University of Michigan Medical and Nursing School - Aequanimitas Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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D' ln his teaching, Dr. Yander is a veritable Davenport disciple, It is his aim to convey the excitement of normally routine material and to illustrate ways of working with this information. To this end, especially with regard to undergraduates. he has felt as if most available texts were geared to the intel- lect of a moron. Thus, two years ago, he began work on a new hook which empha- sizes mechanisms of biological systems, not 5-ov UQ facts. Wlhen this text is published in 1970, Dr. Vander hopes to coordinate undergrad- uate and med school physiology courses. giving med students a more enriched, gradu- ate school presentation. llis extra-medical pursuits and scientific literacy not withstanding, what has truly endeared Art Vander is his unflagging effort to involve students in the course material. Rather than giving a strictly didactic pres- entation and remaining aloof from the class. 1,1 7 1 C f he endeavors to create a free-form seminar atmosphere. The true worth of this experi- ence soon becomes apparent as students respond by answering his basic questions. then challenging him with ever more sophis- ticated queries of their own. lt is upon this fertile ground that Dr. Vander hopes to sow the seeds of his knowledge. engendering a new crop of inquisitive, scientifically knowl- edgeable physicians. - forty Kratzten tl-4 , I

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,f FI ARTHUR VANDER Arthur Vander, Associate Professor of Physiology Born December 28, 1933 B.A., M.D., University of Michigan Intern at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Cen- ter Crosby Award 32 Arthur Vander is one of those few basic scientists who appreciates that medicine is much more than just a science. After seven years at Michigan as both an undergraduate and medical student, he departed from his career plans to take an internship at New York Hospital CCornellj. He did this hoping to learn not only about medicine but about Qhimsellj and his response to sick peoplef' He was not disappointed. Yet, even before that experience, Dr. Vander had already determined that teach- ing and research in physiology would be his calling. I-le had entered Med School with a definite inclination to become a psychiatrist, easily understandable in light of his under- graduate major, philosophy. However, his freshman year coincided with the arrival of Horace Davenport as physiology chairman. It was Davenport's dynamic approach to physiology that had a telling effect on Art Vanderis ultimate and immediate plans. Thus, since the summer after his sophomore year, when he first worked with Drs. Mal- vin and Wilde, he has been at the forefront of renal physiology research. There is much that separates Art Vander from the ordinary in all he does. He is one of the few basic scientists who works in concert with clinicians and recently collabo- rated with Dr. john Green investigating the renin-angiotensin system in renal disease. By vocation a physiologist, he is by avo- cation a playwright, adapting Carson McCuller novels for stage presentation.

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3.3 Anatomists are well known for their agil- ity in using colored chalk as a teaching aid to describe anatomical sections, but few lecturers can draw vertical lines and infuse into them such electricity and meaning as Dr. Charles Votaw, Associate Professor of Neuroanatomy. He is a concise lecturer, his thoughts flow slowly. directed toward build- ing Z1 firm foundation of knowledge. Upon this foundation in neuroanatomy the student then begins to build a good understanding of the related clinical subjects of neurology and neurosurgery. CHARLES L. VOTAW Dr. Votaw is extremely likeable and eas- ily approached by virtually all medical stu- dents, frequently spending many hours past the lecture hour with students, answering questions or straightening out their confu- sion. Yet, he requires his students to know the subject material or at least use his intel- lectual resources to attempt to understand it. Students who come to him with questions will find that they are not allowed to take a passive role in obtaining an answer, but rather, under Dr. Votaw's guidance, they will search out the answer with their own newly acquired knowledge. Dr. Votaw has a bold faith and respect for the medical student, who, he feels is an individual having the necessary ability to learn and synthesize that information which will make him a good physician. He feels the student must be allowed to use those particular means which help him learn best, even if it means attending fewer lectures. lt is Dr. Votaw's hrm belief that the medical faculty's primary purpose is to maintain the motivation and energy that the students bring to medicine, Qand so easily lose by their senior year-author's notej. This goal Dr. Votaw has partially met as evidenced by the success of the Neural and Behavioral Science course in the new curriculum, which came into being under his leadership. This course gives to medical students an oppor- tunity to correlate basic science knowledge with the patients clinical problems. By so doing, it motivated the class of '71 to ask for more training in neuroanatomy. Very few students trained under the old curriculum would have been interested enough to have made such a request, This response is fur- ther evidence of Dr. Votaw's success as a teacher. gjoe l.ucz'an0