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OPHTHALMOLOGY ORAL HISTORY SERIES A Link With Our Past An Interview with Phillips Thygeson, MD OPHTHALMOLOGY ORAL HISTORY SERIES A Link With Our Past Phillips Thygeson, MD 1960 Phillips Thygeson, MD External Eye Disease and the Proctor Foundation An Interview Conducted by Sally Smith Hughes, PhD 1987 With Introductions by Crowell Beard, MD Chandler R. Dawson, MD Daniel G. Vaughan, MD The Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, San Francisco Regional Oral History Office, University of California at Berkeley It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Phillips Thvgeson. MD. Ophthalmology Oral History Series, A Link With Our Past, an oral history conducted in 1987 by Sally Smith Hughes, Regional Oral History Office, University of California, Berkeley in cooperation with The Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Copyright 1988 by The Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Regents of the of California. All reserved. All uses University rights of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between Phillips Thygeson, MD and The Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the of dated University California, March 27, 1987. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to are reserved to publish, The Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and The Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley. No part may be reproduced, quoted, or transmitted in any form without the written permission from the Executive Vice Chairman of The Foundation of the American Academy of or the Ophthalmology Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley. Requests for to for permission quote publication should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, use of the and identification anticipated passages, of the user. The legal agreement with Phillips Thygeson, MD, that notified requires he be of the request and allowed thirty days in which to respond. Cover & Title Page Design: Romaniello Design Printed in the United States The Foundation of the American Regional Oral History Office of Academy Ophthalmology The Bancroft Library 655 St. Beach University of California P.O. Box 6988 Berkeley, CA 94720 San Francisco, CA 94101-6988 CATALOG CARD THYGESON, Phillips born 1903 Ophthalmologist Phillips Thygeson, MD: External Eye Disease and the Proctor Foundation, 1988, xxvi, 319 pp. Ophthalmology Oral History Series The Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and The University of California at Berkeley. Norwegian/American colonial family background; ham radio; undergraduate and medical education, Stanford University; internship, University of Colorado; preceptorship, Colorado, with William Finnoff and Edward Jackson; trachoma research; Giza Memorial Ophthalmic Institute, Egypt; Ophthalmic Institute, Pasteur Institute, Tunis; assistant professor, University of Iowa School of Medicine; tissue culture at the Rockefeller Institute, New York; professor, Columbia University; co-director, Institute of Ophthalmology, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, New York; ophthalmologist, U.S. Army Medical Corps; founder, director, trustee, Francis I. Proctor Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology; Proctor Foundation mission, expansion, research contributions, setbacks; Proctor Fellows Program; consultant, U.S. Indian Health Service; private practice, San Jose; discussion of specific publications on external eye disease; medical organization and committee memberships; honors; photography in ophthalmology; human volunteers in medical research; steroid use in ophthalmology. Introductions by Crowell Beard, MD, Chandler R. Dawson, MD, and Daniel G. Vaughan, MD Interviewed 1986-87 by Sally Smith Hughes, PhD vi OPHTHALMOLOGY ORAL HISTORY SERIES Dohrmann Kaspar Pischel, MD 1988 Phillips Thygeson, MD 1988 Harold Glendon Scheie, MD In Progress Thomas David Duane, MD In Progress Paul Boeder, PhD In Progress David Glendenning Cogan, MD In Progress The Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology San Francisco, California Oral Histories Committee Members & Staff: Susan E. Cronenwett Jill Hartle Patricia I. Meagher David J. Noonan William H. Spencer, MD Stanley M. Truhlsen, MD Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley Project Staff: Willa K. Baum Sally S. Hughes, PhD Shannon Page Catherine Winter vii DONOR REGISTRY The oral history of Phillips Thygeson, MD has been made possible through the generosity or the following contributors: Crowell Beard, MD Redwood City, California Jean G. Doyle San Francisco, California Harry W. Hind Sunnyvale, California Robert A. Nozik, MD San Bruno, California G. Richard O'Connor, MD Sausalito, California Alta California Eye Research Foundation Los