Medical College of Virginia - X Ray Yearbook (Richmond, VA)

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j; ivteaaucu n n, Dr. Simon Baruch graduated from the Medical College of Virginia in 1862 and served as a surgeon in the Confederate Army. During his subsequent professional career he wrote several classical works on the application of water for therapeutic purposes and became Professor of Hydrotherapy at Columbia University. Later he was associated with the Saratoga Spa. His pioneer work in physical medicine won for him the title of Father of Hydrotherapy in America. Mr. Bernard M. Baruch, the son, though not a physician, acquired from his father a sustained and unquenchable interest in the same field. In 1929, in response to a message from Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Legis- lature of the State of New York created a special commission to study the opportunities for the development of the Spa facilities at Saratoga. With Bernard M. Baruch as chairman, the Baruch Commission proposed a pro- gram which was declared by subsequent legislative enactment in 1930 to be a part of the public health policy of the State. Thus, from time to time, despite other duties, Mr. Baruch aided in the gradual evolution of physical medicine. His interest culminated in the fall of 1943 with the appointment of a distinguished Committee on Physical Medicine, to study and report on what further should be done to insure a sound, scientific development of this branch of medical practice which had assumed a new and urgent importance because of the physical rehabilitation problems arising out of the military and industrial manpower shortages of the War. Editor ' s Note: The help of Dr. Frances A. Hellebrandt and her Technician Staff, Dr. Ernst Fischer, Dr William T Sanger, Dr. J. C. Elsom, Mr. Clifton B. Cosby, Mr. Frank Dement,, and Mr. A. C. Ford in the preparation of this section is 9 ratefully acknowledged. The art work related to Physical Medicine was done by Sergeant Edward Paier, of McGuire General Hospital.

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BERNARD MANNES BARUCH -humanitarian and v cn era clot or Vlankind this volume is gratefully dedicated

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Reception room of the Baruch Center of Physical Medicine in which hangs a fine reproduction of a portrait of Dr. Simon Baruch and a bronze memorial plaque given to the Medical College of Virginia by Dr. Moses Benmosche, a distinguished alumnus HE Report of the Baruch Committee on Physical Medicine, submitted in April, 1944, led Mr. Baruch to offer substantial financial support to selected centers for the work proposed. At the Medical College of Virginia, one of these centers, we of the newly organized Baruch Center of Physical Medicine are in agreement that the best way to show our appreciation is to obtain the largest possible return from the funds expended. We thank Mr. Baruch most sincerely, and set forth the following tentative program: I. RESEARCH The empiricism of physical medicine has been its major limitation, delaying acceptance and hindering development in line with the forward march of biological and medical science. The Medical College of Virginia has therefore accepted the establishment of basic and clinical research laboratories as its first obligation. Toward this end it has appointed a team of three workers, composed of a physiologist, a physicist, and a clinician, who will set up an integrated investigative program. The objectives of this group embrace not only the addition to human knowledge through the fundamental study of physical agents and how they affect living tissues, but the application of things learned to the alleviation of the suffering of the maimed and the sick. The laboratories are now housed in the north wing of the fifth floor of the Clinic Building. The basic research laboratory has been func- tioning since early summer. The physics laboratory and shop are now being equipped. The full co-ordinated research program must await the parallel development of the Hospital Division ' s clinical program.