Photo: Belinda Carter Dear Alumni/ae and Friends: Welcome to the sixth issue of Medicine at Michigan! It’s hard to believe that the sesquicentennial celebra- tion has ended. The events over the past year have become another important part of the legacy of our Medical School, and I want to thank each and every one of you who took advantage of all of the opportu- nities to help us celebrate our anniversary. When the Michigan Marching Band left the field at half time during the October 14th homecoming game, the celebration of the Medical School’s sesquicentennial offi- cially ended. The high-energy program was a fitting con- Science II Building is a colorful 27-foot-long art in- clusion to the final week of campus events that began with stallation that pays tribute to John Jacob Abel, Minor a “birthday party” outdoor barbecue for nearly 5,000 stu- J. Coon, James V. Neel, Horace W. Davenport, Frederick dents, faculty, staff and hospital employees. C. Neidhardt, Elizabeth C. Crosby and Gerald D. Abrams. (See pages 42-45 for details.) Lastly, four Other major events during the week included the open- bronze markers are now located around campus to ing of Seeing Is Healing? at the University of Michigan mark important sites in the history of the Medical Museum of Art; the dedication of the MCAS Hall of School at the University. Honor in the Towsley Center; the Medical Center Alumni Society all-classes reunion activities including With a newfound appreciation for the greatness of the keynote addresses by noted alumni Donald S. Medical School’s proud history and of all the men and Fredrickson, M.D., former director of the National women who contributed to it over many years, we are Institutes of Health, and Marshall Nirenberg, Ph.D., more determined than ever to carry that illustrious Nobel-prize-winning medical researcher; and a sesqui- heritage forward. In this issue, as in the five that have centennial gala dinner. preceded it, you will learn more about the truly out- standing people and programs that make up this won- While the last anniversary toast has been offered and derful place. The Medical Scientist Training Program the final set of remarks delivered, many lovely remind- is one of our most prestigious and exciting programs, ers of the celebration are now in place in the Medical one in which, with the support of the National Insti- School. Patients, visitors, staff and students alike pass tutes of Health, we train some of the most creative and through a permanent anniversary project when they most ambitious of the next generation of physicians walk through the connector between the Medical and medical scientists. The efforts of Ron Koenig and School and the hospital. Graduation class composites all of the Medical School faculty who participate in now hanging there re-establish the tradition begun recruiting and training these outstanding students is when the composites first hung in the connector to crucial to the success of the Medical School’s mission. Old Main. The turn-of-the-century doctor’s office Also, you’ll read about how Betsy Lozoff’s conscien- exhibit in the hospital lobby offers a historic view of a tious and long-running work examining the role of typical Ann Arbor practice. Seven of our leading basic iron deficiency in the development of children’s brains science faculty members now have lecture halls named is having an impact on children’s well-being in coun- after them. Near the third-floor entrance to Medical tries throughout the world. Allen S. Lichter, M.D. Dean Letters to the Editor vided to me, my father and my grandfa- When “Giants ther by your great institution. Walked the Earth” Thomas F. Scott I thoroughly enjoyed your series of (M.D. 1958, Residency 1963) articles on the history of the Medical Huntington, West Virginia L School. I, too, am a third generation graduate of this school, and was thor- oughly imbued with its rich heritage. My grandfather was a member of the Class “He, George W. Hicks, of 1899, and my father graduated in 1925. Was the Senior Shown” My first year there was one of much free- floating anxiety. I was one of three One day last week, when my husband’s “legacies” in my class. Unfortunately the copy of Medicine at Michigan arrived, he other two did not survive the first year. was amazed to see, on the inside of the back page, scenes from LIFE Magazine of I still recall the squeaking 50 years ago. He, George W. Hicks (M.D. wooden floors of the West 1950), was the senior shown. At that time Medical Building. Changing we had three small children, George was classes in mid-morning I