Wisconsin’s Warfarin Connection

Shepher Express
David Luhrssen

Madison writer Doug Moe chronicles the life of the eccentric UW biochemist whose discovery saved many lives.

Warfarin saved millions of human lives—and killed millions of rats. To the layman, an anticoagulant-rodenticide makes for an odd combo, but for biochemists it makes sense. The primary researcher behind warfarin was a UW-Madison biochemist, Karl Paul Link; the substance was named for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), which assisted with patenting and licensing the compound.

Link’s discovery drew little attention when first announced in 1940 but gained attention after it was used to treat President Dwight D. Eisenhower after his 1955 heart attack. Link is the subject of the appropriately named Saving Hearts and Killing Rats, the latest book by Madison journalist Doug Moe.

Having moved to Madison with his parent at age four, Moe became a native Badger before becoming editor of Madison Magazine and daily columnist for the Capital Times and the Wisconsin State Journal. He has written nearly a dozen books, including several on prominent Wisconsinites such as Tommy Thompson and marching band director Mike Leckrone.

“Link proved to be a fascinating subject,” Moe says. “I had done newspaper columns in which he figured, including one in 2003 about a theory that warfarin was used to kill Joseph Stalin (included in the book).”

The man behind warfarin was more than a lab-coated chemist. A flamboyant figure on the Madison campus, Link turned up in the cafeteria wearing costumes that included a flowing bowtie and an opera cape. He questioned mindless patriotism, was anti-authoritarian and sought the sublime in nature. Link could be hard to work with but won the respect of most of his colleagues. He was awarded the Cameron Prize for Therapeutics as well as the Lasker Award, way stations on the way to the Nobel Prize—which he never won.

In keeping with the progressive Wisconsin Idea of academia working for the betterment of the world, Link worked in an environment conducive to scientific advance. “I do think the Midwest as a whole sometimes is under recognized for its scientific research. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation supports UW research to the tune of tens of millions of dollars annually,” Moe says.