J. Patrick Reilly (1937—2024)

J. Patrick Reilly died on October 28 in Silver Spring, Maryland, at the age of 87. He was a leader in the field of bioelectricity, and especially the study of electrical stimulation.

Russ Hobbie and I didn’t mention Reilly in Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology, but I did in my review paper “The Development of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.”

J. Patrick Reilly of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory calculated electric fields in the body produced by a changing magnetic field, although primarily in the context of neural stimulation caused by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) [54, 55].

[54] Reilly, J. P. (1989). Peripheral nerve stimulation by induced electric currents: Exposure to time-varying magnetic fields. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput., 27, 101–110.

[55] Reilly, J. P. (1991). Magnetic field excitation of peripheral nerves and the heart: A comparison of thresholds. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput., 29, 571–579.

The papers included this biography of the author. 

Applied Bioelectricity, by J. Patrick Reilly.

Reilly was also known for his 1998 book Applied Bioelectricity: From Electrical Stimulation to Electropathology, which covered many of the same topics as Chapters 6–8 in IPMB: The Hodgkin-Huxley model of a nerve action potential, the electrical properties of cardiac tissue, the strength-duration curve, the electrocardiogram, and magnetic stimulation. However, you can tell that Russ and I are physicists while Reilly is an engineer. Applied Bioelectricity focuses less on deriving equations from fundamental principles and providing insights using toy models, and more on predicting stimulus thresholds, analyzing stimulus wave forms, examining electrode types, and assessing electrical injuries. That’s probably why he included the word “Applied” in his title. Compared to IPMB, Applied Bioelectricity has no homework problems, fewer equations, a similar number of figures, more references, and way more tables.

Reilly’s preface begins

The use of electrical devices is pervasive in modern society. The same electrical forces that run our air conditioners, lighting, communications, computers, and myriad other devices are also capable of interacting with biological systems, including the human body. The biological effects of electrical forces can be beneficial, as with medical diagnostic devices or biomedical implants, or can be detrimental, as with chance exposures that we typically call electric shock. Whether our interest is in intended or accidental exposure, it is important to understand the range of potential biological reactions to electrical stimulation.

In 2018, Reilly was the winner of the d’Arsonval Award, presented by the Bioelectromagnetic Society for outstanding achievement in research in bioelectromagnetics. The award puts him in good company. Other d’Arsonval Award winners include Herman Schwan, Thomas Tenforde, Elanor Adair, Shoogo Ueno, and Kenneth Foster.

I don’t recall meeting Reilly, which is a bit surprising given the overlap in our research areas. I certainly have been aware of his work for a long time. He was a skilled musician as well as an engineer. I would like to get a hold of his book Snake Music: A Detroit Memoir. It sounds like he had a difficult childhood, and there were many obstacles he had to overcome to make himself into a leading expert in bioelectricity. Thank goodness he persevered. J. Patrick Reilly, we’ll miss ya.