Sidney Katz, MD (1924–May 4, 2012) was a pioneering American physician, scientist, educator, author, and public servant who developed the Index of Independence of Activities for Daily Living (ADLs) in a career spanning more than sixty years.
[1] Katz held several academic positions, including Professor Emeritus of Geriatric Medicine at Columbia University, and distinguished scholar at the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging.
After high school, Katz was unable to study for a medical degree due to the onset of World War II.
He volunteered for the US Navy in 1942, at the age of 18, and was assigned to various medical details including running the health services department at Purdue University for enlisted men.
One of the main goals of this unit was to fight the growing hemorrhagic fever epidemic that had infected 1,000 men, killing 10%.
[1] After leaving the Army, Katz joined the Benjamin Rose Rehabilitation Hospital in Cleveland[2] where he studied the effect of vitamins on elderly patients.
[1] This scale was called the index of activities for daily living, and was first published in the 1963 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA); it had been cited more than 46,000 times by 2012.
[3] Katz and his team at Benjamin Rose Rehabilitation Hospital spent the next ten years revising the scale, including a more, diverse patient population.
Katz's committee recommended sweeping changes to the standard of care, audit procedures, and better enforcement of quality assurance practices by both nursing home facilities and oversight organizations.