Altos, California Sight Conservation Research Center San Jose, California The Ophthalmology Oral Histories Program has also received generous:rous support from the following contributors: Dupont Guerry, III, MD Richmond, Virginia David J. Noonan Sausalito, California William H. Spencer, MD Sausalito, California Bruce E. Spivey, MD San Francisco, California Stanley M. Truhlsen, MD Omaha, Nebraska viii Phillips Thygeson, MD CONTENTS PREFACE xiv INTRODUCTION by Crowell Beard, MD xvi INTRODUCTION by Chandler R. Dawson, MD xviii INTRODUCTION by Daniel G. Vaughan, MD xx INTERVIEW HISTORY by SallyS. Hughes, PhD xxii Oral History Process xxiii BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION xxv I. FAMILY BACKGROUND AND EDUCATION 1 Grandparents and Parents 1 Ham Radio 5 High School 6 The Move to California, 1917 6 Brother and Sisters 7 Family Life 8 Stanford University 10 Undergraduate, 1921-1925 10 Medical School, 1925-1928 11 Ruth Lee Spilman Thygeson 13 More on Ham Radio 14 Courtship and Marriage 16 Medical School (continued) 17 Dacryocystitis 18 The Barkans and Pischels 19 Dacryocystitis (continued) 20 II. PREWAR POSITIONS AND RESEARCH 23 Internship, University of Colorado, 1927-1933 23 William C. Finnoff and Edward Jackson 23 Tuberculosis 27 The Giza Memorial Ophthalmic Institute, Egypt, Winter 1929-1930 30 The Pasteur Institute, Tunis, 1930-1931 33 Assistant Professor, University of Iowa School of Medicine, 1931-1936 38 Published Papers 40 Inclusion Blennorrhea, 1934 40 The Etiology of Trachoma, 1934 41 Acute Follicular Conjunctivitis, Bdal's Type, 1935 43 Inclusion Conjunctivitis, 1936 43 Superficial Punctate Keratitis, 1950 and 1961 46 Chronic Follicular Conjunctivitis of Axenfeld 47 Research with Monkeys 48 Trachoma 49 Fort Apache, Arizona 54 The Rockefeller Institute, Winter 1937 55 Trachoma (continued) 58 Fort Apache (continued) 58 Indian Lore 59 Sulfonamide 61 Transmission to a Human Volunteer 62 Columbia University, 1939-1942 66 Colleagues 69 Chlamydia 78 Paper on Matrix Staining of the Trachoma Inclusion Body, 1938 .... 79 The College of Physicians and Surgeons 80 Geoffrey Rake 81 Virologists at the Rockefeller Institute 81 Debate Over the Nature of the Virus 83 The Ultracentrifuge, Electrophoresis, and Electron Microscope .... 84 Elford Filters 86 The Basic Science Course in Ophthalmology 86 Trachoma (continued) 87 Lymphogranuloma Venereum 89 Paper on Sulfonilamide Treatment of Inclusion Conjunctivitis, 1939 91 Staphylococcal Eye Diseases 92 Epidemic Keratoconjunctivitis 95 A New Form of Follicular Conjunctivitis 97 Primary Herpetic Conjunctivitis 98 Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and Co-Director of the Institute of Ophthalmology, Presbyterian Hospital, 1939-1942 99 The Basic Science Course in Ophthalmology (continued) 101 Mrs. Thygeson's Editorial Work 103 III. OPHTHALMOLOGIST IN THE MEDICAL CORPS, U.S. ARMY AIR CORPS, 1942-1946 107 Recruitment 107 Drew Field, Rorida 109 Valley Forge General Hospital, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania 121 Dibble General Hospital, Menlo Park, California 122 Decision to Remain in California 123 Published Papers 125 Blepharitis, 1946 125 The Cytology of Conjunctival Exudates, 1946 128 Eye Laboratories 128 IV. THE FRANCIS I. PROCTOR FOUNDATION FOR RESEARCH IN OPHTHALMOLOGY 131 Formation 131 Expansion 135 Michael J. Hogan 137 Relationship with the Department of Ophthalmology 138 Pressures to Change the Original Mission 141 Collaboration with the U.S. Indian Health Service 142 The American Board of Ophthalmology 143 Original Mission 148 Cooperative Research Projects 149 The George Williams Hooper Foundation, UCSF 149 The Department of Microbiology, UCSF 150 Research with Human Volunteers 152 Funding 156 The Sensory Disease Study Section and the Institute of Neurology and Blindness, NIH 157 Infections Committees and latrogenic Disease 161 Principal Contributions of the Proctor Foundation 163 Basic Science Courses in Ophthalmology 167 Principal Contributions of the Proctor Foundation (continued) 169 Electron Microscopy and Pathology 170 Uveitis 170 Steroids 172 Biochemistry of Tears 173 Ocular Genetics 174 Histochemistry of Blood Leukocytes 175 Cooperative Research Projects (continued) 176 University of California School of Veterinary Medicine, Davis 176 Department of Medicine, UCSF 177 Department of Dermatology, UCSF 177 School of Pharmacy, UCSF 178 Trachoma (continued) 180 Research on Inflammation and Degenerative Ocular Diseases 182 Phlyctenulosis 183 Photography in Ophthalmology 187 Further Efforts to Ensure the Independence of the Proctor Foundation 188 The Proctor Foundation Advisory Committee 190 Early Proctor Foundation Laboratories 191 The Infectious Disease Laboratory 192 The Board of Governors 195 The Electron Microscopy Laboratory 196 The Virus Laboratory 197