175 Years, 175 Stories: Part 2
FIRSTS
Photo credit: U-M Bentley Historical Library
2
Researcher, civil rights leader, mayor
In 1944, Albert Wheeler earned a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Wheeler went on to become the first Black tenured professor at the Medical School in the newly formed field of microbiology. His research focused on developing tests to detect syphilis and a vaccine to prevent it. Outside of the lab, Wheeler and his wife, Emma, advocated for civil rights at U-M and in Ann Arbor. They helped found the Ann Arbor chapter of the NAACP and their activism resulted in the city adopting the state’s first fair housing ordinance. In 1975, Wheeler was elected as Ann Arbor’s first and only Black mayor.
FIRSTS
2
Researcher, civil rights leader, mayor
In 1944, Albert Wheeler earned a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Wheeler went on to become the first Black tenured professor at the Medical School in the newly formed field of microbiology. His research focused on developing tests to detect syphilis and a vaccine to prevent it. Outside of the lab, Wheeler and his wife, Emma, advocated for civil rights at U-M and in Ann Arbor. They helped found the Ann Arbor chapter of the NAACP and their activism resulted in the city adopting the state’s first fair housing ordinance. In 1975, Wheeler was elected as Ann Arbor’s first and only Black mayor.
3
ZEBRAFISH FOR CANCER RESEARCH
A. Thomas Look (M.D. 1975, Fellowships 1976 and 1977, Residency 1977) is professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and vice chair for research in the pediatric oncology department at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Look’s research focuses on cancer genetics, using the zebrafish genetic system, to clarify developmental pathways subverted in human leukemias and solid tumors. He and his colleagues hope to discover mutations or drugs that delay or suppress the onset of tumors in transgenic zebrafish lines, providing candidate targets for the development of new therapies.
Source: Medicine at Michigan, Fall 2020
4
POLIO SURVIVOR AND RHEUMATOLOGIST
Early on in her life, Donita B. Sullivan, M.D. (Residency 1959), wanted to be a nurse, but one of her legs had been paralyzed by polio, and the profession seemed too physically challenging. Instead, she went to medical school and became one of the first pediatric rheumatologists in the U.S. “The fact that I got in on the ground floor of pediatric rheumatology was a bonus, but I was not a basic science researcher. I was a clinical investigator. Taking care of my patients, I could learn things I could share,” she said. During her career at U-M, she helped thousands of children and trained many physicians who went on to head departments at other institutions. In 2009, the U-M Department of Pediatrics established the Donita B. Sullivan, M.D., Research Professorship in Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases.
Source: U-M Department of Pediatrics and Michigan Medicine Office of Development
Natacha Chough (right) assists Expedition 59 crew member Anne McClain of NASA outside the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft after its landing on June 25, 2019. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
We walk into Mission Control … knowing that our performance can have ultimate consequences. [That] challenges me daily to keep my skills and knowledge polished.
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— Natacha Chough (M.D. 2010), a flight surgeon at NASA. At U-M, Chough excelled in emergency medicine and helped resurrect the Wilderness Medicine Student Interest Group, where she practiced what she calls “MacGyver medicine,” giving her a chance to work in unpredictable environments.
Source: Medicine at Michigan, Winter 2017
FIRSTS
6
Father of aviation medicine
Brigadier General Theodore C. Lyster (M.D. 1899) established a U.S. Army lab in 1918 for aviation medicine, insisting that military aviation physicians become members of the flying squadrons. He created the first position of flight surgeon, a role dedicated to preventing and treating ailments that flight crews are susceptible to, and he planned and directed the U.S. Army Air Medical Service.
Source: “World War I and the Beginnings of Aviation Medicine,” Air Force Medical Service History Office, September 2017
FIRSTS
6
Father of aviation medicine
Brigadier General Theodore C. Lyster (M.D. 1899) established a U.S. Army lab in 1918 for aviation medicine, insisting that military aviation physicians become members of the flying squadrons. He created the first position of flight surgeon, a role dedicated to preventing and treating ailments that flight crews are susceptible to, and he planned and directed the U.S. Army Air Medical Service.
