This virtual exhibitions provides a look at the fine art portraits found in the SUNY Upstate Portrait Collection. The portraits are featured on the timeline according to the date the work was painted. Biographical information for the subjects is provided along with the name of the artist. The University’s Portrait Collection features individuals of prominence in the history of Upstate dating back to the days of the Syracuse University College of Medicine. The subjects of these portraits include administrators, faculty, and alumni whose lives serve as an inspiration to the Upstate Community. The portraits are indicative of the culture of the University over time and serve as vignettes of the University’s priorities throughout its history. ;xNLx;
Frederick Hyde M.D. received his medical degree in 1836; he then established a modest practice out of Cortlandville, NY. He was often called to consult on cases and to perform surgeries around Tompkins and Cortland Counties. Dr. Hyde’s notoriety grew when he was party to one of the first mal-practice suits on record in New York State. As his reputation spread, he was offered the position of chair of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women from the Medical Department of Hobart College (the name adopted by Geneva College in 1851). He was appointed professor of surgery in 1852. Dr. Hyde, along with Dean John Towler M.D., approached Syracuse University to negotiate the purchase of the medical school in 1871. Dr. Hyde was then hired by the new Syracuse University College of Medicine as professor of Surgery and the rest of the faculty elected him the first dean of the new college, a position he held until his death in 1887.
William Tomlinson Plant M.D. graduated from the Medical College of the University of Michigan in 1860. He was commissioned as an assistant naval surgeon by President Lincoln during the Civil War; after the war he moved to Syracuse where he worked at a private practice. When the Syracuse University College of Medicine was established in 1872, Dr. Plant was made professor of Medical Jurisprudence. He subsequently became professor of Clinical Medicine and professor of Pediatrics. He was chairman of the Department of Pediatrics until he retired. He wrote frequently, especially in the realm of diseases of children. In addition to his private practice, teaching, and administrative duties he also served as registrar for the College of Medicine for many years.
Gaylord Parsons Clark M.D. was a member of the Syracuse University College of Medicine class of 1880. Upon graduating, he was immediately made an instructor of Anatomy and was quickly advanced to full professor in 1881. In 1892, he became the chairman of Physiology, a position he held until his death in 1907. His health was never robust and he could not meet the physical demands of a medical practice. Instead, he devoted himself to the study of medicine. He spent most of his summers at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA and undertook multiple trips to Europe to acquire medical apparatus not yet available in the United States. He did all of this on the very limited compensation that the College of Medicine could offer faculty of this era. During the declining years of Dean Henry Didama, Dr. Clark was appointed interim dean. When Dean Didama died in 1907 Dr. Clark became dean of the College of Medicine for a short time before his death.
Steven Smith began his medical education at Geneva Medical College, and was a classmate and life-long supporter of Elizabeth Blackwell. He completed his doctor of medicine degree at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the City of New York (Columbia University) in 1850. Dr. Smith was a distinguished surgeon at Bellevue Hospital and the founder and first president of the American Public Health Association. He was also the editor of the New York Journal of Medicine for 15 years. Dr. Smith donated approximately 1300 volumes to the Syracuse University College of Medicine library around 1896; many of these titles are still part of our Special Collections holdings. He retired to Skaneateles, NY where he likely made the acquaintance of local artist John D. Barrow.
John L. Heffron M.D. studied at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University and at Syracuse University College of Medicine, where he completed his degree in 1881. He became an instructor at the College of Medicine in 1882 and was one of the most renowned physicians in Syracuse. He was made professor of Histology in 1885, professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in 1887, and professor of Clinical Medicine in 1895. He served as dean of the College of Medicine from 1907-1922. Under his leadership, the school acquired the Hospital of the Good Shepherd where Dr. Heffron pioneered methods for hospitalization of patients with tuberculosis. Dr. Heffron succumbed to injuries sustained after being hit by an automobile and died at Hospital of the Good Shepherd in 1924.
