A tribute to Dr. Paul A. J. Janssen: entrepreneur extraordinaire, innovative scientist, and significant contributor to anesthesiology.
Dr. Paul Janssen was the founder of Janssen Pharmaceutica and the developer of over 80 pharmaceutical compounds that proved useful in human, botanical, and veterinary medicine. He and his coworkers synthesized the fentanyl family of drugs, many other potent analgesics, droperidol, etomidate, and numerous other important medicines that were extremely useful in psychiatry, parasitology, gastroenterology, cardiology, virology, and immunology. Anesthesiology and medicine as a whole have benefited a great deal from his resourcefulness, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit.