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

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Dr. Troyer met his wife Ruth while at Temple. He taught Anatomy and Physiology to the Nursing students while she taught the corresponding labs. We would have dated sooner than we did, but people were always trying to fix us up. Their good intentions got in the way. Less than half a year later, on the hottest day in August, 1956, they were married. 6

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Robert Troyer was born in Princeton, Illinois in 1928. His first exposure to the medical field came while living in Columbus, Ohio. There, Robert fell down the basement steps and landed head first in a pot of boiling starch. Although only six at the time, says Troyer of the incident, “I only wanted to study the effects of thermal polysaccharides on cutaneous re—epithelialization. A budding scientist; pleuripotential undifferentiated. Dr. Troyer studied as an undergraduate at Syracuse University. Initially he was pre-med, but was influenced greatly by his Comparative Anatomy professor, Dr. Parke Struthers. He then pursued Zoology and graduate work in Histology and Embryology at Cornell. His doctoral thesis entitled A Biochemical and Histological Study of Liver Glycogen in a Hibernating Bat”, never made the New York Times 'Best Seller List'. Copies are available however, as Dr. Troyer adds, and would make an excellent graduation gift. Dr. Troyer started as an Instructor at Temple in 1954 when Dr. Huber was department chairman. He came to Temple because of the integrated teaching program; at that time, all 6 faculty taught every course. It was an exciting challenge but didn't leave him any free time. Lectures were given six days a week because the basic philosophy of the department was that 'Learning should take place in school'. Ultimately he found enough free time to marry and start a family. Now he has four children: Dave 27, Susan 25, Mark 23, and Karen 21 -all of whom studied at Temple. Of course, they could have gone anywhere. 5

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Troyer Trivia The Origin of the Balloon Model? Embryology has always been difficult to get across conceptually. I started with clay and balsa wood models, but they weren't dynamic. I first used a plastic bag to represent a body cavity, and the idea grew from there. I usually prepare my lectures on the weekend before presenting them. Thus, most of the ideas for models were generated during the Sunday afternoon football game. During halftime I go down to the basement and create them. Trivia Practical Exam Identify the soft drink at the end of the arrow. You may change the focus, but do not change the objective. 7