Herman Gates Weiskotten M.D. graduated from the Syracuse University College of Medicine in 1909. Dr. Weiskotten began his career as a resident pathologist at the Hospital of the Good Shepherd in Syracuse and quickly became an instructor and eventually a professor at the College of Medicine. In 1922, he was made acting dean and officially became dean in 1925. He served in this capacity until 1951 while also serving as director of the Hospital of the Good Shepherd from 1925-1941. Dr. Weiskotten was a renowned physician in the city, serving as Onondaga County necrotomist from 1913-1925 and as commissioner of health for the city from 1926-1928. Dr. Weiskotten was also very active in furthering medical education. He authored numerous articles on the subject, served as the chairman of the Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the American Medical Association, and was awarded the Abraham Flexner Award for distinguished service in medical education (1958). Dr. Weiskotten stepped down as dean of the College of Medicine in 1951 after the school was transferred to the State University of New York. The original academic building, formerly known as the Basic Sciences Building, was constructed during Dr. Weiskotten’s administration, and was renamed for him in 1972.
Arthur D. Ecker M.D., Ph.D. was educated at Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins and the Mayo clinic before joining the faculty of the Syracuse University College of Medicine in 1939. That same year he founded the Department of Neurosurgery at the Hospital of the Good Shepherd in Syracuse. Dr. Ecker was a pioneer in the fields of neuroradiology, neurosurgery, and cerebral angiography. He published two books and over 110 articles during his career. Dr. Ecker served overseas with the 52nd General Hospital Unit during World War II; while stationed in England he began a collection of antiquarian medical books. His collection, some 800 volumes, was generously donated to the Historical Collections of the Health Sciences Library in the mid-1990s and significantly contributed to the historical holdings in neurology, neuroanatomy, and anatomical illustration.
Herman Gates Weiskotten M.D. graduated from the Syracuse University College of Medicine in 1909. Dr. Weiskotten began his career as a resident pathologist at the Hospital of the Good Shepherd in Syracuse and quickly became an instructor and eventually a professor at the College of Medicine. In 1922, he was made acting dean and officially became dean in 1925. He served in this capacity until 1951 while also serving as director of the Hospital of the Good Shepherd from 1925-1941. Dr. Weiskotten was a renowned physician in the city, serving as Onondaga County necrotomist from 1913-1925 and as commissioner of health for the city from 1926-1928. Dr. Weiskotten was also very active in furthering medical education. He authored numerous articles on the subject, served as the chairman of the Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the American Medical Association, and was awarded the Abraham Flexner Award for distinguished service in medical education (1958). Dr. Weiskotten stepped down as dean of the College of Medicine in 1951 after the school was transferred to the State University of New York. The original academic building, formerly known as the Basic Sciences Building, was constructed during Dr. Weiskotten’s administration, and was renamed for him in 1972.
Albert G. Swift M.D. was a 1902 graduate of the Syracuse University College of Medicine. He did his residency at Mt. Sinai Hospital and began a practice in New York City, but he returned to his native Syracuse and was an instructor of Anatomy at the College of Medicine from 1912 to 1938. He was the chief of the surgical staffs of both St. Joseph’s Hospital and the Hospital of the Good Shepherd in Syracuse. Dr. Swift was the first surgeon in the area to use spinal anesthesia, and also introduced skeletal traction for the setting of fractures. Dr. Swift was a charter member of the American Board of Surgery, a member of the American College of Surgeons, and an examiner for the New York State Board of Regents.
Edward C. Reifenstein Sr. M.D. graduated from Syracuse University College of Medicine in 1904. He was a professor of Internal Medicine at the College of Medicine from 1915-1946, and served as chairman of the department from 1932-1946. He was a prominent physician in the city and organized the first cardiac clinic in Syracuse in 1932. An endowed professorship was created in his name at Syracuse University College of Medicine.
Frank P. Knowlton M.D., A.M. graduated from Hamilton College in 1896 and was an instructor in Physiology and Embryology for the Syracuse University College of Medicine beginning in 1897. He completed his medical degree through the College of Medicine in 1900 and continued as a lecturer until 1906, when we was made associate professor of Physiology. In 1907 he became director of the Physiological Laboratory and in 1908 attained the rank of full professor. From 1911-1912 Dr. Knowlton was at Cambridge University and University College, London. Perhaps his most important work was the development and use of the heart-lung preparation in collaboration with the great physiologist Ernest Starling. Dr. Knowlton became faculty emeritus in 1947.
