Jeremiah Noah "Jerry" Morris (6 May 1910 – 28 October 2009) was a Scottish epidemiologist who established the importance of physical activity in preventing cardiovascular disease.[1]
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Morris was born on 6 May 1910 in Liverpool. His Jewish family had emigrated to escape pogroms in Poland. Arriving by boat in Liverpool, the family adopted the surname of the ship's captain. His family moved to Glasgow, where Jerry was brought up in poverty. His childhood experiences of Glasgow's slums informed his later work, and led to his lifelong membership of the Labour Party, which he joined at age 16, and only left in his disgust at the Second Gulf War.[2]
He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Glasgow and was awarded his medical degree in 1934 at University College London Medical School.[3]
Morris was perhaps the first person to analyze data on cardiovascular disease and activity. By performing a large scale survey, he first noticed in 1949 that the sedentary drivers of London's double-decker buses had higher rates of cardiovascular disease than the conductors who climbed the stairs. [4] He extended the study and noticed that postmen who delivered the mail by bike or on foot had fewer heart attacks than sedentary men who served behind counters or as telephonists and clerks.[5]
He performed further studies that showed slow movements such as gardening helped very little and exercise had to be more vigorous to help. After several years of more study, he published the seminal paper on the topic in 1958.[6]
He was a key figure in the writing of the Black Report and continued working on health inequalities until the end of his life.