Temple University School of Medicine - Skull Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 10 text:

DEDICATION Michael Scott B.S.. M.D.. M.Sc. (Neurosurgery), F.A.C.S., F.I.C.S. We, the CLASS of 1950, are graduating, not at the end of an epoch, but rather into an era which is witnessing and participating in the greatest strides the science and art of medicine has ever known. The past fifty years have been illustrative of the problems accomplished and knowledge gained in all branches of medicine. Neurosurgery, as a specialty, encapsulates and typifies the gain in knowledge over that short span of years. Although its conception took place before 1900, neurosurgery's labor pains and birth did not begin until 1902 when Cushing’s first case of cerebral tumor was verified by autopsy. At this time, the neurosurgical operative mortality was a fantastic and chilling ninety per cent. [6]

Page 9 text:

William N. Parkinson, B.S.. M.D.. M.Sc.. (Mi d.). F.A.C.S.. LL.D. Dean, Temple University School of Medicine Congratulations! The road along which you have traveled has been long and arduous, and sometimes rough. However, it will enable you to become a member of a profession whose only reason for being is the preservation rather than the destruction of mankind. And now for the advice all classes expect to flow from the pen of their Dean. Always refrain from behavior which would reflect discreditably on the profession of medicine: develop those aspects of your personality which will make you a suitable person to appreciate and deserve the role you will play in community life as a physician. It is not enough for you to have developed a sensitive eye, ear and hand so that you may be skillful in the practice of inspection, percussion, auscultation and palpation. A successful physician must develop a sensitive personality as well, one that is skilled in the art of perception. Your patients will come from many different classes of people: people with different degrees of education and different cultural levels. You must be able to discern what sort of patients you are dealing with and be able to reflect their type of sensitivity with your own personality. A physician occupies a unique position. He is admitted to the intimacies of the home and for him the veil of dignity which shrouds a person's character must sometimes be lifted. A physician’s attitude must combine tact and understanding with a scientific lack of prejudice. Without these essentials a physician can never hope to gain sympathetic relation with many of his patients. In short, it is the responsibility of every physician, both new and old. to be a cultured, civilized person, in addition to being well-trained in medical sciences. My best wishes go with you for success in this biotic and atomic era of medicine which you are about to enter. Cordially yours. William N. Parkinson, Dean. 15 1

Page 11 text:

During the next twenty-five years, Cushing, by means of refined technique, lowered this catastrophic figure to thirty per cent. At the present time, the operative mortality is on the low side of five per cent. This drop has been accomplished by a host of medical and surgical aids, such as electro-cautery, antibiotics, hemostatic agents, better application of knowledge concerning anaesthesia, pre-operative and post-operative care, and last (but only for emphasis), men such as he who embodies neurosurgery to all of us. Dr. Michael Scott. Dr. Scott was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on August 22, 1906. He was raised in these environs and one of his earliest contacts with medicine was during the war years when he worked as an errand boy on the wards of Base Hospital No. 20 in Fox Hills, Staten Island. This created an ambition whose first fruition occurred when he enrolled in the premedical course at Rutgers University in 1924. During this time, he was greatly influenced and helped by Dr. Nelson, the professor of zoology. Through personal advice and encouragement this man did much to crystallize the aims of the future neurosurgeon. Jefferson Medical College became the next step toward the goal of neurosurgery. Dr. Scott entered this school in the fall of 1928. During the summer vacations of his school years, he gained invaluable experience and training by working in the Trenton State Hospital for the Insane. These months further directed his aims toward neurology, neuropsychiatry. and the ultimate therapeutic goal of organic central nervous system disease: neurosurgery. Dr. Cotton, under whom Dr. Scott worked during this time, provided a humane approach to psychiatric problems through his beliefs that the mentally sick should be treated as those who had organic disease and not outlawed from society as had been the treatment in the past. His beliefs may be summarized in the quotation. The mentally ill are as you and 1 in their emotional reactions except that they have taken refuge in a single mechanism of defense. whereas you and I live utilizing and employing all mechanisms of defense.” Following graduation. Dr. Scott’s internship 171