Sansum Diabetes Research Institute celebrates 100 years of insulin, first administered in Santa Barbara
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Dr. William Sansum made history when he became the first American physician to manufacture and administer insulin in the United States – 100 years ago in Santa Barbara.
Sansum's story began with one patient, Charles Cowan, a 53-year-old farmer battling what was then considered a death sentence – type 1 diabetes. In one last attempt to save his own life, Cowan traveled to Santa Barbara in November 1920, said Katie Haq, spokeswoman for the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute.
Just a month before Cowan's arrival, Sansum received a letter inviting him to become the director of the Potter Metabolic Clinic. He accepted the position and moved to Santa Barbara with his wife and son, and at the exact hour the family arrived, Cowan was admitted to the clinic for diabetic acidosis, Haq said.
"Little did they both know, history would be made, and millions of lives would be saved," Haq said.
Sansum continued his work on work on developing a remedy for type 1 diabetes, reaching the most critical stage of research in early 1922 – experimenting with insulin.
Sansum and his associates had their first potent batch of insulin to be administered to a human ready by the spring, and on May 31, made history by administering the first dose of the life-saving medicine in the United States.
Cowan was the very first recipient of the dose of insulin, and it proved to be successful as it saved his life.
“The third day after I received my first insulin shot,” said Cowan. “Dr. Sansum came racing down the hall to my room, forgetting his professional dignity in the excitement of bringing me a test tube that was blue – meaning I was sugar-free! Of course, I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was on the road to a complete recovery. Other diabetics in the wing shrieked with joy, realizing their own sentences of an early death had been reprieved.”
Sansum's miracle at the time drew diabetes patients from across the country into Santa Barbara in hopes that he could give them the life-saving medicine, Haq said. Newspapers around the world spread the news, and William Randolph Hearst's papers called Sansum "Santa Barbara's genius," she added.
Sansum continued to work to manufacture insulin for his patients and founded the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute in 1944.
"Dr. Sansum left behind a tremendous legacy, and his enormous contributions to diabetes research and care will have an everlasting impact and paved the way for current and future SDRI researchers to continue their significant, life-saving work," Haq said. "We are forever grateful."
