List of Medical Eponyms - Medical Terminology Blog

Medical Eponym	Description	Named After	Bio
Alzheimer	chronic neurodegenerative disease; most common form of dementia	Alois Alzheimer, 1864-1915	Bavarian psychiatrist
Apgar	summarizes the health of the newborn (appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, respiration)	Virginia Apgar 1901-1974	American obstetrical anesthesiologist
Asperger	difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication; autism spectrum disorder	Hans Asperger, 1906-1980	Austrian pediatrician
Baker	accumulation of joint fluid (synovial fluid) behind the knee	William Morrant Baker, 1839-1896	English physician and surgeon
Barrett	abnormal change in the lining of the esophagus, may lead to esophageal adenocarcinoma	Norman Rupert Barrett, 1903-1979	Australian born thoracic surgeon
Bell palsy	dysfunction of cranial nerve VII, causing facial paralysis	Charles Bell, 1774-1842	Scottish surgeon, anatomist, and neurologist
Crohn	inflammatory bowel disease; cobblestone ulceration	Burrill Crohn, 1884-1983	American gastroenterologist
Ebola	weakness, hemorrhagic fever, aches, diarrhea, vomiting and stomach pain	Ebola river, in Zaire	where this virus was first discovered
Graves	overproduction of thyroid hormones; exophthalmic goiter	Robert Graves1796-1853	Irish physician
Hodgkin	cancer of the lymphatic tissue	Thomas Hodgkin 1797-1865	London Physician
Legionnaire	severe form of pneumonia caused by legionella bacterium	American Legion convention (outbreak) in 1976
Lou Gehrig	amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; death of neurons in brain and spinal cord; stiff muscles	Lou Gehrig, 1903-1941	baseball player debilitated with ALS
Lyme	infectious bacterial disease; most common disease spread by ticks	Old Lyme, Connecticut
Parkinson	degenerative disease affecting movement, including speech	James Parkinson 1755-1824	English apothecary surgeon
Raynaud	vasospasms (decrease blood supply to affected regions)	Maurice Raynaud, 1834-1881	French physician
Tourette	neuropsychiatric disorder; childhood onset	Georges Albert Édouard Brutus Gilles de la Tourette, 1857-1904	French physician
West Nile virus	virus transmitted by mosquitos: mild to severe symptoms	Uganda (eastern Africa), 1937
Wilms	malignant kidney tumor containing developing (germ) cells	Max Wilms, 1867-1918	German pathologist and surgeon