Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 1971

Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences was one of five new departments created in 1971 by Dean Redlich. Previously Opthalmology had been a section within the Department of Surgery. Marvin L. Sears, who joined the faculty in 1961, became the first chair. Ophthalmology had been introduced as a separate subject in the Yale medical curriculum as far back as 1876.

In this photograph of the department, taken about 1971, Marvin Sears is in the front row, fourth from the left.

Department of Laboratory Medicine, 1971: David Seligson, First Chair

Before becoming an autonomous section in 1965, Laboratory Medicine had been known as the Section of Clinical Pathology of the Department of Medicine. David Seligson, who had been a member of the Department of Medicine and director of laboratories for the hospital since 1958, became chair of the new department.

Department of Anesthesiology, 1971: Nicholas M. Greene, First Chair

Established in 1971 as a full department, Anesthesiology had previously been a section of the Department of Surgery. Nicholas M. Greene, a member of the Yale faculty and Director of Anesthesiology at Grace-New Haven Hospital since 1955, became the first chair.

Department of Dermatology, 1971: Aaron Lerner, First Chair

The Department of Dermatology was one of five departments established in 1971. Previously, dermatology had been a section in the Department of Internal Medicine. Aaron B. Lerner, who became the first director of the division in 1956, was appointed chair of the new department. This photograph was taken in 1971.

Department of Neurology, 1971

The Department of Neurology was established in 1971. Previously, it had been part of the Department of Internal Medicine. Gilbert H. Glaser, who had joined the Yale faculty in 1952, became first chair of the department.

Lewis Thomas, Dean from 1972 to 1973

Lewis Thomas was born in Flushing, New York, in 1913. Thomas received his B.S. degree from Princeton University in 1933 and his M.D. degree from Harvard in 1937. Before joining the faculty at New York University School of Medicine, where he served as dean from 1966 to 1969, he was a visiting investigator at the Rockefeller Institute, served in World War II, and was on the faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, at Tulane University School of Medicine, and at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Thomas came to Yale in 1969 as chair of the Department of Pathology. In 1972, he was asked by Yale President Kingman Brewster to take the deanship. Thomas reluctantly agreed, but asked to retain his post as chair of pathology and to continue his research. In 1973, he was offered, and accepted, the position of Director of Sloan-Kettering Memorial Hospital in New York. Thomas was awarded more than 20 honorary degrees for his scientific work as well as for literature. Outside the medical profession, he was best known for his essays, first written for The New England Journal of Medicine and later collected into books, including The Lives of the Cell and The Medusa and the Snail. Lewis Thomas died in 1993.

Robert Berliner, Dean from 1973 to 1984

A native of New York City, Robert Berliner received his B.S. degree from Yale in 1936 and his M.D. degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, in 1939. After completing his internship at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, Berliner held positions at New York University College of Medicine and Columbia University. In 1950, he became chief of the Laboratory of Kidney and Electrolyte Metabolism at the National Heart Institute. He served in a series of leadership positions at NIH, including deputy director of science, and was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences for his work on renal physiology. Berliner became dean of the Yale School of Medicine in 1973. Upon his retirement eleven years later, Yale University President Giamatti cited his accomplishments as dean: "Under Bob Berliner's leadership, the School has become one of the top two or three institutions in America in terms of hosting research supported by peer reviewed grants. He has overseen the creation of outstanding teaching facilities in the Hope Building, the renewal of in-patient teaching facilities at the Yale-New Haven Hospital, the development of the Faculty Practice Plan, and the establishment of the first major fund-raising campaign in the history of the School."

Arthur Ebbert, First Deputy Dean, 1974

Arthur Ebbert, professor of medicine, served as the Yale School of Medicine's first deputy dean from 1974 to 1987. Before being appointed to that position, he was assistant and associate dean. He served a total of 34 years in the dean's office under five medical school deans. "Ask Art Ebbert" became the refrain in the School of Medicine during the Ebbert era from 1953 to 1987. A native of Wheeling, West Virginia, Ebbert received his B.A. and M.D. degrees from the University of Virginia. When he joined the Yale faculty in 1953 as instructor in medicine, he was also asked to serve in the dean's office as assistant dean for postgraduate medical education. Among his many contributions, he edited the Alumni Bulletin and its successor, Yale Medicine, from 1954 to 1987. In recognition of Ebbert's extraordinary and unparalleled contributions and service to the Yale School of Medicine, the third-floor lounge in the Hope Building has been named the Arthur Ebbert Lounge.

James P. Comer, Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry and first African-American Full Professor, 1975

James P. Comer, director of the school development program at the Child Study Center and associate director for student affairs, became the first African-American professor in the Yale School of Medicine in 1975. Comer grew up in East Chicago, graduated from Indiana University in 1956, and received his M.D. degree from Howard University College of Medicine in 1960. He came to Yale in 1964, first as a resident and then as a fellow in psychiatry at the Yale-New Haven Hospital and at the Yale Child Study Center. After completing a Masters of Public Health degree at the University of Michigan, Comer returned to Yale where, in 1968, he started a model intervention program sponsored jointly by the Yale Child Study Center and the New Haven School System for improving the education and mental health of inner-city children. The program emphasized social skills and used a management team composed of school administrators, teachers, and parents. The improvements in student performance were dramatic and the program is now used in schools around the country. Comer is the author of many scientific papers and several books, including Beyond Black and White, Black Child Care, and School Power: Implications of an Intervention Project. His memoir Maggie's American Dream: The Life and Times of a Black Family, is a tribute to his parents and the influence of family involvement in the battle against poverty and despair.

Beaumont Medical Club, 1977

The Beaumont Medical Club, a private organization, was organized in 1920 for the purpose of promoting interest in the history of medicine and allied sciences. Named for William Beaumont, an Army surgeon from Connecticut and pioneer physiologist who investigated the physiology of digestion, the Club meets regularly in the Yale Medical Historical Library for the presentation of papers. In 1822, an accidental gunshot wounded a French-Canadian guide, Alexis St. Martin. Although the wound healed, it left a permanent fistula. For the next ten years, Beaumont periodically examined the patient, studying the gastric juice and digestive process. Beaumont's book Experiments and observations on the gastric juice and the physiology of digestion published in 1833 is considered a medical classic. This photograph of the members of the Beaumont Medical Club in the Beaumont Room before a portrait of Beaumont was taken in September 1977.

First row: A.S. Evans, J.W. Meigs, D.F. Miller, Madeline E. Stanton, Elizabeth H. Thomson, Lucia Fulton, William W.L. Glenn, Ulrich H. Weil.

Second row: L.H. Wardner, John D. Thompson, D. Crombie, R.S. Beckett, J.A. Kirchner, A. Bouhuys, Sherwin B. Nuland, Thomas R. Forbes, Arthur J. Viseltear, W.G. Downs, Dorothy Horstmann, Ferenc Gyorgyey, Martin E. Gordon, N. Canfield, Alvan R. Feinstein, H. Mark. Photo by R.D. Smith.

Class of 1976, 25th Reunion Class

Class of 1981

We would have liked to have included a picture of the Class of 1981 in our exhibit, but the Historical Library does not own a copy. If a graduate of this class is viewing this exhibit and you have a class picture you can lend, we would like very much to copy it and return it to you.