954, 187 pages.
    Secret of the faces, Geneva, Labor and fides, 1954
  • Mes vingt-cinq albums, récit d'une vie. Lausanne, 1956. 293 pages.
  • Les Girardet au Locle et dans le monde.
    La Baconnière, Neuchatel/Edition/1957.
  • Le plus beau jour. Genève : Perret-Gentil, 1960.
    More the beautiful day. Medical works:
  • La guérison de la tuberculose pulmonaire. Paris, Baillière, 1923. Review by J.H.E. in The Canadian Medical Association Journal, August 1923, 13 (8): 624.
  • Le diagnostic en phtisiologie. Lausanne : Payoz, 1923.
  • Les syndromes d'impregnation tuberculeuse.
    Paris : Editeurs Masson et cie, 1938.
  • [Not Available.] With M. Jaccottet. Ärztliche Monatshefte für berufliche Fortbildung, Schwarzenburg, 1948, 4 (7): 589-602.
  • [Not Available.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, January 25, 1948, 68 (1): 24-38.
  • [Not Available.] Bulletin der Schweizerischen Akademie der Medizinischen Wissenschaften, Basel, June 1948, 3 (6): 402-415.
  • [Not Available.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, February 25, 1949, 69 (2): 79-88.
  • [Not Available.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, 1949 Apr;69(4):209-31.
  • [Not Available.] Bulletins et mémoires de la Société médicale des hôpitaux de Paris, April 8-29, 1949, 65 (13-14): 553.
  • [Not Available.]
    La Semaine des hôpitaux, April 22, 1949, 25 (30): 1271-1274.
  • [Not Available.]
    Praxis. Schweizerische Rundschau für Medizin, Bern, May 21, 1949, 38 (19): 433.
  • [Not Available.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, January 1950, 70 (1): 57-61.
  • [Atypical tuberculosis, a problem of major importance.]
    Archivio di tisiologia, Napoli, February 1950, 5 (2): 91-100.
  • [The cold war in pathology: a politico-medical fantasy.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, September 1950, 70 (9): 505-514.
  • [New perspectives in phthisiology.]
    Concours médical, Paris, Seprtember 9, 1950, 72 (36): 2638-2640.
  • [Not Available]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, October 1950, 70 (10): 569-574.
  • [Dogmatism in medicine.]
    Concours médical, December 9, 1950, 72 (49): 3808-3810.
  • [Incorrect use of some medical terms.]
    Concours médical, March 3, 1951, 73 (9): 769-770.
  • [Aesculapius, son of Apollo.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, April 1951, 71 (4): 193-198.
  • [Fear of life and magnificent folly.] Concours médical, April 28, 1951, 73 (17): 1563-1565.
  • [Complications of vaccination in France.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, May 1951, 71 (5): 57-64.
  • [Means of designating women physicians.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, June 1951, 71 (6): 323-326.
  • [Memory and its wonders.] Concours médical, July 21, 73 (29): 2645-2646.
  • [Medicine as an exact science.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, October 1951, 71 (10): 625-630.
  • [Not Available] La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, October 1951, 71 (10): 686-688.
  • [Coincidence and mental mechanism.]
    Concours médical, October 6, 1951, 73 (40): 3261-3262.
  • [Man's knowledge of man in the XXth century.]
    Concours médical, December 8, 1951, 73 (49): 4107-4108.
  • [Constitutional disorders and tuberculosis; tuberculous decrepitude.]
    Médecine et hygiène, Genève, January 1, 1952, 10 (209): 1-3.
  • [The practitioner facing the specialist.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, January 1952, 72 (1): 1-6.
  • [Prognosis and evolution of syndromes of tuberculous impregnation according to data on 137 cases.] Revue de la tuberculose, Paris, 1952, 16 (4-5): 312-329.
  • [Fashions in medicine.] Concours médical, February 9, 1952, 74 (6): 445-447.
  • [Not Available]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, March 1952, 73 (3): 183-185.
