Duke University School of Medicine - Aesculapian Yearbook (Durham, NC)

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assisting with the patient's treatment hy furnishing laboratory tests which aid in determining eilectiveness of the patient's therapy. No specialist is called upon for consultation hy others as frequently as is the hospital pathologist. All universities have as one of their chief responsi- bilities the development, dissemination, and application of new knowledge in the various fields of learning. For this reason, the Department of Pathology at Duke Uni- versity maintains an extensive research program. Every ellort is made to provide opportunities lor students and residents to participate in hasic research programs and to develop their own skills and interests in the field. This gives the imaginative young doctor a chance to explore unknown areas of medicine. Research oilt-rs a maior challenge to the physician who desires the eiccitel ment of discovery for experimental medicine is one ol the truly genuine adventures. Ti-iosms D. KINNHY, M.D. Clltlllfllltlfl of the Depizrtnzcnl llUElIl'y-OIIC'

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PATHOLOGT Pathology has been defined as the science which deals with the causes, mechanisms of development and effects of disease. It is the bridge between basic medical science and clinical practice, and the study of Pathology pro- vides the student with his fsirst experiences in his life long study-disease. At a medical school such as Duke much of the departmental effort is devoted to the teach- ing of Pathology to medical students. In addition, because of the large amount of surgical and autopsy material available at Duke, it is possible to maintain a very active graduate training program. Young physi- cians who choose to specialize in Pathology or who wish to receive further grounding in the basic fundaments of disease before entering a clinical speciality spend from one to four years in the department as a member of the house staff. At this stage the training is pre- dominantly by the apprentice approach with close asso- ciation between the resident and senior members of the department. Usually after a period of four years of such training, the resident is eligible for certification by the American Board of Pathology. During this period of training the residents in pathology gain teaching experience so that the majority of those who complete this training continue to hold an academic position in pathology either at Duke or some other medical school. Those residents who go into a clinical specialty after a shorter period of graduate training in Pathology have the security of a fuller and more precise knowledge of disease. Harvey Cushing once wrote that apprentice- ship in the pathological laboratories always has been and always will be the only way to reach the very top either for the surgeon or physicianf' and William Osler claimed that successful knowledge of the infinite variations of disease can only be obtained by a prolonged study of morbid anatomy. ' 'Q' ff .- ' f H'-'Ea,721, . -- ., v 1 V f f.. I 'g - if- 2' cy , - 'QQ , 'Q 0 ' 9 X5 f yfff f, f 5 ff j f 7 ' , V 1 1 I I JSM? .. 1 fyffff f f f rg,-72 1 , 4 fl? QV? , ji. f 'f V A f-f ,WW gf I Jia. I3 ian N A ian I7iz'i 1'iaiz DR. K I N N Ii Y The Practitioner of Pathology specializes in the prac- tice of laboratory medicine for the purpose of providing physicians and surgeons with the scientific information they must have in order to treat their patients most efficiently and successfully. The hospital pathologist is responsible for the identification of the disease process in the surgical specimen removed at operation and for the Final diagnosis at the autopsy table. In many hospitals he also may supervise the laboratories of clinical chemis- try, hematology, and bacteriology as well as the blood bank. The pathologist works in close cooperation with the patient's physician in arriving at a diagnosis and Dia. DONALD B. HACKEL twenty

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MICRGBIOLOGT Infectious diseases are responsible for a high per- centage of the ills which plague mankind. This per- centage has 110i diminished appreciably in spite of the availability and use of specific chemotherapeutic agents. Rather, the widespread indiscriminate use of such agents has created resistant organisms which maintain, if not increase, the infection rate as well as complicate the treat- ment and management of an infected individual. Also, the use of therapeutic or maintenance doses of steroidal compounds in the treatment of chronic debilitating dis- eases predisposes, in many instances, to concurrent in- fections by a variety of organisms probably by inter- fering with the host's immune mechanisms. Since the patient with a straightforward, uncompli- cated infectious disease can be treated effectively at home or in a small community hospital, the majority of the patients seen in a medical center such as our are referred because of such complications as those mentioned above. Therefore, the Department of Microbiology assumes its share of the responsibility for the training of medical students, house officers, postdoctoral fellows and nurses in the diagnosis, treatment and management of infec- tious diseases, while its staff also acts as a consultant to the medical center for those patients presenting extraor- dinary infectious disease problems. Because such pa- tients inevitably stimulate research from which informa- tion of practical value might result, the department maintains facilities wherein such studies may be under- taken and, indeed, every encouragement is given to utilize these facilities for clinical research. ln a university setting such as ours, however, the Department of Microbiology has an additional obliga- tiong namely, to make its several disciplines available to the total community. It accomplishes this purpose Du. Davin T. SMITH fume.: B. Duke Professor f if DR. CONANT by its affiliation with the Graduate School of the Uni- versity. This affiliation is not only desirable but neces- sary for the fullest use of its many disciplines essential to the development and growth of the life sciences. During the past two decades microbiology has as- sumed a unique position among the life sciences by virtue of its great span of living organisms which it makes available to its companion sciences as tools,' to be used for the study of the basic concepts of life. These studies have contributed not only to a more definitive knowledge of life processes via biochemistry but also they have allowed the study of the continuity of life itself to be carried to the molecular level via genetics. In this same setting microbiology must borrow tools provided by its companion life sciences for its own de- velopment and growth. Thus the cycle is completed and a department within a university finds its proper relationship with the total community. NORL'IAN F. CoNANT, PHD. Cfzairmun of the Department lames B. Duke Professor DR. SUYDAM OSTERHOUT fll'fl1f'V-lll'0