# Ken Strauss

Ken Strauss (born 1953) is a physician/author currently living in Spain. He is an Internist and Endocrinologist. For three decades he was Global Medical Director for BD, a leading medical and diagnostic enterprise. He is also Director for Safety in Medicine at the European Medical Association in Brussels.

## Early life, education and professional career

Born in New Orleans, Strauss was raised by missionary parents on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. He studied at Columbia Bible College (now Columbia International University) from 1971 to 1975 and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1975–78) with a focus on the biblical languages of Greek and Hebrew. After this he embarked on medical studies. Strauss received his degree as a doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina, USA (1982–86). He did an Internal Medicine Internship and Residency at the Wake Forest University, North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA (1986–89). His Endocrinology Fellowship was at the Harvard Medical School, Boston in the Beth Israel Hospital, Brigham & Women's Hospitals and Joslin Diabetes Center (1989–91).
He has lived most of his life in Latin America and Europe and speaks Spanish and French in addition to his native English. He gives talks frequently to audiences throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia on topics related to diabetes, HIV disease and patient safety. He has directed clinical trials throughout the world, developing medical tools ranging from high-tech molecular instruments to routine injection devices. He has published 102 scientific papers written by himself and is an author on nearly 200 written by others.
Medical practices Strauss has introduced, innovated or enabled:
* T Lymphocyte counting in HIV disease
* Immunophenotyping in cancer
* Flow cytometry analysis in auto-immunity
* Ultra-short needles to optimize insulin delivery
* Correct injection technique for intramuscular injections
* Rotation of insulin injection sites to prevent diabetic lipohypertrophy
* Diabetes management systems for primary care
* No-dead-space syringes to maximize vaccine dosing
* Safety sharps to avoid needlestick injuries
* Closed catheter systems to prevent intravenous complications

## Literary publications

Strauss has published twenty-eight books, beginning with a novel, La Tendresse, published in 2002 by Black Ace Books of Forfar, Scotland. In it he juxtaposes the friendships and love affairs of its protagonist, Dr. Alain Hamilton, with the brutality of trench warfare during the First World War. In the NYU Literature, Arts & Medicine Database, Jack Coulehan writes: "Two dramatically different themes—tenderness and war—duke it out in this novel. The reality of war is unrelenting. Humanity descends into the deepest levels of hell. All that survives is technique (Dr. Hamilton's skill as a surgeon) and commitment (his dogged persistence in doing his job, despite the failures and hopelessness). The second theme is love. The intimate relationship with his colleague Elizabeth (‘la tendresse’) is the deepest he has ever experienced. It carries them both through the horrors of war."
In another novel, Maria Lindisima, a chance encounter in Paris between Montse, a Catalan scientist, and Fernando, a Colombian entrepreneur, blossoms into a love affair just as Leo, a young American, begins a scheming entanglement with the two. Unknown to Montse, her lab has been infiltrated by the Pentagon (using Leo) to develop a virulent flu strain—nicknamed Maria Lindisima—as a biological weapon. When she finds out, she begins a race against time to produce a naked DNA vaccine, the sole protection against the virus. However, on a visit to Colombia with Fernando, the guerrilla group, the FARC, kidnaps them, thereby acquiring the strain. With Leo's connivance they release it, triggering a pandemic. Montse has succeeded in producing the saving vaccine but she remains captive in the Colombian jungle. Though a thriller, the book is a stinging indictment of America's thirst for world domination and the ends to which some will go to ensure it.
In a third novel, Madness, an orphaned Jewish girl, Rachel, marries a soldier who is later driven mad by the horrors of the First World War. She must live with this madman during the chaos of post-war Germany. Her discovery of her Jewishness coincides with the rise of National Socialism. She escapes to Spain where she fights with the International Brigades against Franco and meets her true love, Janek, a Polish Jew. Both are captured by the fascists and are deported to Hitler's Germany. Rachel escapes and joins the White Rose, a group of German students who attempt to undermine the Nazis using clandestine pamphlets. She becomes the principal smuggler for the Hamburg branch and continues writing pamphlets when the others are captured. She is innocently betrayed by a little girl and is sentenced to death. Madness is Rachel's life story as written from Stadelheim Prison, Munich. Her last entry is January 29, 1945, the day she was beheaded.
Strauss has also written Javea...Yes!, a romping post-apocalyptic bike ride across Europe, which has become a Mad Max world. Billy Poem is an ambitious children's book exploring the surreal world of the critically ill. It is told from the perspective of two children, lingering between life and death, who explore this magical world of ‘In Between’ as they lie in comas in Intensive Care. Their search leads them inside a mountain which hides the secrets of death. They bravely plunge in, seeking to find and defang it. Ugly Duckling is an alternative history of the 45th occupant of the White House with a surprise outcome that both Republicans and Democrats will be delighted with. A failed attempt at regime change is hijacked by the most unlikely source, a black African, who throws the whole playbook at Ugly before discovering the secret to his transformation, thank to a mysterious Rwandan woman, a Magnetiseuse Energéticienne. Beauty Like a Tightened Bow uses poetic prose to recount an unrequited love, which is imagined as a long ambling conversation.
In his play Ship of Folly, Hearts of Gold Strauss tells the story of the Peace Ship chartered by Henry Ford which sailed from America to Europe in December 1915 with the grandiose intention of arbitrating the end of the First World War. On board were many champions of bizarre causes and social evangelists. Ford invested his fortune and reputation in the endeavour but, despite his sincere convictions and towering personality, he was betrayed by his own arrogance, naivety and petty prejudices. Ship of Folly is a cautionary tale in which Hearts of Gold are no match for powerful conspirators. In another play, Bananas, anyone?, the American invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965 is parodied. Strauss lived through this revolution with his parents, who were missionaries there at the time. The play shows how it wounded and humiliated the country, as well as all involved. A third play, Ann and Rachid Rachid, is about Extraordinary Rendition and how this dragnet in the War on Terror so easily caught up innocents like Dr. Rachid Rachid.
Additionally, Strauss has published several volumes of poetry, short stories, children's stories, theater and screenplays. All are available as ebooks on Kindle or paperbacks through Amazon. Strauss also regularly posts new work on his blog.