  • [Two cases of pulmonary abscess.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, April 1952, 72 (4): 193-204.
  • [A new antitubercular medicament: isonicotinyl hydrazine.]
    Concours médical, May 10, 1952, 74 (19): 1765-1766. English,
  • [Pulmonary cicatrices, preferred site of non-specific lung diseases.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, 1952 Jun;72(6):407-15.
  • [Introspective medicine.]
    Concours médical, June 7, 1952, 74 (23): 2085-2086.
  • [The development of technics and the concept of life.]
    Concours médical, June 21, 1952, 74 (25): 2293-2294.
  • [Semiological importance of pulmonary cicatrices in medical practice.]
    La Presse medicale, Paris, July 5, 1952, 60 (46): 1003-1004. [The physician and truth.]
    Concours médical, October 18, 1952, 74 (42): 3429-3431.
  • [Montpellier 1900 and psychosomatic syndromes.]
    Médecine et hygiène, Genève, December 15, 1952, 10 (232): 506.
  • [Three cases of chronic tuberculosis.]
    Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Tuberkulose, 1953, 10 (1): 22-32.
  • [Rage and despair.]
    Concours médical, February 21, 1953, 75 (8): 623-624. English,
  • [Neglected problems of phthisiology.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, March 25, 1953, 73 (3): 148-58.
  • [The concept of cold war in medicine.]
    Concours médical, April 18, 1953, 75 (16): 1427-1429.
  • [Dr Pierre Warnery.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, May 25, 1953, 73 (5): 373-374.
  • [Struggle against death.]
    Concours médical, June 20, 1953, 75 (25): 2235-2237.
  • [Georges Rossel.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, July 1953, 73 (7): 674-676.
  • [Neglected problems in phthisiology.] With G. Fischer.
    Concours médical, August 29, 1953, 75(35):2931-2.
  • [The patient has the floor.]
    Concours médical, October 10, 1953, 75 (41): 3335-3336.
  • [The problem of overpopulation.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, December 25, 1953, 73 (12): 993-997.
  • [The old phthisiologists and surgical excision.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, January 1954, 74 (1): 28-38.
  • [Need for synthesis.] Concours médical, February 6, 1954, 76 (6): 513-514.
  • [A bird's eye view of medicine.]
    Concours médical, March 20, 1954, 76 (12): 1155-1157.
  • [Medicine and literature.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, April 1954, 74 (4):229-236.
  • [Concerning the article of C. Albahary and Hutin de Villeroy concerning a new case of bimonthly periodic fever.]
    Bulletins et mémoires de la Société médicale des hôpitaux de Paris, May 14-21, 1954, 70 (15-16): 553-554. French.
  • [Homage to Concours Médical.]
    Concours médical, May 22, 1954, 76 (21): 2081-2082.
  • [An attempt at antituberculous prophylaxis in a psychiatric hospital.]
    With G. Schneider. Concours médical, May 22, 1954, 76 (21): 2091-2092.
  • [The present state of tuberculin therapy.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, June 1954, 74 (6): 364-370.
  • [Danger of schematization in symptomatology.]
    Concours médical, September 25, 1954, 76 (39): 3489-3490. French.
  • [Abdominal and nervous complications of pneumo peritoneum; case reports.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, 1954 Nov;74(11):674-82. French.
  • [Not Available]
    Concours médical, November 6, 1954, 76 (45): 4085-4086. French.
  • [Rising flood of medical publications.]
    Concours médical, November 27, 1954, 76 (48): 4409-4410. French.
  • [A case of tuberculotoxic impregnation followed and registered in 43 years.]
    Revue de la tuberculose, Paris,1955, 19 (4): 442-446. French.
  • [Impressions of an editor.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, January 1955, 75 (1): 23-27. French.
  • [Nameless diseases on the margin of official nosology.]
    Concours médical, February 12, 1955, 77 (7): 617-619. French.
  • [Hommage to old masters.]
    Concours médical, March 12, 1955, 77 (11): 1043-1045. French.