Elizabeth Blackwell M.D. was the first woman to earn an M.D. from an accredited medical school. Born in Bristol England in 1821, she was the daughter of Samuel and Hannah Blackwell, who raised their children to believe in equal education and opportunities for both sexes. Dr. Blackwell began her studies at Geneva College of Medicine in November 1847 and graduated top of her class on January 23, 1849. Her time at Geneva was plagued by difficulties with fellow students and many members of the faculty, but also with members of the community who shunned her as an “unnatural” woman. Criticism of her and of the medical school was so robust that Dr. Blackwell decided to pursue her postgraduate education in Europe, where she trained as a surgeon. It was during her studies at St. Batholomew’s Hospital in London that her lifelong friendship and collaboration with Florence Nightingale began. Dr. Blackwell returned to the United States in 1851, but found it so difficult to find work in a hospital or practice that she determined to start her own infirmary. The New York Infirmary for Women and Children was opened in 1857 and cared for pediatric and obstetrical and gynecological patients, while also running a medical school for women. Dr. Blackwell worked closely with Nightingale to provide care for the sick and wounded during the American Civil War. Dr. Blackwell eventually returned to the UK, where she was the first women to be entered in the British Medical Register, and where she continued to practice medicine and to write prolifically until her retirement in 1907. She died on May 31, 1910 and is buried in Kilmun, Scotland.
Carlyle F. Jacobsen Ph.D. completed his doctorate in Psychology, with minors in Neurology and Physiology, from the University of Minnesota in 1928. His work with the frontal lobe in chimpanzees was pivotal to the field and would be crucial to other scientists interested in frontal lobe functions in humans. Dr. Jacobsen was awarded the Howard Crosby Warren Medal for distinguished service in Experimental Psychology and was a joint recipient of the Bronze Medal from the American Medical Association in 1938. Dr. Jacobsen taught at Yale, Cornell, and Washington University School of Medicine, where he began his work as an administrator. In 1950, Dr. Jacobsen became executive dean for Medical Education for the new SUNY system. He was directly responsible for development of both the Upstate and Downstate campuses. He served as the first president of both schools and was also the dean of the Upstate College of Medicine at this time. Dr. Jacobsen was responsible for Upstate in its infancy and shepherded milestone projects like the construction of University Hospital, establishment of the School of Nursing, and the naming of Elizabeth Blackwell Street. Dr. Jacobsen retired in 1967, but continued to be influential to medicine in Central New York, serving as the executive secretary of the Hospital Review and Planning Council Inc.
Phillip B. Armstrong M.D. was a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and a member of the Cornell College of Medicine class of 1926. Dr. Armstrong wrote extensively in the fields of embryology, physiology, and developmental anatomy. He was the chairman of the Department of Anatomy and a professor in the College of Medicine at SUNY Upstate from 1938 to 1967; he also served as the director of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts from 1948 to 1966 and was a member of that institution until 1980. On SUNY Upstate Alumni Day, the Philip B. Armstrong Award is presented to a member of the basic sciences department who has had the most influence on the graduating class.
Gordon D. Hoople M.D. was a 1919 graduate of the Syracuse University College of Medicine. Dr. Hoople was a renowned otolaryngologist and the Hearing and Speech Center at Syracuse University was named for him. Dr. Hoople served as a major with the 52nd General Hospital Unit in World War II, and served as a medical missionary to China. He established the first student health service at Syracuse University and was its first full time physician. In 1945, he was made chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology at the College of Medicine, a position he retained when the medical school was transferred to SUNY. He stepped down as chairman in 1952, but continued to teach as professor emeritus. Dr. Hoople served as president of the Alumni Association of Syracuse University and as chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1961-1967 (board member 1938-1967). He was awarded nearly every honor that Syracuse University can bestow.
Daniel A. Richert Ph.D. completed his doctorate in biochemistry at St. Louis University. He was a research associate at Harvard Medical School before coming to the Syracuse University College of Medicine in 1944. He became an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry in 1952 and was made professor in 1961. Dr. Richert was widely known for his published studies on nutrition and the thyroid glands.
