Elias Abrutyn, disease expert

Elias "Eli" Abrutyn, 66, of Bala Cynwyd, an infectious-disease expert and associate provost and associate dean of academic affairs at Drexel University College of Medicine, died of a heart attack Thursday at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood.

A native of Jersey City, N.J., Dr. Abrutyn earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, then studied at the University of Basel in Switzerland for three years before earning a medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Abrutyn interned, completed a residency, and was a fellow in infectious diseases at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. For more than 30 years, he taught at Penn's School of Medicine, and from 1993 to 2005 was senior scholar in its department of epidemiology and biostatistics.

For many years, he served on the faculty of the Medical College of Pennsylvania, which consolidated with Hahnemann University in 1993. The schools became Drexel University College of Medicine in 2002.

Dr. Abrutyn was past president of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America; was a master of the American College of Physicians Society for Internal Medicine, and served on the council of the International Society of Cardiovascular Diseases. For 29 years, he was an associate editor of the Annals of Internal Medicine. He was co-editor of the textbook Saunders Infection Control Reference Service, and was the author of many articles, including an article published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine on the treatment of bacterial endocarditis.

He enjoyed cooking and was an Eagles fan.

Dr. Abrutyn had been married to Leslye Abrutyn since 1978. In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, Adam; and a stepson, Alex Zausner.

A funeral will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Beth David Reform Congregation, 1130 Vaughans Lane, Gladwyne.

Memorial donations may be made to Drexel University College of Medicine for the Dr. Elias Abrutyn Scholarship Fund, Box 8235, Philadelphia 19101.