Support and passion give hope for the Yale System

Discussion belongs in an alumni magazine

An interesting program in store for Alumni Weekend

From the editor

SECOND OPINION
BY SIDNEY HARRIS

Support and passion give hope for the Yale System

On behalf of the students who spent many hours stuffing envelopes and debating the current state of the Yale System, I'd like to personally thank all of the alumni who so eloquently described the significance of the System in their testimonials. Your support and passion give me hope that the Yale System will persist for many years to come. Reading your responses reminds me of exactly why I came to Yale Medical School. Additionally, I'd like to applaud the entire staff of Yale Medicine for tackling and publishing such a highly debated issue.

After sitting through many meetings and informal discussions regarding the issues that have been raised in our mailing and in the recent article in Yale Medicine [“Everyone Loves the Yale System. …,” Autumn 2002], it is clear that many questions are yet to be answered about the future of the System. Therefore I highly encourage all alumni and friends of the Yale System to continue to be involved and interested in the shaping of the Yale System throughout the 21st century. Your support will be invaluable in ensuring the existence of the System for generations to come (especially for my grandchildren, who will undoubtedly want to attend Yale Medical School!).

Nick Countryman, Class of 2004
New Haven

Discussion belongs in an alumni magazine

I think Yale Medicine has become progressively better in the last few years. The article by Gerry Burrow on Winternitz and the discussion of the Yale System were especially interesting and belong in an alumni publication, as do the many articles on cutting-edge activities at Yale.

Herbert J. Kaufmann, M.D. ’59
Mount Kisco, N.Y.

An interesting program in store for Alumni Weekend

I’d like to take advantage of the pages of Yale Medicine to remind my friends and colleagues of Alumni Weekend on Friday and Saturday June 6 and 7. Over the course of three days you’ll have an opportunity to visit the new education and research building at 300 Cedar Street, which began filling up with scientists and laboratories in the spring. On Saturday, our symposium will feature discussions of Infectious Disease’s Impact on Society and Public Safety.

Festivities will start on Friday with the traditional New England Clambake and continue Saturday with private class gatherings. Our hospitality tent on Harkness Lawn will be open for respite and refreshments and a chance to meet current medical students who will be happy to assist you with any special requests you may have.

For all of us Alumni Weekend is a time to celebrate our accomplishments and share insights and reflections with one another.

Francis Coughlin, M.D. ’52
New Canaan, Conn.

From the Editor:

A new world view

This issue’s cover stories from Russia mark a new chapter in Yale Medicine’s efforts to report on the activities of Yale doctors around the globe. For several years now, the magazine has provided glimpses of medicine and life abroad through the eyes of traveling medical students, residents, professors and alumni in its “Letter from …” series. This time, we report directly from the former Soviet Union on two major Yale initiatives in medical education and public health.

That we can bring you these stories is testament to the skill and stamina of the two journalists who traveled last fall on assignment to Kazan and St. Petersburg—and a bit of good timing. Contributor Anne Thompson was working in The Associated Press’ Berlin bureau during the German elections in September and was able to travel from there to Kazan, site of a decade-long exchange with the Department of Internal Medicine. Associate Editor John Curtis photographed her report from the Tatar capital, where Yale faculty, experts in clinical investigation and evidence-based medicine, are helping their Russian counterparts reconnect with Western science following more than 70 years of near-isolation.

Timing worked again in our favor when we learned that Public Health Dean Michael Merson would be in St. Petersburg the following week to hammer out details of Russia’s first master of public health degree training program, focused largely on infectious and chronic disease prevention. Curtis hopped on an overnight train to Moscow, then a second one to St. Petersburg, and saw firsthand how faculty from New Haven are working with scientists there to stem the spread of AIDS in Russia, home of one of the world’s fastest-growing epidemics.

In these turbulent times, both stories reflect the tremendous interest at Yale in the larger world around us and the ways in which we can influence it as a force for knowledge and human progress. It’s worth noting that the ways in which that interest is expressed can be explored through a new university website launched in March. “Yale and the World” (www.world.yale.edu) is the university’s central resource for information about international programs and contains a searchable database of faculty research around the world. There you’ll find the projects in Kazan and St. Petersburg along with hundreds more in medicine, health and science across the globe. It’s a growing list and one we hope will stimulate your own global thinking. If you have an international project brewing, we’d like to know about it. I hope you’ll drop us a line.

Michael Fitzsousa
michael.fitzsousa@yale.edu