PATIENT STORIES and LETTERS

M. Peter Heilbrun, brain expert dies at 73 of mesothelioma in Sausalito

Posted: Oct 6, 2010

M. Peter Heilbrun

M. Peter Heilbrun served as medical officer at the Hunter's Point naval shipyard in San Francisco during the 1960s. His daughter says his only known exposure to asbestos occurred when he served in the U.S. Navy during this era of his life. Heilbrun was then stationed as a medical officer aboard on the USS Topeka followed by a time of working in the San Francisco Bay Area's shipyards. This is where asbestos products were once commonly installed in naval warships.

Peter Heilbrun was a neurosurgeon who helped develop less-invasive ways of operating on the brain. Since 1971, he spent most of his career on the faculty of the University of Utah medical school. Heilbrun established a brain tumor research lab and devised ways to increase blood flow to the brain during surgery. One of his major contributions was figuring out how to use computed tomography, and later magnetic resonance imaging, to guide a surgeon's hand. He taught these techniques to other surgeons.

Last year, Peter Heilbrun was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a very aggressive cancer of the lining (mesothelium) that surrounds internal organs. This disease is generally caused by exposure to asbestos. Heilbrun's death last week came just ten months after a cancer diagnosis. During his illness Peter kept busy with many of his passions until he died in his Sausalito home at the age of 73. M. Peter Heilbrun is survived by his wife, Robyn, two daughters Marta and Sarah Kate, and three grandchildren.

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