## Books

* La Tendresse
* Madness
* Maria Lindisma
* Javea...Yes!
* Billy Poem
* Ugly Duckling
* Beauty Like a Tightened Bow
* Ship of Folly, Heart of Gold and Other Plays
* To My Departed Children and Other Poems
* Look, there's Ibiza and Other Stories
* Terri and Jan and Other Stories
* Golden Lads and Girls and Other Stories
* La Tendresse and Other Plays
* Lace and Other Plays
* All My Children and Other Stories
* This Man Has A Uterus and Other Stories
* Lapland and Other Stories
* Into Every Married Mind and Other Stories
* Baby Yar and Other Stories
* Brian and Helen and Other Stories
* Wake Any Sleeping Dead and Other Poems and Tales
* In No Order and Other Musings
* You Gotta Be Kiddin’
* That’s Wild, Man!
* Un Coup de Dés
* Paul and the Law
* Whodda Thunk It?
* 2023, keeps getting better

## Scientific research and publications

Strauss's scientific interests are widespread.
His interest in immunology has led to publications in HIV disease, cellular activation and natural killer cell function, tumor immunology, HLA-B27-related rheumatologic conditions and screening, transplant cross-matching and graph rejection, pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis, leukemia diagnosis and minimal residual disease, platelet activation in vascular disease and stem cell transplantation in cancer patients. Publications in endocrinology cover the subjects of diabetes management and education, efficacy of insulin injecting devices, safe injection technique, intensive glucose management, GP office management of diabetes and the epidemiology of diabetes in developing regions of Africa and Eastern Europe. Additionally, Strauss has published on peripheral and central line catheters, anesthesia and surgical devices, safety injection devices, sharps disposal units, spinal and epidural catheters and vaccination devices.

## Le Château du Jardin

Intended as a retreat for health care artists, Le Jardin des Arts, is located in le Château du Jardin, a property owned by Strauss and listed as an architectural heritage site in Belgium. The official site for Patrimoine Architectural Belge describes it as follows:.
   Tongre-Notre-Dame is best known for its basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but it also has some unexpected treasures, such as the Château du Jardin. Built in the mid-19th century, this mansion stands in the middle of extensive formally laid out grounds. Today, the Château du Jardin is the property of an endocrinologist, Ken Strauss. He undertook the restoration of the residence with a view to holding medical seminars there. The Château du Jardin is a neo-classical, rectangular building. The frontage and rear external wall are two stories high, faced with finishing plaster and surmounted by a Mansard roof bordered with a wooden cornice. The façades have large rectangular window openings.

## Personal life

Dr. Strauss is a widower currently living in Javea, Spain. In 1979 he married Jeannette Reyes (1952-2011) from Bogota, Colombia with whom he had two children, Patrick (1982) and Natalia (1988). With his companion, Fabienne Menchior (1964-2018), he had a third child, Camille (2005).