John R. Heller Jr.
John R. Heller Jr. | |
|---|---|
Heller in 1976 | |
| Born | John Roderick Heller February 27, 1905 |
| Died | May 4, 1989 (aged 83) |
| Alma mater | Clemson University (BS) Emory University School of Medicine (MD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | National Cancer Institute Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center |
John Roderick 'Rod' Heller (February 27, 1905 – May 4, 1989) was an American physician. From 1943 to 1948 he was the director of the "Venereal Disease" section of the United States Public Health Service (PHS). He then became the director of the National Cancer Institute, and then president/chief executive officer of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Dr. Heller is best known for having been the assistant in charge of on-site medical operations in the Tuskegee syphilis study, a longitudinal clinical examination by PHS of untreated syphilis in U.S. African-American males. Very serious questions of medical ethics have been raised about this study and those involved in it.