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

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(which he only found during his sophomore year), he would remember how his dad, a primary care doctor, had made housecalls to visit his sickest patients. He recalled weekends as a child spent sitting at the nurses’ station handing out cookies while his dad made his rounds. Lucky for us, Dr. Kaplan took an elective during his early years of medical school with a Temple psychiatrist named John Fryer. And not surprisingly, Dr. Kaplan cannot recall most of what was said to him in Classroom A, but can, in vivid detail, describe the day, when instead of going to class, he went with Dr. Fryer to visit the home of a man dying from terminal lung cancer. It was those human moments that helped Dr. Kaplan to survive the brutal first half of medical school. The clinical years were a bit different. Once in rotations. Dr. Kaplan felt stimulated by the deductive reasoning and excelled at thinking through problems. He especially enjoyed spending time with his patients—and internal medicine was an obvious choice for him. He graduated from Temple in 1986 and matched at MCP LEFT: Larry Kaplan in 1974 BELOW: Larry with his family In 1973 During internship Dr. Kaplan won the “crispy critter award,” a somewhat notorious honor. He and his friend Lee spent months at the VA hospital where they became frustrated with administrations inability to find nursing home placement for many of the veterans. In rebellion, they made their own “veteran” out of balloons, a VA robe, and a Foley full of coffee. They left their effigy in a A BON E: Larry Roz Kaplan enjoying dinner out Among his many jobs during college, as a cab driver and a bartender, he found his to way to the hospital under the guise of an ER orderly. After graduating from college and two additional years of studying immunology, Dr. Kaplan realized his calling and started at Temple University School of Medicine in 1982. Now, just because he’d made it to North Philly didn’t mean he would stay. Dr. Kaplan had some serious doubts about his decision during the first two years. (And although he won’t admit it, I have no doubt those eight-hour days in the luxurious Krcsge chairs had something to do with it!) 2007 Sfcull 5

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Lawrence Kaplan, M.D. Section Chief, General Internal Medicine Associate Professor, Medicine Clerkship Director, Internal Medicine hat does it mean to be a doctor? And how do we become good ones? Some think that doctoring is like playing God, but I think that being a doctor is utterly, humbly, human. And if being a doctor is human, then being a great doctor involves the distinctly human abilities to listen, to learn, to comfort. For what is more human than listening to our neighbors, than examining our subjects? Than actively learning and, in turn, teaching7 Those of us who remember our first hemoccult exam during our first rotation on the wards know just how human doctoring is. And those of us who have participated in end-of-life withdrawal-of-care conversations know the breadth of medical humanity. And so in choosing a dedicatee of our yearbook, the class of 2007 voted and chose a gentleman whose life and work exemplify this sense of humanity. These qualities make him not only an exceptional physician, adored by his patients, but a wonderful teacher, revered by his students. Born at Temple University Hospital on June 4, 1958, Dr. Lawrence Kaplan was destined to be a Temple physi- cian. His mother, Miriam, a school teacher, graduated from Temple in 1954 with a degree in education. And his father, Alvin, graduated from Temple University School of Medicine in 1955. One of four children. Dr. Kaplan spent his early years living above the emergency room at Philadelphia General Hospital, where his dad worked. When Dr. Kaplan was still young his family moved to a town near Princeton NJ when Alvin Kaplan took a new job at Robert Wood Johnson. He wasn’t a perfect child, but a happy one. A self-described. “ADD-kid,” Dr. Kaplan was an average student, focusing most of his attention on his guitar, his many bands, his study of sculpture, and on his sports— tennis and ice hockey. Upon entering Boston University, like many of us, Dr Kaplan had no idea what he wanted to study. After realizing that he absolutely could not major in ice hockey, he tried studying architecture, the history' of science and public health, and eventually found his way to a degree in biology and psychology in 1980. Throughout his years in Boston, Dr. Kaplan never forgot his medical roots. While day dreaming at the library 4 Temple Uniuersitg School of medicine

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RIGHT: Larry Ror sharing a hug(1988) wheelchair with a sign saying “Please Place Me for the administration to find. Needless to say, his behavior was not rewarded, but his focus on rectifying inhumanities in our medical system was already thriving. In 1988, towards the end of his residency, a miracle happened in our R1CU. It wasn’t one of the many patients Dr. Kaplan coded, or one of the many that he consoled. In fact, it happened in the clean utility room: Armed with a pint of New York Super Fudge Chunk. Larry Kaplan asked Roz Barsky to marry him. She accepted his proposal. And in 1989, just before Dr. Kaplan took his first attending position at Cooper, they married. Dr. Roz Kaplan completed her internal medicine residency at Temple in 1990. FAR ABOVE:The Kaplan Family on 3 trip to Alaska in 2006. ABOVE: The family (1994). Soon after would come the first of their two children, Max, who, according to Dr. Kaplan, has his wife’s IQ and is planning on writing for the New Yorker. In 1993 followed Maddy, who has inherited Dr. Kaplan’s creative, artistic side. Roz describes Dr. Kaplan as a great husband and father. He was the designated parent for driving Max around during his colicky penod and to this day terrifies his family with his style of maneuvering the road learned during his taxi-driving days. Until 2002, Dr. Kaplan stayed at Cooper, although his role changed periodically. He ran Cooper’s Primary Care Residency Program for some time and also ran the student clerkships. When asked if he intended on a career in medical education. Dr. Kaplan asserts that although it wasn’t planned, his role as a medical educator has become one of the most valued parts of his job. While at Cooper. Dr. Kaplan completed the Johns Hopkins General Medicine Faculty Program which has further prepared him for his current leadership position in medical education. In circular fashion. Dr. Kaplan returned to Temple in 2002 as Section Chief of General Internal Medicine and the Internal Medicine Clerkship Director. Although it was difficult leaving many of his patients and colleagues after fourteen years at Cooper, Dr. Kaplan has made a wonderful home for himself here at Temple. In 2004, he was inducted as a faculty member into AOA for his efforts. 6 Temple Urm ersity School of medicine