Editor's note: This is one in an occasional series of profiles of area residents who share the stories of their lives and experiences.

Dr. George W. Comstock says a lot of people have helped him in his years of working in public health ... tens of thousands of people, in fact.

He can't tell you who they are, but one of them could well be you.

"The people of Washington County have contributed more to the knowledge of public health, per capita, than any other people in the world," Comstock said. "We're world-beaters. I'm proud to be a Washington Countian."

Comstock became a Washington Countian in 1962, when Johns Hopkins University's School of Public Health opened a training and research center here, in a building next to the Health Department on Pennsylvania Avenue.

In the 45 years since then, more than 75,000 county residents have participated in programs to help find the causes and potential cures for heart disease, cancer and stroke.

Every participant was guaranteed confidentiality, which is why their names won't appear here. But each one can rest assured that they have advanced medical knowledge and assisted with the training of future leaders in public health.

When Comstock came to Washington County in 1962, he already had spent more than two decades attending to the health needs of others. He was 47, and recently had retired as a medical director (captain) in the Public Health Service.

It would be 41 years until he "retired" again, in September 2003, this time after four more decades of public health service with the people of Washington County.

"My motto is, 'I've been lucky all my life,'" he said. "I never really thought of it too much in terms of achievement. It's been fun!"

The early days

George W. Comstock was born in 1915 in Niagara Falls, N.Y. Discarding his original idea of becoming a metallurgical engineer, he went into medicine and got his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1937. After considering the idea of becoming a country doctor, he instead joined the Public Health Service (PHS), one of the seven uniformed services of the United States.

(The others are the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force under the Department of Defense, the Coast Guard under the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the Department of Commerce.)

The Public Health Service, under the Department of Health and Human Services, was founded in 1798 by President John Adams as a network of hospitals for American seamen. And it was on the sea that Comstock began his duty, serving aboard ship for a year.

Then came what he calls "the luckiest break of my life." He was sent to Columbus, Ga., where he directed research projects for the Centers for Disease Control. His specialty there, as through most of his life, was epidemiology, particularly tuberculosis.

During six years there, he was appointed to the faculty of the School of Public Health of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He got his doctor of public health degree in one year, became a full-time faculty member at Hopkins in 1962 and professor of epidemiology in 1965.

Living in Laurel, Md., he continued long-term studies in the effectiveness of TB vaccines and the risks associated with having inactive TB.

He retired from the PHS in 1962 and became a consultant to various wide-ranging studies. Those included studies of lung disease in Japanese and American telephone workers, TB vaccine trials in south India and experiments in TB prevention among native populations in Alaska, where TB rates were among the highest ever found.

Distinct from most such studies, this last one included not only causes of the disease, but also treated the disease in people who were infected. Unlike many placebo control trials, Comstock devised a unique plan in which the placebo and treatment groups were offered an additional year of treatment. As a result, it was determined that nine months of preventive treatment was optimal.

"This demonstration is something I am very proud of," Comstock said. "I consider it to be a star in my crown."

Coming to Washington County

The next "remote" spot on Comstock's itinerary was Washington County, which wasn't exactly new to the field of medical studies. As far back as 1918, the PHS sponsored a dental study here that examined the teeth of schoolchildren and developed an index of dental health. It also systematically weighed children, and the study broadened to include the patterns of growth of school-age children.

In 1962, the National Cancer Institute started a registry of diagnosed cancer cases and what happens to them. Later that year, Comstock moved to Smithsburg and started the studies used in the training of graduate students.

Called the Johns Hopkins University Training Center for Public Health Research, it shared a building with the National Cancer Institute on Pennsylvania Avenue in what then was next door to the Washington County Health Department.

The purpose of the center was to provide material for students writing doctoral theses. Studies there would provide statistics and other materials on a wide range of subjects, including diet and lifestyle.

Comstock said the results of such studies are used each year for from eight to 10 theses, most of which get published. More than 230 scholarly papers have appeared in peer-reviewed journals, bringing Washington County to the attention of the medical community worldwide.

The most visible and familiar studies are known as the CLUE studies, the name of which comes from the motto: "Give us a clue to cancer."

CLUE I, in 1974, surveyed people in an attempt to find the causes of cancer, stroke and heart disease. A total of 23,951 county residents took part, answering questions about their age, race, occupation and health risk factors.

CLUE II, in 1989, involved another 25,080 participants. Like those who took part in CLUE I, they answered diet questions and also gave samples of blood ... and toenail clippings.

"People would ask, 'You want toenail clipping'?'" Comstock said. "They couldn't believe that toenail clippings could play a major role in our research.

"But they do. For example, they're a site where heavy metals settle, and the antioxidant selenium is deposited in nails. They're also used in DNA genealogy studies, and they can be analyzed now and in the future. We have one of the few toenail banks in the world."

Though the CLUE studies were the most well-known, others have been conducted; many are ongoing, and new ones are started. One current study is of skin cancer, and the possibility that people with it might be genetically predisposed to other kinds of cancer, which could be helpful in prevention. Another studies the connection between secondhand smoke exposure and the development of diseases of the upper respiratory tract.

The staff at the center also works with the Health Department on issues of community health. In 2002, staff members conducted a survey of the health of county residents to identify the most pressing health needs. Among those found were nutrition and weight management.

The center also has evaluated the Health Department's "Stop Smoking for Life" program, which focuses on the effects of nicotine patches in helping people quit smoking.

Comstock was instrumental in getting other studies under way in the county. On the southwest corner of Public Square, and familiar to many local residents, is the Johns Hopkins Research Center.

The center is loosely associated with the Johns Hopkins Training Center, but is separately run, with different directors and funding. The Research Center works in conjunction with similar studies being conducted in other parts of the country.

They include the ARIC study, which deals with atherosclerosis; the CHS study of cardiovascular health; the SOMNOS study, concentrating on sleep apnea and metabolism; and a Gingko Evaluation and Memory Study. Participants in some of these studies can benefit by getting various physical exams for free.

In all studies, confidentiality is key, and that's why Comstock cannot reveal names of people who have participated. He gives credit to the people who have helped run the studies, both full-time and part-time workers, but there are too many to name here.

'Lucky all my life'

Comstock also has high praise for the women who have shared his life in marriage, Margaret and Emma Lou.

He married Margaret Karr Comstock while at Harvard, and she helped put him through medical school.

"I owe a great, great deal to her," he said.

Margaret died seven years ago, and in 2001, he married Emma Lou Davis, a friend and associate of Margaret. The two live in Smithsburg.

"Again, I've been lucky all my life," he said. "I've been married to two of the most wonderful women in the world."

Comstock is the father of three children - Gordon, a country doctor in New York; Lloyd, in charge of a family practice clinic in North Carolina; and Martha, a freshwater biologist in Georgia.

Comstock "officially retired" from his job in September 2003, but that hasn't stopped him from staying involved. In recognition of his many years of service, in 2005, the center was renamed The George W. Comstock Center for Public Health Research and Prevention, a branch of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

At 92, Comstock is slowing down, and also is living with cancer, but he remains as active as he can. He's a professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins, still goes down to Baltimore to teach and reads student papers in his home.

After more than 70 years, he still is inspired by a quote from educator Horace Mann, who was retiring as the president of Antioch College in Ohio in 1856. He knows the quote by heart.

Mann said, "I beseech you to treasure up in your hearts these my parting words: Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity."

"That sort of struck me as the main purpose of living," Comstock said. "Most of us aren't going to win any big victories, but we can win little ones every day, and they mount up."