Source: “World War I and the Beginnings of Aviation Medicine,” Air Force Medical Service History Office, September 2017
7
PROTEIN FOLDING DISCOVERY
Raymond W. Ruddon’s (Ph.D. 1964, M.D. 1967) research focused on the biosynthesis, assembly, folding, and secretion of glycoprotein hormones. His laboratory was the first to demonstrate the folding pathway of a human protein inside an intact cell. He authored more than 100 scientific papers and five books, including the widely used oncology textbook Cancer Biology.
HOW MUCH IS THAT IN TODAY'S DOLLARS?
By various estimates, Elizabeth Bates’ $200,000 gift in 1898 would be the equivalent of anywhere from $7.9 million to $69.1 million in 2025.
Source: Measuring Worth
TRANSFORMATIVE PHILANTHROPY
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U-M treatment of women inspires major gift
“Her gift was a complete surprise to the university and as far as anyone knows, she had never visited the university or even Ann Arbor,” said Timothy R.B. Johnson, M.D., the late Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus and professor emeritus of obstetrics and gynecology. “It seems that the only connection was that Dr. Bates wanted to make it easier for women to study medicine and respected the University of Michigan as the first institution whose medical school treated women equally to men.”
In 1898, Elizabeth Bates, M.D., bequeathed a large portion of her estate to the medical department of what was then Michigan University. Her gift was valued at over $200,000, a huge sum at that time and the largest bequest the university had received. Her gift created the university’s first endowed professorship, the Bates Professorship of Diseases of Women and Children, which has supported leaders in obstetrics and gynecology for more than a century. Today, the Medical School has 479 professorships created through philanthropy.
Source: “125 Years of Impact” (Philanthropy News story)
TRANSFORMATIVE PHILANTHROPY
8
U-M treatment of women inspires major gift
“Her gift was a complete surprise to the university and as far as anyone knows, she had never visited the university or even Ann Arbor,” said Timothy R.B. Johnson, M.D., the late Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus and professor emeritus of obstetrics and gynecology. “It seems that the only connection was that Dr. Bates wanted to make it easier for women to study medicine and respected the University of Michigan as the first institution whose medical school treated women equally to men.”
In 1898, Elizabeth Bates, M.D., bequeathed a large portion of her estate to the medical department of what was then Michigan University. Her gift was valued at over $200,000, a huge sum at that time and the largest bequest the university had received. Her gift created the university’s first endowed professorship, the Bates Professorship of Diseases of Women and Children, which has supported leaders in obstetrics and gynecology for more than a century. Today, the Medical School has 479 professorships created through philanthropy.
Source: “125 Years of Impact” (Philanthropy News story)
9
THE POWER OF KINDNESS
At age 14, Claire Pomeroy (M.D. 1979) escaped her abusive home. She ended up in the foster care system, where she says she first got a glimpse of the social determinants of health. She recounted her story in 2012 as part of a TEDx talk at University of California-Davis. “Being a foster child taught me a lot,” she told the audience. “It taught me how life traumas have long-lasting impacts. It taught me about race and equality and social justice. And it taught me that reaching out in kindness can literally save a life.” She finished her training in infectious disease just as the HIV/AIDS epidemic was beginning, and she started an HIV/AIDS clinic at the VA. At the time, there were no treatments for these patients, and many of them were being rejected by friends and family for being gay. “By caring for others who experienced cruelty and adversity, I was given the opportunity to repay the kindness that had been shown to me.” Since then, Pomeroy has been an advocate for strengthening public health infrastructure in the U.S. and globally. She is now president and CEO of the Lasker Foundation, which promotes medical research.
10
CYTOCHROME P450
Minor Jesser “Jud” Coon, Ph.D., the Victor C. Vaughan Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Biological Chemistry, began his career at U-M in 1955. He served as chair of the Department of Biological Chemistry for 20 years. Coon is best known for his pioneering work with the cytochrome P450 system. He initially isolated this compound, which has become known as the metabolism system for medications, hormones, toxins, and other substances.
Source: Medicine at Michigan, Winter 2019
11
NUCLEAR MEDICINE INNOVATOR
As a faculty member at the Medical School, William H. Beierwaltes (M.D. 1941) established one of the first university programs in nuclear medicine in the world. Following the publication of a book he co-authored in 1957, radioiodine (I-131) was widely adopted as a treatment for thyroid cancer, and it is still used today. Beierwaltes also was the driving force behind the development of two radiopharmaceuticals for adrenal imaging, which were among the first molecular imaging agents to visualize biologic processes at the cellular and subcellular levels.
