48MD

What is your hometown?

Malvern, Iowa

How/when did you become interested in science and medicine?

My father and grandfathers were physicians, and I also had two cousins that were physicians.

What interested you to pursue a career in medicine and medical education?

My family was involved in medicine, and I was a twig happily bent that direction. I was always really interested in medicine and science.

Please highlight your major career achievements, awards, discoveries, etc.

I was elected to AOA and was a well regarded practitioner of internal medicine.

In my 2nd year of active Army duty military service during the Korean War. I was assigned to care for sick North Korean army prisoners at a 2000 bed hospital on Koje Island. Many were in poor condition at time of capture; tuberculosis and parasitic diseases were quite common. After the war we transported them to the demilitarized zone, where they were given the choice to return to North Korea or resettle in South Korea. I remained in the Army Medical Reserve, and was retired as a Lt. Colonel.

After my retirement from practicing with the Olmsted Medical Group in 1990, I became restless, so I joined the Medical Staff of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons Federal Medical Center in Rochester for five years. I served as a general Internist and Medical Consultant to the Psychiatric Section.

Is there a teacher, mentor or University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine faculty member who has helped shape your education?

Drs. Emory Warner (27BS, 29MD), Fred Stamler (39BA, 43MD) and Jack Layton (43MD) taught me pathology from 1948-49. They helped me realize that I preferred patients who converse.

How or why did you choose the University of Iowa for your education and medical training?

I started at the University of Iowa in September of 1942 during WWII. I was 17, but was allowed to stay in school because of my pre-medical studies, and then was rushed academically to medical school in 1944. My first college break was my sophomore year of medical school; but I was considered to be very lucky by all, especially WWII soldiers.

What kind of professional opportunities or advantages has your University of Iowa medical training provided?

Iowa gave me a vast clinical array in a pleasant university town.

Please describe your professional interests.

I have interests in the liver and in blood diseases, but like being a generalist.

What are some of your outside interests?

I like classical music, fishing, sailing, gardening, reading, traveling and learning.

Do you have an insight or philosophy that guides you in your professional work?

To help patients learn about how things have become amiss with their body workings, and how to best tackle these problems.

If you could change one thing about the practice or business of medicine, what would it be?

Improve ways for patients to pay for needed care and as a practitioner, to be aware and appreciative of the vast array of costs entailed in providing such care.

What is the biggest change you've experienced in medicine since you were a student?

Increasing complexity and cost.

What one piece of advice would you give to today's medical students?

Never stop being a student; and give loving care to the fellow human beings that you have the responsibility to care for.

What do you see as "the future" of the medicine?

There is increasing complexity in medicine and that won’t change. But it’s important to give patients the necessary understanding of what’s going on and helpful ways to cope - financially, intellectually and emotionally.