[1] He received a medical degree at Vanderbilt University in 1920, and completed a residency and internship at Boston City Hospital (1921–1922).

Finally, in 1928, he joined the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) in Washington, D.C. Dr. Rosenthal was Chief of the Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases (NIAMD) for 13 years before retiring in 1961.

[7] This antidote was widely used, and Rosenthal's discovery is considered one of the major achievements in the history of medical research at the NIH.

Based on his observation that sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate also has antibacterial activity,[8] Rosenthal began work on another group of sulfur-containing compounds -– the sulfa drugs.

Death commonly resulted from shock due to fluid (plasma) loss from the burned skin.

[11] His research group demonstrated that this therapy was an effective alternative to the traditional treatment using intravenous injections of whole blood or plasma.