Beloved Yale School of Medicine Professor Leaves $9 Million Bequest to Yale

Joseph Frederick Hoffman, PhD, Eugene Higgins Professor Emeritus of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Yale School of Medicine (YSM), has left a $9 million bequest to YSM. His gift will establish several funds, including the Elena Citkowitz Professorship of Internal Medicine for a lipidology expert, the Joseph F. Hoffman Professorship of Physiological Sciences, the Peter N. Herbert Professorship of Medicine, the Joseph F. Hoffman Fellowship Fund to provide financial aid for graduate students in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, the Joseph F. Hoffman Ophthalmology Fund, and the Joseph F. Hoffman Endowed Fund for Medicine. Hoffman’s bequest also includes support for the Medical Historical Library.

“We are grateful for Dr. Joseph Hoffman’s extraordinary bequest,” said Nancy J. Brown, MD, the Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of Yale School of Medicine. “His contributions to the field of physiology and passionate support for Yale School of Medicine will continue to impact future generations of students, researchers, and patients.”

Hoffman’s life and legacy are testaments to his exceptional devotion to science, teaching, and Yale. Hoffman, who passed away on May 19, 2022, held an impressive list of accomplishments throughout his 97 years of life. As a renowned scientist who studied red blood cells, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1981 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1984. He continued publishing scientific papers well into his 90s, using new scientific techniques to revisit his old scientific questions.

Hoffman specifically studied ion transport across red blood cell membranes. One of his most famous scientific contributions, discovered in collaboration with Daniel C. Tosteson, MD, was the “pump leak model,” which explained how cells maintain ionic equilibrium. His discoveries are taught to biology students around the world and remain important to this day. Michael Caplan, PhD, MD, C.N.H. Long Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, professor of cell biology, and chair of cellular and molecular physiology at YSM, says, “Joe was an extraordinarily important scientist. The importance of his work for physiology can’t be overstated.”

Born in Oklahoma City in 1925, Hoffman earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Oklahoma in 1948, then earned a second master’s degree and a doctoral degree from Princeton University. It was at Princeton where Hoffman was proud to have met Albert Einstein. Hoffman joined the faculty at Princeton in 1952 and performed research at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the University of Cambridge, and the National Institutes of Health before settling at Yale in 1965. At Yale, he served as the chair of the Department of Physiology from 1967 to 1968 and again from 1973 to 1979.

He was so much more than an extraordinary scientist. Familiarly known as “Joe” to his friends and family, Hoffman was a devoted husband to his wife, Elena Citkowitz, MD (1939–2013), who was an internist and lipidologist at Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) and a professor of medicine at YSM. Hoffman was a world traveler, connoisseur of fine wines, food, and opera, and self-proclaimed Yalie. He also was an athlete. Hoffman was a competitive swimmer and billiards player as a youth and was renowned in the New Haven area and the Yale University Golf Course for his golf prowess. He scored four hole-in-ones, the first at Pebble Beach, and his last at age 96 at the New Haven Country Club.

“He would always beat you to the hole because he had this amazing eye-hand coordination,” says Peter Herbert, MD ’67, internist and former senior vice president of medical affairs at YNHH, and a close friend and physician of Hoffman’s.

Every year, Hoffman and a group of physicians from Yale and the New Haven community traveled around the world for a week of golf. His nephew, Richard Hoffman, MD, would sometimes accompany him. “I ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner with Joe on these trips. And the subject matter for breakfast, lunch, and dinner was Yale,” Hoffman recalls. “Joe was all Yale, all the time. He would talk about science and Yale. Those were the two subjects. We really didn’t talk too much about golf.”

“Joe landed in the perfect place for him, which was Yale, and he flourished there,” says Hoffman. “Joe was very devoted to Yale. It was everything to him. All his golf clubs had covers that said ‘Yale.’ He wore Yale ties. He had Yale belts with little bulldogs. He called himself a ‘Yalie.’”

“He also gave all he could to Yale,” says Herbert. “And the scientific environment and colleagues at Yale nurtured the young investigator to become the internationally renowned scientist that he was.” The three professorships Hoffman created will now afford other scientists the same opportunity, establishing Yale as a place for their scientific careers to grow and flourish. “I’m honored,” says Herbert of the professorship in his name. Despite their close friendship, the professorship still came as a surprise. “He never mentioned to me that he was going to create a named professorship for me,” adds Herbert. “But that’s typical Joe.”

Hoffman was a central figure in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology for almost 60 years. He maintained a regular presence in the department long after becoming an emeritus professor.

The Joseph F. Hoffman Fellowship Fund will support graduate students in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, particularly those who face barriers to obtaining other funding. “Joe’s gift is game-changing for the department’s graduate program,” says Caplan. “It’s something that we are all incredibly grateful for and that will really carry on Joe’s legacy in ways that I think would make him very happy.”

The Joseph F. Hoffman Ophthalmology Fund will help patients with inadequate or no health insurance receive the crucial care they need. “Vision is really important. It impacts people’s quality of life so much,” says Luciano V. Del Priore, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at YSM. “Dr. Hoffman’s gift is going to allow us to continue to deliver the level of service that we strive to deliver but sometimes struggle to do so because of financial constraints.”

In addition to the professorships, Hoffman’s bequest will have a far-reaching impact on the Yale community. John Gallagher, MLS, director of the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale, remembers Hoffman stopping at the information desk every Friday evening to chat with staff and check out books for the weekend. Part of Hoffman’s gift provides funds for the library’s general purposes, as well as preserving invaluable historical collections. “Dr. Hoffman has added to a long tradition of donating to Yale that has really helped the Medical Library and the Medical Historical Library grow to be one of the strongest collections of medical history in the country, if not arguably the world,” he says.

Melissa Grafe, PhD, John R. Bumstead Librarian for Medical History and head of the Medical Historical Library, emphasized that Hoffman’s support is already being used to help preserve rare 19th-century oil paintings featuring patients with tumors. “The care of the collection ensures that it is accessible for future generations of researchers,” she adds.

Above all else, Hoffman was a man who “lived his values,” says his niece, Claudia Citkovitz, PhD, "with a deep intellectual curiosity and a powerful commitment to integrity at every level.” Those values will be remembered not only through his scientific legacy but also through the opportunities for learning, rigorous scientific research, and clinical care that his gift affords.