Dr. Lawrence Lumeng

Dr. Lawrence Lumeng,

77 of Zionsville, passed away June 21, 2017. Lawrence Lumeng was born on August 10, 1939 in Manila, Philippines as a Chinese immigrant and one of the six children of Ming Lu and Lucia Lin. In 1960, he graduated from Indiana University with a BS Degree in Bacteriology. In 1964, he graduated near the top of his class with an MD Degree at Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM). He interned at the University of Chicago and then returned to IUSM for Internal Medicine residency and a subsequent fellowship training in Gastroenterology. From 1969 to 1971, he served in the US Army as a Major and a Research Internist stationed at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at IUSM in 1971, advanced to Associate Professor in 1974, and then promoted to Full Professor in 1979.

Concurrently, he served as a Research Associate and later as a Clinical Investigator at the VAMC. He was appointed the Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at IUSM from 1984 to 2007 and also at the VAMC from 1984 to 2003. He successfully built one of the foremost academic Gastroenterology divisions in the country that ranked continually in the top 15 since 1993. When he stepped down as Division Chief in 2007, the Division ranked #9 nationally as a top digestive disease unit in the country.

As a physician-scientist, Dr Lumeng garnered extensive extramural research funding from the National Institutes of Health. He delineated how alcohol metabolism inhibits fatty acid oxidation (thereby fatty liver) and how alcohol metabolism interrupts vitamin B6 metabolism. He and colleagues later made major contributions to the field of genetics of alcoholism by raising several pairs of selectively bred rat and murine lines (the P/NP and HAD1-2/LAD1-2 rat lines and the HAP/LAP replicate mouse lines) that exhibit opposite alcohol drinking preference. The P and HAD1-2 rat lines were shown to be the best rodent models of human alcoholism. He and his colleagues identified the importance of the dopamine brain reward pathway and certain brain neuropeptides in controlling voluntary alcohol drinking.

Dr Lumeng published more than 300 full-length scientific papers, reviews, and book chapters. He was the recipient of a VA High Priority Research Program on Alcoholism (1979); elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation (1980); recipient of an Annual Award for Scientific Excellence, RSA (1991); elected to the American Association of Physicians (1995); appointed to the Council of the Sagamore of the Wabash by Governor Frank O'Bannon, State of Indiana (2004), and recipient of two IU Trustee Teaching Awards (2004 and 2008).

As tributes of his contributions to the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the Board of Trustees in 2008 approved in perpetuity an endowed Lectureship with him as the named holder and in 2016, also an endowed named Professorship. From 2008 to present, there were nine Lumeng Lectureship recipients. Thomas F. Imperiale MD was selected to be the Inaugural Recipient of the Lumeng endowed Professorship in 2016.

For nearly two decades, Dr Lumeng was the busiest clinical hepatologist in the State of Indiana and was instrumental in building an outstanding general and transplant hepatology program at IUSM. He retired from IUSM on August 1, 2013.

Dr Lumeng passed away on June 21, 2017 from complications from pulmonary fibrosis that was ushered in by an acute respiratory infection in 2004. Dr Lumeng was survived by his wife, Pauline Lumeng of Zionsville. Pauline was Dr Lumeng's enabler throughout his successful career. None of what happened in his career would be possible without her. She was his best friend, his soul mate, his conscience, his pilot, and his rock. He was also survived by his son, Carey Lumeng and his wife Julie Lumeng both at University of Michigan with three grandchildren, Avery, Payton, and Kieran; daughter, Emily McGibbon a research epidemiologist/scientist employed by the NY City Public Health Service, her husband Mike McGibbon who live in Pelham NY with three grandchildren, Blythe, Tess, and Thomas; three siblings, Henry, James and Alice; and 19 nephews and nieces. He was preceded in death by his parents, a sister, Mary, and a brother, Max. Dr Lumeng adored their children and grandchildren and was extremely proud of them.

A Funeral Service will be held at A.R.N. Funeral & Cremation Services, 11411 N. Michigan Road, Zionsville, IN 46077 at 1 PM on Sunday, June 25th. Visitation will be held from 11 AM until the time of the service. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to:
Indiana University School of Medicine
C/O Indiana University Foundation
PO Box 7072
Indianapolis, IN 46207-7072
or
Methodist Health Foundation
PO Box 7168
Indianapolis, IN 46207-7168