would working nights, and his GI bill was either descend the stairs under the dis- a thing of the past or woefully inadequate. approving gaze of both father A $300 scholarship from a medical soci- and grandfather. Their unspo- 1 ety and a modest and unexpected legacy ken question: “Why aren’t you from my step-grandfather in England doing better?” enabled George to be graduated. He was In any event, with the combined efforts the first U-M Medical School student with of Patton, Woodburn, Crosby, Nungester, a child to be accepted. When he entered Weller and countless others, I was suffi- ciently burnished that I was permitted to enter the clinical years. This was the period of Michigan medicine Epidemiologist Thomas Francis Jr. 1 announces from the stage of when “giants walked the earth.” Dr. Rackham Auditorium on April 12, Alexander had just died, but Miller, Sturgis, 1955 that the Salk polio vaccine is Conn, Kahn (Reuben) and Kahn (Edgar), “safe, effective and potent.” Coller, Badgley and Nesbitt were all in their heydays. Dean Furstenberg must have had some blackmail material on each of the de- George W. Hicks, 2 partment heads, because the junior clinical photographed by Alfred Eisenstadt lectures were given almost exclusively by the for LIFE Magazine in 1950 chiefs and full professors. One of my most memorable days in the Medical School was Dr. James G. Van Zwaluwenburg 3 the day of the announcement by Dr. Tommy Francis of the positive results of the polio vaccine study. It took an additional five years of the Ann 2 Arbor experience to qualify me as a rela- tively complete orthopedic surgeon. Although my son is a physician, he was medical school he had a chemical engi- not permitted the Michigan experience. neering degree from Michigan and had served four years in the Army, honorably I have enjoyed every day of practice dur- discharged with the rank of major. ing the past 40-odd years and owe a debt of gratitude to the firm foundation pro- As a family doctor, George practiced 22- and-a-half years in Pascagoula, Missis- 4 Winter 2001 to the sippi, six years in Grand Bay, Alabama, behavior that unfairly punishes or intimi- and seven-and-a-half years on St. Croix, dates students can be laughed off under the U.S. Virgin Islands. At Pascagoula he rubric of, “Oh, well, that’s the way it was!”? delivered about 3,000 babies, had a large As the recipient of similar behavior I can office practice, made house calls, had Lettersassure you I didn’t find it funny then adventures in the Gulf of Mexico with the (1950), and I certainly don’t think it’s Coast Guard, and went up a gantry crane funny now, 50 years later. “Long Ago and Before once at Ingalls Shipyard to pronounce a man dead. He also made hospital rounds Joel I. Hamburger Many Others, He twice a day. He practiced solo except at (M.D. 1954) Embraced Diversity…” St. Croix, when he was an emergency West Bloomfield, Michigan room doctor for the U.S. Virgin Islands I want to thank Howard Markel for his Department of Health. For some years he work (“An Example Worthy of Imitation,” raised Santa Gertrudis cattle on our farm Fall 2000). If we forget where we have in Grand Bay. While on St. Croix George “Isadore Lampe Did Not been, we cannot find our future. I also was ordained a permanent deacon in the Found the Department of want to express my joy at knowing that Catholic Church after studies at night for Radiology” Horace C. Davenport is still four years. We are the parents of six chil- contributing, and to have “Dr. dren. There has seldom been a boring In the article “The ABC” know how important his time for we have had 17 homes since we Deans on Canvas” quote “you live your life on the married in 1940. (Fall 2000), Isadore intellectual reserve accumulated Lampe is listed as the during the first twenty-five We wanted to let you know that it was founder of the years” has been to me. Another, good to be reminded of a time when we “Michigan produces a high level felt we were reaching a goal in spite of Department of Radi- ology. Dr. Lampe was of mediocrity,” has kept me difficulties, confident of the future, and a superb physician, humble and cautious to this day. trusting in the next day. radiotherapist, and Dr. Davenport is one of a very Alice Brown Hicks true gentleman. It was few who remain powerful long McDonough, Georgia an honor for me to be after their lectures are lost. one of his residents. Another of Dr. Davenport’s However, he did not 3 great contributions to the “One Might Wonder Why found the Depart- Medical School was his distaste You Would Publish These ment of Radiology.