Sources: U-M Nuclear Medicine
12
Swinging pediatric radiologist
Starting in high school, John F. “Jack” Holt, M.D. (Residency 1941), played the saxophone and sang in swing bands. The gigs helped him pay for school, and he considered a career in music, until the day he saw a Pennsylvania orchestra. “They had the local barber as vocalist; his name was Perry Como,” Holt recalled. He decided he couldn’t compete with talent like that and went on to become a leader in pediatric radiology, helping to establish the field. He trained hundreds of radiologists during his 40-year career at U-M and was beloved by his colleagues, who, after his death in 1996, began contributing toward a professorship in his name. The John F. Holt Collegiate Professorship in Radiology was inaugurated in 2004.
Source: Holt Professorship website
Radiologists are part of the care team — and in many cases a very pivotal part … but patients have very little opportunity to actually meet a radiologist. ... I think radiology increasingly recognizes it needs to be a patient- and family-centered discipline.
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Ella Kazerooni (M.D. 1988, Residency 1992), the Terry M. Silver M.D. Collegiate Professor of Radiology and professor of internal medicine.
Source: “Why Radiologists Should Make Their Practice More Personal,” Michigan Medicine Health Lab blog, November 2016
The AZT collaboration stimulated a lot of science, and laid the foundation for better drugs in the future. And it also provided patients with a measure of hope, at a time when there was none.
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Samuel Broder (B.S. 1966, M.D. 1970) co-developed AZT, the first antiretroviral medication used to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS. Broder later served as director of the National Cancer Institute
15
Nobel Winner
Two years after Marshall Nirenberg (Ph.D. 1957) finished his doctorate in biological chemistry, he began to study the relationships between DNA, RNA, and protein. Nirenberg replicated the cellular mechanism that translated the information contained in DNA into a protein, a process mediated by RNA. By 1966, Nirenberg had deciphered the 64 RNA three-letter code words (codons) for all 20 amino acids. They now understood the language of DNA and the code could be expressed in a chart. In 1968, he shared the Nobel Prize with two competing scientists “for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis.”
Source: Michigan Alum magazine
16
PETITIONING THE SUPREME COURT FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Born in Coldwater, Michigan, Allen Campbell Barnes, M.D., completed his residency at the Medical School in the late 1930s. During his career at Johns Hopkins University, he became a well-known obstetrics and gynecology expert, seeking improvements in prenatal care and arguing that preventive medicine could lessen the risk of infant mortality. He was part of a group of academic leaders who petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court in 1965 to strike down the Connecticut law that prohibited the use of contraceptive devices by anyone, including married couples.
17
THE WOMEN'S RESEARCH CLUB
In the late 1800s, women had been refused entry into the Junior Research Club for younger teaching and research staff at the Medical School. Lydia Maria DeWitt (M.D. 1898), who had joined the faculty as a histology researcher and teacher after graduation, founded the Women’s Research Club in 1902 and was elected the first president. The club provided an environment for women who conducted scientific research or were pursuing scientific studies to present and discuss their work.
Source: “Leaders and Best: Milestones in the history of women in medicine at U-M,” Michigan Medicine
18
NURSING GREAT
Jo Anne Horsley, Ph.D., was best known for the innovative Conduct and Utilization of Research in Nursing project. CURN, which Horsley co-led, may have been the first funded initiative aimed at bridging the gap between nursing research and clinical practice. The project is still cited today. She was proud to have graduated three times from U-M (B.S.N. 1962, M.S. 1968, Ph.D. 1971).
Source: Dignity Memorial Obituary
Credit for Mott photo: Chris Hedly, Michigan Medicine, Regents of the University of Michigan
19
Building a future for families
“To be with your child all day and night, have your own bathroom, be in the room, was overwhelming to parents who need every little reinforcement you can give. In the old facility, they were packed three or four in a room, so they couldn’t have privacy and couldn’t sleep there with their baby. The new hospital was so well planned for the families,” says Edward Bove, M.D. (Residency 1977 and 1979), reflecting on the completion of the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital building. Bove was named the inaugural chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery in 2011, the year the building was completed, and he performed his 10,000th cardiac procedure there in 2012.
