Frank B. Polk
Photo courtesy of the Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives
Frank Polk was a professor at the Johns Hopkins University from 1982 up until his death from a brain tumor in October, 1988 at the age of 46. He taught in the School of Hygiene and Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology. He also held a joint appointment in the School of Medicine, in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics and the Department of Medicine. During his six years at Johns Hopkins, Polk became a leader of early efforts to understand and treat AIDS.
The B. Frank Polk collection comprises 25 boxes, 31 cubic feet of material. Papers are dated 1972-1990, with the bulk of the materials dated 1982-1989. Of particular note in this collection is Polk’s AIDS research files. These papers document efforts at the Johns Hopkins Hospital to prioritize AIDS research and provide treatment to AIDS patients at the very beginning of the disease’s appearance, a time of uncertainty and fear about contagion. They include correspondence with leaders and researchers from the School of Hygiene and Public Health, the School of Medicine, and the Hospital, as well as colleagues at other research institutions. The collection documents Polk’s establishment of an outpatient clinic at the Hopkins Hospital in 1984, the first AIDS clinic in Maryland, as well as the initiation of an inpatient AIDS unit, the 3rd in the country in 1986. Documents, such as John Bartlett’s paper, “AIDS Diagnostic Evaluation Unit,” provide detailed descriptions of the history, approach, services, personnel, and challenges of treating AIDS patients during these years.
In 1983 Polk designed and conducted a study of the natural history of the disease among gay and bisexual men. The composition of the study included representatives from national, state, and city organizations, including the Baltimore City Medical Society, The Baltimore City Health Department, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the American Red Cross, the Center for Disease Control, the Gay Community Center of Baltimore, the Drug Abuse Directorate, and the Hemophilia Foundation. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, within the NIH, selected Polk’s project to be part of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS), a longitudinal study of the natural history of HIV infection. MACS, which is still ongoing, includes sites in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.
The collection includes records pertaining to MACS and SHARE, the Study to Help the AIDS Research Effort, which became the Baltimore arm of MACS. Among other things, these files document efforts by Polk as the principle investigator of SHARE to incorporate members of the gay community of Baltimore into the SHARE Advisory Council. In 1987, the Johns Hopkins Department of Epidemiology was awarded a contract to be the Center for the Analysis and Management of the MACS study data (CAMACS); and the collection includes CAMACS files. Materials also document research on AIDS related illnesses, including an examination of seropositive patients for neuropsychiatric manifestations of HIV infection.
Polk conducted early studies of experimental AIDS drugs including antiretroviral drugs such as AZT. He sought to identify how the disease was transmitted, conducting studies of prisoners, Intravenous drug users, and vertical (mother-to-child) transmission.
Polk was a patient advocate concerned about the threat of social stigma for AIDS patients and study volunteers. He closely tracked media releases and initiated correspondence with department heads concerning patient confidentiality and the treatment of gay employees and patients at the Johns Hopkins University. Polk worked with state agencies to promote AIDS education and encouraged public officials to keep schools open to AIDS patients.
Polk’s collection also contains his files from the department of Epidemiology; his Obstetrics and Gynecology subject files; records pertaining to his extensive involvement as a committee member and consultant in external professional societies and governmental task forces; and a set of his reprints, comprising over 100 co-authored articles.
For more on this project, please visit the Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.