Harry A. Feldman M.D. was a member of the George Washington University School of Medicine class of 1939. He was a leader in the fields of infectious disease and preventive medicine and contributed to pioneering studies on pneumococcal meningitis, pneumococcal pneumonia, tuberculosis, leprosy, and malaria. He served in the medical corps during World War II, joining in October 1942. In 1949, he became associate professor of medicine and director of research of the Wieting-Johnson Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases at SUNY Upstate. In 1959 he was promoted to chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine. Dr. Feldman published more than 200 articles, contributed to more than a dozen textbooks, and was co-editor of Bacterial Infections of Humans, which focused on epidemiology and control measures and was regarded for its thoroughness and comprehensive perspective. Dr. Feldman retired from Upstate in 1985. After his death that same year, the American Epidemiological Society dedicated an annual lecture to Dr. Feldman and an award in his honor is given by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
David G. Murray M.D. F.A.C.S. received his medical degree from The School of Medicine of Washington University in St. Louise in 1955. Dr. Murray served with the US Navy from 1956-1958 before completing a residency in general surgery at SUNY Upstate. He did a residency in orthopedic surgery at the State University of Iowa and joined the faculty of SUNY Upstate as assistant professor of Orthopedic Surgery in 1962, a position he held until 1986 and again from 1990 to 2000. In 1966, Dr. Murray became the founding chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery. Dr. Murray was a pioneer in total hip and knee replacement surgery and he chaired the NIH Consensus Development Conference on Total Hip Replacement in 1994. Dr. Murray designed, developed, and patented the variable-axis knee prosthesis, which for many years was referred to as the “Syracuse knee.” He was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from the Association for Academic Surgery in 1979 and the Distinguished Service Professor award from Upstate in 1989. He was made the 77th President of the American College of Surgeons in 1996. In 2000, he was made an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He retired from Upstate that same year.
Margaret L. Williams M.D. graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed her residency in pediatrics at Philadelphia Children’s Hospital. Dr. Williams was a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania from 1954-1970 when she and her husband Dr. William J. Williams moved to Syracuse. Dr. Williams joined the Upstate faculty in 1970 and was named professor of Pediatrics in 1975. She was the medical director of the neonatal intensive care nursery at Crouse-Irving Memorial Hospital until she co-founded the Upstate Regional Perinatal Center. She was founder and director of the Margaret Williams Developmental Evaluation Center in Syracuse and was the recipient of the Post Standard Woman of Achievement in Medicine award in 1975. She was honored by the Onondaga County Medical Society, the March of Dimes, and was cited as a woman of distinction in medicine by New York State Governor Mario Cuomo.
Richard H. Lyons M.D. graduated from the University of Michigan in 1935 and became the chairman of the Department of Medicine of the Syracuse University College of Medicine in 1947. Dr. Lyons was the first full-time professor employed by the College of Medicine and he, along with other noteworthy faculty members, revitalized the program following World War II. Dr. Lyons was an engaging teacher and an outstanding clinician. He established a close relationship with the clinical staff at the VA Hospital and ensured that those learning opportunities were available to his students. Dr. Lyons resigned from SUNY Upstate in 1967 to become the director of the Central New York Regional Medical program, a project to improve local public health through increased access to health care, which was a joint endeavor between Upstate and the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The program ended in 1976 and many of its functions were absorbed by the Central New York Health Systems Agency.
Justus F. Mueller Ph.D. received his doctorate in Parasitology from the University of Illinois in 1928. He immediately began a 15 year relationship with the SUNY College of Forestry in Syracuse, and he began lecturing on parasitology at the Syracuse University College of Medicine. Eventually, he rose to the rank of professor at SUNY Upstate and served one term as chairman of the Department of Microbiology. He became professor emeritus in 1972. Dr. Mueller integrated his artistic skill and scientific knowledge into the design of the Mueller-Ward models, covering 16 varied zoological topics using 188 models. The models are known for their accuracy and style. Dr. Mueller authored 331 research papers, the last of which he published at the age of 81. He achieved significant insights with the tapeworm Spirometra Mansonoides, developing for the first time the means to complete the life cycle of a parasitic worm in a laboratory. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Dr. Mueller traveled extensively in Central and South America, where he furthered his studies in parasitology and his interest in Pre-Columbian art and history. Much of his art collection was donated to the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY.
