Kenneth Levy Zierler

Zierler, a professor of medicine and physiology at Johns Hopkins, was born in Baltimore. He earned an A.B. from The Johns Hopkins University in 1936 and an M.D. from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1941. After an internship at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, Zierler completed a medical residency at Goldwater Memorial Hospital in New York.

During World War II, Zierler served as a surgeon for the 399^th Armored Artillery Battalion and was discharged with the rank of captain. In 1946, he pursued postgraduate training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as a fellow in medicine and assistant in medicine. He also served as an assistant physician in the outpatient department at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Zierler rose through the academic ranks at Johns Hopkins, becoming professor of medicine in 1964 and professor of physiology in 1969. He was also on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health in the department of environmental sciences from 1950 to 1960, and chemist at The Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1957 to 1968. After a year hiatus in New York as director of the Institute for Muscle Disease, Zierler returned to Johns Hopkins in 1973 and retired as professor emeritus in 1997.

Zierler was named a career scholar by the Muscular Dystrophy Association of America in 1974. He was the investigator responsible for the basic science training program at Johns Hopkins from 1961 to 1972, and served as director of the graduate program in the department of physiology from 1978 to 1985. He held a number of consulting and editorial positions and published over 250 scientific papers. Throughout his life, Zierler was also active in social causes for human rights.