A renowned pediatric cardiology surgeon, Bove was instrumental in helping to improve the survival rates of children born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. About 40 years ago, there were no surgical options. The early days of refining surgical procedures for this condition were heartbreaking for Bove, as very few children survived. One child made it a year but died a month after a second surgery. “I was ready to quit,” Bove says. “But I got a letter from that child’s mom and dad thanking me for the nearly one year they had with their child, and [they] told me to keep trying, to not give up. It was very emotional, and I never forgot that.” In 2021, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital reported a 97% survival rate. “You don’t operate on a baby. You operate on a family. I can’t ever tell you what that feeling is like.”
Sources: How a village did the right thing for women and children,” Medicine at Michigan, Winter 2022; Michigan Medicine Health Lab
Bove with a patient at Michigan Medicine.
There’s a lot of positive tech for kids out there, but algorithms are amplifying the garbage. Platforms elevate the most ‘engaging’ media, amplifying the apps and videos engineered to keep kids’ attention for longer.
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Jenny Radesky, M.D., the David G. Dickinson Collegiate Professor of Pediatrics, was quoted in CNN in 2021, when the pandemic was making it harder for parents to manage their children’s screen time. Radesky has been a major voice in the national conversation on the ways tech companies have manipulated children, and she has advocated for child-centered media and laws that put the onus on tech companies to protect kids.
Source: CNN
21
X-RAY VISION
James Gerrit Van Zwaluwenburg (M.D. 1908) worked as a metallurgical chemist for five years to afford medical school. He went on to become U-M’s first radiologist. Van Zwaluwenburg was an early adopter of X-ray technology, and he made imaging an integral element of clinical diagnoses and patient care at U-M.
Source: “X-Ray Vision,” Medicine at Michigan, Winter 2019
22
THE BEAUTY OF BIOLOGY
Deborah L. Gumucio (Ph.D. 1986) is professor emerita of cell and developmental biology and of internal medicine. Her lab helped identify MEFV, the gene for familial Mediterranean fever, the first autoinflammatory disease gene to be cloned. Gumucio also co-founded BioArtography, a program now housed at the University of Notre Dame in which vividly colored images of cells and tissues are sold to benefit trainee travel and educate the public about scientific discovery.
Source: “Michigan Medicine Alumni Receive 2020 Distinguished Awards,” Medicine at Michigan, Fall 2020
Neurons created by reprogramming the skin cells of a patient with bipolar disorder. The green sections are neuron cell bodies, and the red and purple sections are neurites, which form a network to relay chemical signals between neurons. Image by Cynthia DeLong, Ph.D., a research lab specialist in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.
FIRSTS
23
Open-heart surgery
Herbert Sloan, M.D. (Residency 1949), was a major leader in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. While on faculty at the Medical School, he performed the first successful open-heart surgery in the state of Michigan in 1956, and he was first to perform the challenging procedure on an infant in 1960.
Source: Ann Arbor News obituary
FIRSTS
23
Open-heart surgery
Herbert Sloan, M.D. (Residency 1949), was a major leader in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. While on faculty at the Medical School, he performed the first successful open-heart surgery in the state of Michigan in 1956, and he was first to perform the challenging procedure on an infant in 1960.
Source: Ann Arbor News obituary
24
UROLOGY LEGACY
In 1930, Reed M. Nesbit, M.D., became head of urology at the Medical School, a position he held for 37 years. During his tenure, he achieved national and international recognition for his work in endoscopic surgery to treat prostatic disease. In 1957, he established a hemodialysis unit at University Hospital, which was unusual for being run by surgeons and not internists. Nesbit became president of the American College of Surgeons in 1967, the first urologist to hold that position. He trained more than 80 residents, at least 18 of whom became chiefs of urology at medical schools in the U.S. and abroad. In 1972, faculty and residents who worked with Nesbit founded the Reed M. Nesbit Urologic Society. In 2007, the Reed M. Nesbit Professorship in Urology was established at U-M in his honor.
Source: U-M Department of Urology
Most of the time, certainly in the physician population, depression is due to the toxic system and working excessive, and sometimes inhumane, hours. [Interns are] not more vulnerable people, but they’ve gone from living a normal life to working 80 hours a week and not sleeping enough.
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Srijan Sen (M.D. and Ph.D. 2005), director of the Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg and Family Depression Center and director of the Intern Health Study, which is investigating the interplay of genes and stress in the development of depression.
Source: Medicine at Michigan, Summer 2024