David Cardús

Spanish-born physician

• Born: August 6, 1922
• Birthplace: Barcelona, Spain
• Died: June 2, 2003
• Place of death: Houston, Texas

Trained in cardiology, Cardús combined his medical expertise with knowledge of computers and mathematics in order to advance the field of sports medicine by studying the effects of physical exercise on the body. He was one of the physicians who monitored astronauts in the first U.S. space mission.

Early Life

David Cardús y Pascual (DAY-vihd kahr-DUHS ee pahs-KUHL) was born to Jaume and Ferranda Pascual Cardús. His mother died when he was only eleven years old. Cardús went to secondary school at the Institut-Escola de la Generalitat de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, in 1938. Because of the Spanish Civil War, he had to travel back and forth from Spain to France in order to complete his higher education. He earned both B.A. and B.S. degrees from the University of Montpellier in France in 1942.

Cardús returned to Spain to serve in the army for four years and then to attend medical school at the University of Barcelona. He completed his internship through the University of Barcelona’s Hospital Clinico and performed his respiratory disease residency at the Barcelona Sanatorio del Puig d’Olena. Following this training, Cardús received funding from the French government for a two-year cardiology fellowship in Paris. At the end of the fellowship, Cardús once again returned to Spain, where in 1956 he earned a postgraduate cardiology degree at the University of Barcelona’s School of Cardiology. He received a second fellowship at the Royal Infirmary at the University of Manchester, England.

Life’s Work

Cardús moved to the United States after completion of his fellowships. From 1957 to 1960, he was a research associate at the Lovelace Foundation, an organization based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that assessed astronauts’ physical preparedness for flight. Cardús began working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958. Through both NASA and Lovelace, Cardús helped select the first astronauts for the space program by providing medical evaluations. He additionally assisted in the health monitoring of the first seven astronauts in space during Project Mercury.

After leaving the Lovelace Foundation, Cardús accepted a teaching position at Baylor College of Medicine’s Institute for Rehabilitation and Research in Houston, Texas. He began as a lecturer for the Physiology and Rehabilitation Departments and would eventually become professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, remaining at the college from 1960 to 1999. He also was appointed head of the Department of Biomathematics, a field that applies mathematical principles to the understanding of biological functions, and he ran the exercise and cardiopulmonary laboratories. While at Baylor College, Cardús’s research focused on advances in computer technology and mathematical programs in physical rehabilitation. He recorded respiratory data through digitalized computer programs rather than through hand calculations.

Cardús earned a doctorate in mathematics for life scientists from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1966. He lectured at Rice University in Houston, Texas, through the Department of Statistics and Mathematical Science and as an adjunct professor of physiology from 1970 to1988. Cardús also served as a planning consultant for the United States Public Health Service, and in this position he helped to design and construct health facilities.

In the 1990’s, he was involved in a joint effort with NASA and the Texas Medical Center at Baylor College, in which his team developed a spinning centrifuge to simulate gravity. Although the spinning centrifuge was originally created to test the effects of space on an astronaut’s muscles, such as the heart, Cardús used this invention to study other patient populations, such as those with spinal cord or cardiovascular injuries. He found that this centrifuge improved the sitting and standing tolerance of these patients.

Cardús’s awards and honors include a gold medal from the United States International Congress of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (1972), the Elizabeth and Sidney Licht Award for Excellence in Scientific Writing (1981), the Narcis Monturiol Medal for scientific and technical merit (1984), and an honorary doctorate from the University of Barcelona (1993). He published numerous peer-reviewed scientific journal articles, edited the book Rehabilitation in Ischemic Heart Disease (1983), and wrote the introduction to A Hispanic Look at the Bicentennial (1976). Cardús was an active member of professional and cultural societies in both the United States and Spain, serving as vice chair of the Gordon Conference on Biomathematics (1970), president of the International Society for Gravitational Physiology (1993), president of Spanish Professionals in America, and chairman of the board of the Institute of Hispanic Culture. In 1970, he founded the American Institute for Catalan Studies (1979).

Cardús married Francesca Ribas in 1951, and the couple had four children. Cardús became an American citizen in 1969. He died of a stroke on June 2, 2003, at the age of eighty, and his ashes were scattered in the Mediterranean Sea after an official Catalonian ceremony.

Significance

Cardús had the foresight to integrate computer technology and mathematical programs into medical care decades before the field of telemedicine gained popularity. His groundbreaking work with NASA laid the foundation for an understanding of the physical effects of space on the human body. Although he became an American citizen, Cardús continued to advocate for the Catalonian community both from a cultural and educational perspective. His research was based in the United States, but he was involved with the Spanish community by using computer technology to collect and share data for experiments between Spain and America. Likewise, he created the American Institute for Catalan Studies aimed at educating American citizens about the importance of Catalan culture.

Bibliography

Cardús, David, and Lawrence Newton. “Development of a Computer Technique for the On-Line Processing of Respiratory Variables.” Computers in Biology and Medicine 1, no. 2 (December, 1970): 125-131. Study comparing the older techniques of collecting patient respiration information with a new computer program that allowed patient data to be digitalized by the computer.

Guerrero, Richard. “A Man of Science.” Catalonia Today (November, 2003): 21-24. Article detailing Cardús’s professional research and achievements, as well as his devotion to Catalonian culture.

Wendler, Rhonda. “Out of This World Research Seeks to Improve Health on Earth.” Texas Medical Center News 23, no. 19. (October, 2001). Retrieved January 12, 2011 from http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/10‗15‗01/page‗02.html. Article lists joint research studies, including Cardús’s work with the Texas Medical Center and NASA.