Drexel University College of Medicine - Medic Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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TO THE CLASS OF 1951: The members of the Senior Class have reached another milestone in their professional careers and are about to join the large family of Alumni, now numbering well over 6,000, who have graduated from The Hahnemann Medical College in 103 years. As always, in a large family, the youngest child enjoys the favoritism and careful attention of the other members of the family, and the 104th class is no exception. The daily greetings of your colleagues, students and faculty, in the classrooms, wards, laboratories, clinics and library, all so routinely experienced and, perhaps, almost unnoticed, will become cherished memories. While you may not realize it now, your lives are richer for having had these friendships while your character and poise for a serious and crowded life have been passing through a formative and impressionable stage. Graduation is a momentous and joyous occasion. There is a realization of readiness to apply one's knowledge and skill in service to mankind and the community. One should not lose sight of the responsibilities of becoming a physician. The first responsibility is to acquire the knowledge and skill in rendering professional services: that is, the care of the sick. Second, there is ct real obligation to stimulate learning and to instruct those now in training in the fields of the health sciences, as you assume your place in practice, hospital staff and the public health activities of the community. The responsibility of the physician is not fully consummated when he only applies knowledge and skill to current problems, or participates in instruction to others. The full pro- fessional life must include an individual share of the effort toward the contribu- tion of newer knowledge. In effect, the physician should strive to be a splendid clinician, a good teacher and participate in research to the best of his ability. The troubled and unsettled state of affairs throughout the world today makes it impossible to predict all of the influences and events that may come to bear upon your professional lives. One can only hope that your individual plans for the future will be disturbed to a minimum. Each and every one of you has my sincere congratulations and very best wishes for a long. happy, prosperous, and fruitful life. Charles L. Brown, M.D., Dean

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CHARLES L. BROWN, M.D., Dean

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The Class of 1951, composed of more than 70 per cent World War II veterans, entered Hahnemann in time to witness the departure of the last war-time class trained under the Army and Navy at Hahnemann. The ensuing four years have wrought many changes: in the individuals themselves, in our staff, in our surround- ings, and. most certainly not the least, in the status of Hahnemann in the medical world. Guided by a progressive, courage- ous and forward-looking staff, whose am- bitions to practice the best in modern medicine and to bridge the innumerable gaps by which the clinician is still con- founded, we have learned that there is no never and no always in medicine. During our first two years at Hahne- mann we were taught the anatomy and chemistry of the body, with the mechan- isms of normal functions. Then we learned typical disease entities, how to recognize them, what caused them and how they are produced, the pathology wrought by them and, finally, the mechanisms for combat- ing disease. Early we were given an ink- ling that there were numerous exceptions to the precepts we so diligently studied. During our clinical years these exceptions from text-book descriptions of disease entities were forcefully brought to the fore. Here the importance of an intuitive knowledge based on experience was strongly impressed on each of us. I-ls followed the progress of our patients, an 5 reviewed the copious histories which quently extended over a period of yearsfa we learned the difference between the old