  • [The secret language of thermometric curves.]
    Concours médical, April 16, 1955, 77 (16): 1593-1594. French.
  • [The rise and fall of false antituberculotic drugs.]
    Concours médical, July 2, 1955, 77 (27): 2735-2736. French.
  • [Periodic febrile attacks of tuberculous origin in a six year old child.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, August 1955, 75 (8): 576-580. French.
  • [Strange case of tuberculosis hidden for more than fifty years.] French.
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, September 25, 1955, 75 (9): 634-646.

  • [What does the anatomical and pathological control of atypical tuberculosis teach us?] La Semaine des hôpitaux, November 10, 1955, 31 (66): 3487-3492.
  • [Not Available]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, November 25, 1955, 75 (11): 792-705.
  • [Five minute stop.] Concours médical, November 26, 1955, 77 (48): 4419-4420.
  • [Let us remain precise in our diagnostic terms; the danger of generalized words.]
    Concours médical, March 3, 1956, 78 (9):993-994. French.
  • [Not Available] Concours médical, Marfch 17, 1956, 78 (11): 1271-1272.
  • [Are the patients ungrateful?]
    Concours médical, 1956 Apr 28;78(17):1931-3. French.
  • [Remaining role of Bard's classification in phthisiology.]
    Revue de la tuberculose, Paris, May 1956, 20 (5): 517-527. French.
  • [Recent opinions, advances and reports on tuberculotoxic impregnation syndromes.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, September 1956, 76 (9): 912-928.
  • [Physician, heal thyself.] Concours médical, October 20, 1956, 78 (42): 4311-3.
  • [Not Available] Concours médical, November 17, 1956, 78 (46): 4799-4801.
  • [Tuberculosis, systemic disease, and sequels.] French.
    La Presse medicale, Paris, January 9, 1957, 65 (3): 41-44.
  • [The threshold of disease.] French.
    Concours médical, April 27, 1957, 79 (17): 2009-2010.
  • [Not Available] French.
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, October 1957, 77 (10): 800-810.
  • [A typical case of a chronic bacillary state.] French.
    La Semaine des hôpitaux, December 30, 1957, 33 (74): 4402-4404.
  • [Letters from patients.] Concours médical, May 3, 1958, 80 (18): 2185-2186.
  • [Not Available]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, October 1958, 78 (10): 666-668.
  • [Is health the most important possession.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, January 1959, 79 (1): 53-56. French.
  • [How do you feel.] Concours médical, February 21, 1959, 81 (8): 761-762.
  • [Not Available]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, April 1959, 79 (4): 208-218.
  • [Apropos of 4 cases of toxi-tuberculous impregnation observed for over 40 years.] Revue de tuberculose et de pneumologie, Paris, August-September 1959, 23:874-882.
  • [The physician before the miracle.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, August 1959, 79: 583-587. French.
  • [Is imagination in medicine forbidden or legitimate?]
    Concours médical, September 12, 1959, 81: 3815-3816. French.
  • [Man in the face of death.]
    Concours médical, October 3, 1959, 81: 4113-4118. French.
  • [Interview with a representative.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, November 1959 , 79: 776-779. French.
  • [Man facing death.] Concours médical, November 7, 1959, 81: 4771-4773.
  • [Syndromes of toxi-tuberculous impregnation marked early or late by an episode of overt tuberculosis.]
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, Lausanne, October 1960, 80:782-5. Biographical etc:
  • F. Cardis:
    [René Burnand]
    Revue de tuberculose et de pneumologie, Paris, May-June 1960, 24: 694-696.
  • R. Amsler:
    [René Burnand, our friend]
    Concours médical, Paris, June 25, 1960, 82: 3289-3290.
  • P. Gautier, G. Favez:
    René Burnand (1882-1960).
    La Revue médicale de la Suisse Romande, Lausanne, June 1960, 80: 441-446.
  • A.P. Naef:
    The mid-century revolution in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery: Part 1.
    Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surger, 2003, 2:219-226.

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