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

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'iz I Wang QM., ,A ' W 4, , , f. Wilburt Davison M. D. Of the men this yearbook pays tribute this year. Wilburt Davison was their mentor. Much has been written about him. much more will be written about him in years to come. ln the short space allowed to this salute only a few things can be said. He has been honored by yearbooks in the past and every time a yearbook is published it will in essence be a tribute to him because this medical school has been molded in his image. In 1930 he brought to Duke University its first medical faculty. They were all Johns Hopkins trained. They were young, eager and ambitious. Six years earlier Mr. James B. Duke had signed the indenture authorizing the Schools and Hospital. But establishing a medical curriculum was not an easy task. Dr. Davison and his staff decided to give clinical instruction similar to the programs at St. Bartholomew's and Guy's Hospitals in London and the Massachusetts General and Boston City Hospitals in this country. The staff grew, the patient care became almost fault'ess and medical facilities reached heights unheard of in 1930 under the uncanny wis- J dom and strong leadership of Dr. Davison. Words alone cannot describe how a senior student feels toward the greatness of this man. He relinquished his deanship last year to Dr. Woodhall and shall continue here at Duke as James B. Duke Professor of Pediatrics until retirement. Wilburt Davison was born in Grand Rapids. Michigan in 1892. He received his A.B. from Princeton in l9l3. was a Rhodes Scholar l9l5-17: received a B.A. from Oxford University. England. 1915, B.Sc. l9l6. M.A.. l9l9 and M.D. from Johns Hopkins. l9l7. D.Sc. from Wake Forest University in l932 and LL.D. from the University of North Carolina in 1944. While at Hopkins Dr. Davison worked as head of the Department of Pediatrics and was assistant dean of the Medical School there from l9l9 until he came to Duke to begin the medical school and hospital. Having worked closely with Sir William Osler during his early years. Dr. Davison brought the Oslerian spirit to the Duke University School of Medicine. PNGE

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THE AES C LAPIA SAL TES 1 l There are men and classes of men that stand above the common herd: the soldier, the sailor, and the shepherd not in- frequently, the artist rarely, rarelier still, the clergyman, the phy- sician almost as a rule. He is the flower tsuch as it isj of our civilization, and when that stage of man is done with, and only to be marvelled at in history, he will be thought to have shared as little as any in the defects of the period, and most notably exhibited the virtues of the race. Generosity he has, such as is possible to those who practice an art, nerve to those who desire a tradeg dis- cretion, tested by a hundred secretsg tact, tired in a thousand embarrassmentsg and what are more important, Herocleon cheer- fulness and courage. So that he brings air and cheer into the sick room, and often enough, though not so often as he wishes, brings healing. -ROBERT Louis STEVENSON

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David T. Smith, M. D. Dr. Smith, like the other men we are saluting, was a member of the original group of bright, in- dustrious Hopkins' men that Dr. Davison brought to Duke Hospital in 1930. We of the senior class will long cherish his anecdotes which preceded each of his lectures. Each of us has found Dr. Smith to be not only an astute bacteriologist but a teacher of medicine as well. If an interesting problem arose on the wards, be it bacteriological or surgical, Dr. Smith was always happy to consult with the student. Past president of the National Tuberculosis Associa- tion in 1950, and past president of the American Trudeau Society, Dr. Smith has had time to publish well over 100 research articles as well as to co-author a textbook which is considered most outstanding in its field and is used throughout the nation's medical schools. Dr. Smith was born in Anderson County, South Carolina in 1898. He received his A.B. from Furman in 1918 and his M.D. from Johns Hopkins in l922. He married Susan Gower in 1918 and they have one daughter. Dr. Smithis training at PAGE 24 Johns Hopkins well-equipped him to form and head the Department of Microbiology in 1930. He in- terned in pediatrics, was an assistant in pathology and bacteriology and later went to the Research Laboratories of the New York State Hospital for tuberculosis as its bacteriologist, pathologist and di- rector of research. While at Duke Hospital, he has seen his depart- ment grow to be one of the best in the nation if not the world. Articles have been published on brucel- losis, fungus and other infections, immunology, lung abscesses, nutrition, tuberculosis tDr. Smith has been a major contributor in this fieldj, experimental black- tongue as well as many other subjects. Besides his textbooks, he has written monographs on fungus diseases of the lungs, mycology and fusospirochetal diseases and fourteen chapters or sections in other standard text and reference books. Dr. Smith retired as chairman of the Department a year ago but has retained his full professorship and has recently con- ducted an elective course in diseases of the lungs for Junior and Senior medical students.