SUNY Downstate Medical Center - Iatros Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

Page 17 text:

Our efforts are directed toward constructive change. The word change frightens and disturbs many people, to whom it connotes turmoil, flux, un- certainty. Yet, without change there is no evolution; and the earth itself would remain a small, wet rock revolving in space. Man is the first organism on earth to have the potential to order his own evolution, to concejve prin- ciples of orderlv change. Up to the present, evolution has proceeded by trial and error, and it is still highly questionable whether man will seize its reins or simplv prove to be a dead end of the process, self-eradicated from the face of the earth. He who never disturbs the status quo runs little risk of offend- ing, but leaves little impression on his world. He who agitates for new things runs much risk of offending; but he has an immeasurably greater potential for advancing causes, and even in failure his action is instructive. Change is difficult. It involves work that is often unfruitful, hopes that are often frustrated, confrontation that often leaves bitterness in its wake, failures that leave behind weariness and cynicism. But there is no standing still. If the struggle is not to improve, decay and deterioration will inevitably ensue. And so the struggle must be. The class of 1970 is involved both in pride and in change: we are proud of our efforts to bring about meaningful change in the institution which has of- fered us our professional training. There are many dedicated educators and administrators here who have been leaders in this same effort. While ac- knowledging them, we note that the present graduating class has had the pride in Downstate and its potential to devote a great deal of their time and energy to programs to improve our educational experience. We feel these ef- forts have offered much of the impetus to the changes of the 70 ' s. Thus, we dedicate latros 1970 to the class of 1970, the class of change. The Staff

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R. JANET WATSON, M.D. 1913-1969 We are here today to pay tribute to Janet Watson, a dear friend and colleague, who achieved international recognition for her scientific achievements and more immediately the enduring love and respect of her students, relatives and friends. Janet was born in Fenchow, China, in 1913, of medical missionary parents. Her education through high school was carried out by her mother. That this parental education was excellent is substantiated by her election to Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year at C arleton College from which she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Janet travelled east to study medicine and received her Doctor of Medicine from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1938. This was followed by an internship, with residencies in pediatrics and internal medicine at tlie Long Island College Hospital. At this point in her career, she expressed an interest in hematology and was sent to Boston for a post doctoral fellowship in hematology with Dr. George Minot and Dr. William Castle at the Thorndike Laboratories of the Harvard Medical School. Janet returned to the Long Island College of Medicine, which was to become the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, to become an As- sociate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and then achieved similar rank in the Department of Pediatrics. It was here as the author and co- author of almost 50 scientific papers that she received world-wide recognition for her studies of the anemias and pioneered in Sickle Cell Disease. Her vast fund of knowledge, coupled to a probing, scientific mind, with a fine sense of timing, made her a keen and sympathetic clinician. Above all, Janet Watson remained a devoted teacher and friend, whose warmth and charm was felt by all fortunate to come in contact with her. This is never more clearly identified than by her effort to learn the names of every student in her laboratory the first week of class. Graduate students came to her from all over the world and went to their respec- tive lands stimulated and inspired to carry out her teachings. Her universahty will be achieved through her academic progeny. Throughout, she remained humble to her achievements and kept close ties to her mother, her brother Ted, and sisters Edith and Margery. Apart from medicine, she lo ed nature in general, and ornithology in particular. She rarely missed a weekend of hiking with the Brooklyn Bird Club, observing and taking census through the seasons. The year book of this medical school was dedicated to her in 1951 and 1964. A portion of the last dedication best illustrates Janet Watson as the brilliant humanist we all remember: To salute Doctor Janet Watson as a dedicatee of the 1964 Lichonian is to pay tribute to an individual who fulfills without question the criteria which we set forth as our goals. The sensitive and knowing hand of the healer, the keen insight and ever probing mind of the .scientist, the encyclopedic knowledge and earnest concern of the teacher, the patient ear and reassuring voice of the sincere advisor and friend: these are the inspiring qualities which spring from the very nature of this selfless physician and gracious lady whom we have come to know and regard with deep respect and true affection. Eulogy by Austin Fink, M.D.