The earliest known description of the pancreas is attributed to Herophilus of Chalcedon (300 B.C.), a Greek physician deemed to be one of the first human anatomist and adopter of the scientific method (1). Despite Herophilus’s pioneering research on human anatomy, he received public criticism and was referred to as the ‘butcher’ of Alexandria – for his innumerable human dissections and gruesome vivisections performed before public audiences (2). The name ‘pancreas’ was later coined by Rufus (100 A.D.), another Greek physician, and etymologically translates as all flesh (pan: all, and kreas: flesh) – at the time the Greeks thought the pancreas was a fleshy cushion to protect the large blood vessels lying behind it (3). It wasn’t until the
