James W. Winkelman, M.D.

A nationally renowned leader in clinical pathology and diagnostic laboratory testing, James W. Winkelman, passed away peacefully on August 13 at his home in Chestnut Hill, MA, surrounded by family. He was 87.

Dr. Winkelman was Director of Clinical Laboratories and Vice President at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, as well as Professor of Pathology at the Harvard Medical School, from 1986 until 2002. Under his direction, the laboratory system at Boston-based Brigham and Women's was regularly recognized by the University Hospital Consortium as the nation's top laboratory in terms of efficiency.

Dr. Winkelman's extensive professional background includes both scientific leadership and executive management roles. Among the positions held were President and Director of BioScience Laboratories in Van Nuys, CA; Executive Vice President and Director of Scientific Affairs at National Health Laboratories in La Jolla, CA; Executive Vice President and Director ofScientific Affairs at LabCorp, in Los Angeles, CA; and Director of Laboratories at the State University of New York – Upstate Medical Center (SUNY-UMC), in Syracuse, NY. His specialties were anatomical and clinical pathology, with a focus on blood testing and diagnostics.

Beyond his tenure at Harvard Medical School, he held a number of other academic appointments, including as Assistant Professor of Pathology at NYU School of Medicine, Clinical Associate Professor of Pathology at UCLA School of Medicine, and Professor of Pathology at SUNY-UMC. He was Board certified in Anatomical and Clinical Pathology; licensed to practice medicine in four states.

He published more than 155 journal articles; and is credited with 21 patents. Among these, were a novel patented, cutting-edge technology, which was used in the development of Cytoscan® and Hemoscan by Cytometrics to directly observe and measure the microcirculation in human vascular beds with a video microscope - a non-invasive instrument that produced high-contrast microvascular images, and could conduct full and accurate blood counts without the need for needles. He also developed and patented the technology for the Bloodhound TM Integrated Hematology System which performed an automated blood count and differential by printing undiluted whole blood onto a microscope slide, staining the slide, then performing image analysis.  In 2013, Dr. Winkelman developed the patented Eraser system designed to “clear” unwanted tattoos by exposing tattoo ink particles trapped within the dermis to a cold plasma. To that end, he co-founded and served as the Chief Medical and Scientific Officer at ClearIt, a biomedical company that develops and markets the ERASER system.

Dr. Winkelman received his A.B. from the University of Chicago in 1955. He was one of the academically gifted students recruited after their high school sophomore year under a program pioneered by then-President Robert Maynard Hutchins. He obtained his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1959. After medical school, he Interned in Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins University; was a Research Associate at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases in Bethesda, MD; and served as an Anatomical and Clinical Pathology Resident at NYU’s School of Medicine.

He was born in Brooklyn, NY, on October 29, 1935, where he was raised by his parents, Charles (a lawyer) and Augusta (née Spiselman), and graduated Midwood High School with the class of 1953. He is survived by his wife Rina, his son Zev Winkelman, his daughters Elizabeth Winkelman, Claudia Sadoff, and Recha Bergstrom, and his nine grandchildren. Dr. Winkelman will be laid to rest at the Home of Peace Cemetery in Colma, CA.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the American Healthcare Professionals and Friends for Medicine in Israel, at https://apfmed.org.