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

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Donna Natalie, Dr. Kern, Mrs. Kern, Richard Bradford he rose to the position of Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, a position he held from 1934 until 1946. Concurrently, Dr. Kern kept pace with his rise on the medical school faculty by attaining the title of Clinical Professor in the Graduate School of Medicine. His major interests are Immunology and Allergy. One of the first men to receive Board recognition in this field, Dr. Kern has been a member of innumerable societies related to this specialty, as well as all of the major medical societies both local and national. In conjunction with the latter, he has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the American Medical Association, Secretary General of the American College of Physicians, Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs and President of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia from 1952 through 1954 Dr. Kern is a member of several fraternities, and lists among his academic honors membership in Sigma Xi and Alpha Omega Alpha. There are also a certificate of merit from the University of Pennsylvania Alumni Society, and honorary degrees from Lebanon Valley and Franklin and Marshall Colleges. In the literary field he has authored some one hundred and ten articles during his career, and has been editor of the American Journal of the Medical Sciences since 1951. But a man's greatness is not alone a measure of the societies to which he belongs or the things that he has done in the past. It is a measure, too,of his ability to continue growing. And here again Dr. Kern scores one hundred percent. His interests are not alone restricted to things medical. Quite the contrary. He is a man of broad horizons. He speaks Greek and Spanish, can get along in French and Italian, and reads Dutch, Portuguese, and Latin. Currently he is studying Russian via German books. He likens a man who knows only his native tongue to a person in a room with only one window. The light is dim. But the man who learns and continuously tries to improve himself opens new windows that challenge the imagination. Dr. Kern is well versed on Civil War History, and is ever-ready to contribute an excellent baritone to a good quartet. Indeed, in 1942 he organized a double auartet, with one-half of which he still meets once a month. Dr. Kern resides in Wynnewood, Pa. with his wife Donna and two children, Richard Bradford and Donna Natalie. His interest in public health is well known to juniors end seniors alike. It is well represented by the fact that he finds time amid his many other obligations to serve as President of the Lower Merion Board of Health. It is in this regard that Dr. Kern is once again able to call into play the personal element, in bringing alive his lectures in Medical Civics. He carefully elaborates the various ramifications of this important subject with the hope, perhaps, that we may benefit from his experience. Thus, it is not difficult to understand why a former graduate student of Dr. Kern's, Dr. William N. Parkinson, was instrumental in bringing him to Temple, where he is now Head of the Medical Department. The unique combination of physician and teacher on the one hand, and student and humanitarian on the other, would be especially obvious to a former student. There are few of us, then, who will forget his inspirational teaching and personality. Therefore, for all that he has done toward making our studv of medicine an alive and vital experience, we, the class of 1955, dedicate this Skull to Richard A. Kern M.D.., realizing that it has been a privilege and a pleasure to know him as a humorist, as a teacher, and as a friend.

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reserve. This was five years after he organized Navy Specialist Unit 31, the first complete unit ready for hospital ship duty. His farsightedness, initiative, and ability soon earned for him the job of medical consultant to a pretty fair sailor by the name of William Bull Halsey, commander of the South Pacific Theater. As medical trouble-shooter and coordinator, Captain Kern was also called upon to brief many invasion groups, among them the Second and Third Marine divisions which hit the beaches at Tarawa and Bougainville, respectively. In the spring of 1944, Captain Kern was appointed Chief of Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Naval Hospital, Philadelphia. The appointment was almost coincident with a subsequent promotion to the rank of Commodore. On his return to the United States, Dr. Kern disembarked at Pensacola, Florida. There he was presented with the keys to the city by Admiral C. P. Mason, Mayor of Pensacola, and one-time skipper of the ill-fated carrier, Hornet. The novelty of this story goes back to Dr. Kern's boyhood. Born in Columbia, Pa. on February 19, 1891, the son of a minister, he wrestled with a conflict as a youth: whether to become a career navy man or a physician. His decision was made when he declined an acceptance at Annapolis in favor of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. The man who filled his Annapolis vacancy was Admiral Mason. Dr. Kern has reconciled his ambitions well, however. During his duty in the Naval Reserve he has given willingly of his time and medical skills. In addition to the many personal gratifications that he has gained from this work, there are the additional rewards of a rank of Rear Admiral, and citations from Admiral Halsey and the late Secretary of the Navy and Defense, James Forrestal. Still active in military affairs, Dr. Kern maintains his Naval Reserve status, and in addition serves as medical consultant to the Surgeon General. He was an advisor on the Berlin Airlift, as well as matters in Africa, the Caribbean and Far East. A tall man, neither stocky nor slim, his naturalness of manner and presentation enriches him as a teacher. His facility for communicating facts, ideas and experiences transform his lectures into something special. The tint of personal experience helps to drive home the importance of tropical diseases. Dr. Kern also has the gift to convey graphic representations of the distant lands that he has visited. Which of his students has not envisioned the happy isles of Robert Louis Stevenson, or heard Kipling's paddles chunkin' from Rangoon to Mandalay ? Dr. Kern's years of medical teaching only enforce what already has been said. Starting as an instructor, A new accomplishment

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To the Staff The 1955 SKULL is, as all past SKULLS were, a record of a class career at Temple Medical School. Herein are the facts and the faces which make our class unique among all the others that have observed your disciplines. Through your teachings you have made subtle but signal changes in us all; the SKULL deals with the products of this metamorphosis, and we must recognize your role in the great maturing period of our lives. It is a fact that you have led us into avenues of thought and conduct of which we were totally ignorant in September, 1951, and it was inevitable that we should choose your propositions— though grudgingly at times—as our future methods of living with our profession. Your influence has been varied and vital. We realize this more with each new responsibility, with each new problem, and our appreciation of your wisdom has put a different perspective on our rudimentary quest for that ethereal stuff. Accept, then, our gratitude for your patience and work in squeezing us into the die that molds a physician. You have seen to it that our ambition to bear the title with pride has been fulfilled. Forgive our levity, when we were unaware of the value of your time and experience. Those of you who have offered us part of himself may be assured that we will nurture those fragments carefully and attend to their growth. We, singly and collectively, are the sum of these portions. 8 THE CLASS OF 1955