Continuous Quest

by Walker A. Tompkins

is the deeply moving story of William David Sansum, M.D., a pioneer in American diabetes research. He was the first man to successfully manufacture insulin in the United States and introduce it to human diabetics, and the doctor who introduced the revolutionary low-fat diets for diabetics in this country. This book follows Dr. Sansum from his boyhood in the trouble Barbara, Wisconsin of the 1860s, through his struggle to acquire a medical degree in Chicago, and his coming to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in 1920 to direct diabetes research at the famous Potter Metabolic Clinic. Those early years were fraught with difficulties. Prohibition agents confiscated alcohol needed to transport the raw material for insulin. The disastrous 1925 earthquake disrupted his work. For years he was harassed by the professional jealousy of his peers. The depression of the 1930s wiped out his personal fortune just after he had mortgaged his future to build his own private clinic. He had serious personal health problems, yet in spite of these adversities, Dr. Sansum carried on his fight to conquer diabetes mellitus and was at work in his laboratory when a massive stroke killed him, in 1948, leaving his Sansum Medical Research Foundation to carry on his quest.
Walker A. Tompkins has achieved an eminently successful portrayal of the life and work of W. D. Sansum, M.D.
— Dr. H. I. Burns