New York University School of Medicine - Medical Yearbook (New York, NY)

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JOHN WYCKOFF, M.D. y leader in medical education and 1 sincere friend of the student- . 4 ohn Wyckoff. A review of his background affords to those who ,Z know him a splendid opportunity for the appreciation of his endeavors. AN APPRiec1A'1'1oN q EW . . . . . . 92 T is most appropriate at this time to record the history of an aggressive , , . . ' l . I 1 . 'VF 'i'? 4 x r J , , aight? I I Of pure Dutch stock, both branches of the family had taken up life in America in 1640. His ancestors were for the most part chiefly men of religion or farmers. His father, in keeping with the family traditions, served as a missionary for over forty years in India, and in Tindivanam, Madras Presi- dency, on November 12, 1881, Dr. Wyckoff was born. During these early years he stored in his mind many invaluable memories of a picturesque land and an interesting people. Life in America brought him into the usual chan- nels of education and training. He was graduated from the West jersey Academy of Bridgeton, and entered Rutgers College, bent on preparing him- self for the study of medicine. While on the track team, he set new college records for the low hurdle and one-half mile, the latter standing unbeaten for thirteen years. When a sophomore he held the position of captain of the track team. Leaving Rutgers in 1903, he entered the University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College and pursued, for the next four years, the usual life of a medical student. He spent the summers as baggage master on the Hendrik Hudson of the Hudson River Day Line. He served his interneship, for a period of two years, at Bellevue Hospital, entering the House Staff on january 1, 1908. Following this service he spent one year at the Minturn Hospital as Resident Physician. A trip to Bad Neuheim in 1909 served as an impetus for the beginning of a career in cardiology. Wliile spending three months with a patient at this celebrated European spa, his interest was aroused by early electro-cardiographic demonstrations. During the next three years most of his time was divided between the Out-Patient Department of Bellevue Hospital, the College Clinic and the laboratory of Pharmacology. In June, 1914, Dr. Wyckoff was married to Miss Elizabeth Porter of New York City, then on the editorial staff of a New York publishing house, and later the fiction editor of the Deliueafor. A year after his marriage, Dr. Wyckoff became Secretary to the Faculty of the Medical College. 'During the war he was a captain in Base Hospital No. 1, manned almost completely by Bellevue men. After a short period he was promoted to the rank of Major and served as Evacuation Officer at the Yavcnly-nine

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if F. . Q l 'l ,. .l , . , ggi vt. JOHN HENRY WYCKOF17, M.A., M.D. Sen'elm'y of College of Mealirine Zeta Psi, Omega Upsilon Phi, Alpha Omega Alpha. Born 1881, Tindivanam, India, M. A., Rutgers, 1920, M.D., Bellevue, 1907, Professor of Clinical Medicine. Cited by General Pershing' for exceptional service at Vichy, France. Member American Medical Association, New York County Medical Society, New York Academy of Medicine. Director of Third Medical Division of Bellevue llospital, 1928. Page Twenty-eiglzt . N A 3 fi 1, ' i,.1el,'.1s,,.i.ai i . I 4 ,. V ,mf 4, , fm. 4551, V1 . ,Q ka., KXJX,-Nw, ..... ' ' A -,1o.i,.f..., :':::::1:r-...--1-.....-f.'::-..g.'..:4:g.:.g4-......1'----.........-...'n:'-...--.-,.:-1. . ' , 1 Q , , ,

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headquarters of the hospital center at Vichy. For his work at Vichy, Dr. Wyckoff received a citation for meritorious service from General Pershing. After a year in France, he was honorably discharged from active service, and now holds the office of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Medical Reserve Corps. By a series of circumstances, his career was directed along definite lines and crystallized into the form which it now assumes. While still in France he interested several of his friends in the care of patients with heart disease, and through their benelicence, an electro-cardiograph was presented to the Third Medical Division. Shortly thereafter the cardiac clinic of the Hospital was placed under the personal direction of Dr. Wyckoff. The ambulatory cardiac patient became a subject of much interest to him and through per- sistent efforts he succeeded in securing more adequate funds for this clinic. Upon the suggestion of Dr. Eggleston he spent the next few years studying the absorption of Digitalis in man, and those who have come into contact with Dr. Wyckoff during the past seven years know how thoroughly he has studied this problem. Realizing the need of a separate cardiac service, Dean Samuel A. Brown of the Medical College made arrangements with Dr. Robert J. Carlisle, Professor of Medicine, then director of the Third Medical Division, to permit Dr. Wyckoff to assume charge of all cases of heart disease entering the Third Division. Thus, his many years of ceaseless study of heart disease had prepared him for this important function in the Hospital. In fact, his ambitious interest and zeal for his work actually created at this institution the Department of Cardiography and a section of the Diseases of the Heart, which are considered the most progressive, well-organized and scientific of their kind in this country. His interest in cardiology brought him in contact with many organized activities along this line. In 1923 Dr. Wyckoff became a member of the Committee of Cardiac Clinics of the New York Heart Association and a year later was elected its chairman. The following year the New York Tubercu- losis and Health Association merged with the New York Heart Association, and in 1926 Dt. Wyckoff was selected as chairman of the Heart Committee of the combined organizations. In rapid succession he became a director of the New York Tuberculosis and Health Associations and of the American Tuberculosis 8: Health Association, a member of the Executive Committee of the American Heart Association and of the Heart Committee of the New York State Medical Association. Recently Dr. Wyckoff was appointed a member of the Committee on Pedagogy of the Association of American Medical Colleges. As a teacher of medical students he began his career at the college in 1910 when he became instructor in Therapeutics, subsequently receiving the appoint- ment of lecturer in this subject as well as in Medicine. Soon after he was Faye Thirly