Ignatz Leo Nascher

Life & Legacy

Ignatz Leo Nascher (11 October 1863 – 25 December 1944) was an Austrian-American medical doctor and gerontologist. He coined the term "geriatrics" in 1909.
Born in Vienna, Nascher immigrated to the United States at a young age. He graduated from Columbia University and received an M.D. from New York University. After more than two decades in private practice, Nascher began publishing his ideas on geriatrics. His theories, initially published in the New York Medical Journal, helped lay the groundwork for the modern study of ageing and elder care. In later life, Nascher worked for the city of New York as a medical administrator and attempted to put some of his ideas into effect.
As he aged, Nascher studied and described his and his wife's medical issues. In 1942, Nascher was elected in an honorary role as the first president of the American Geriatrics Society, and died in 1944. Gerontologist A.M. Clarfield wrote in 1990 that Nascher was "a pioneer and a prophet, a man clearly ahead of his time."