William J. Williams M.D. served in the Navy during World War II and was assigned to the hematology lab at the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia. It was here that he developed an understanding for the relationship between the laboratory and clinical applications and an appreciation for the microscope; a career in academic medicine was born. He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1949 and remained there until 1969, serving as the chief of the Hematology section and professor of medicine. In the 1960s he began as editor-in-chief of William’s Hematology which is one of the definitive English-language textbooks on hematology. Dr. Williams came to SUNY Upstate in 1969 as Edward C. Reifenstein Professor of Medicine and chairman of the Department of Medicine. He served in this capacity until 1992, when he stepped down as chair, but retained his professorship. Dr. Williams served as dean of the College of Medicine from 2002-2004, and was named a SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in 2002.
Wilfred W. Westerfeld Ph.D. received his doctorate in biochemistry from St. Louis University in 1938 and was a National Research Fellow at Oxford University and Columbia University. He served as an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School before joining the Department of Biochemistry at Syracuse University College of Medicine in 1945 as professor and chairman. He was appointed acting dean for the College of Medicine from 1956-1957 and was made dean of the College of Graduate Studies in 1956. Dr. Westerfeld also served as acting president in 1967 until he resigned from that position in 1968. Dr. Westerfeld lead a coalition of U.S. medical educators to the University of Saigon in South Vietnam to advance medical education in that country. Dr. Westerfeld retired from SUNY Upstate in 1979.
Irwin M. Weiner M.D. graduated from SUNY Upstate College of Medicine in 1956. He joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 1958 and taught in the Pharmacology department until 1966. He was also a visiting professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine from 1964-1965. In 1966, he joined the faculty of the Pharmacology Department at SUNY Upstate and by 1968 he was chairman of the department, a position he held until 1987. He simultaneously served as the vice president for Research from 1982-1988, when he became dean of the College of Medicine. Dr. Weiner’s major research interest was renal pharmacology and he received the American Heart Association Citation for Distinguished Service to Research. Dr. Weiner became dean of the College of Medicine at SUNY Downstate in 1991. The Irwin M. Weiner M.D. ’56 classroom at SUNY Upstate was dedicated in his honor in 2005.
Ellen Cook Jacobsen M.D. completed her undergraduate training and her master of science degree at Cornell University. She was a 1950 graduate of the Syracuse University College of Medicine. In 1954, Dr. Jacobsen became the first female instructor in the Department of Medicine at SUNY Upstate. She established the Student Health Service at Upstate in 1955 and the first Employee Health Service a decade later. Dr. Jacobsen felt strongly that physicians should have formal training in counseling and she took a leave of absence from the faculty in 1968 to complete a residency in psychiatry. In 1971, she rejoined the faculty with appointments to both the Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry. She was the only faculty member at that time to hold dual appointments. Dr. Jacobsen was uniquely suited to head the Liaison and Consultation Service for Psychiatry, which interfaced between that department and all other clinical services in University Hospital to improve patient care, a position she was appointed to in 1972. In 1990, Dr. Jacobsen retired from Upstate. She was awarded the Distinguished Alumna Award by the Upstate Alumni Association in 1990; the Onondaga County Medical Society Community Service Award in 1991; the SUNY Upstate President’s Award for Distinguished Service in 1998; and was named to the SUNY Alumni Honor Roll in 1999.
Richard Penrose Schmidt M.D. graduated from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He served his internship and residency at Louisville General Hospital and did an assistant residency in Psychiatry at Cincinnati General Hospital. Dr. Schmidt was an internationally known neurologist and authored many books and articles on neurology, epilepsy and stroke rehabilitation. He served as president of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Epilepsy Society. Dr. Schmidt came to SUNY Upstate from the University of Florida College of Medicine at Gainsville, where he had been chairman and associate dean of the College of Medicine. He was also chief of staff at the VA Hospital in Gainesville. Dr. Schmidt became dean of the College of Medicine and vice president for Academic Affairs at Upstate in 1970; he was also professor of neurology. He served as interim president for Upstate beginning in 1974 and was made president in 1975. He served as president until 1984 and under his leadership the Upstate Foundation was established, the Weiskotten Hall addition was constructed, and the Regional Oncology Center and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit were both conceived and realized..
Charles R. Ross Ph.D. received his doctorate from the University of Michigan. He came to Upstate as a postdoctoral fellow in Pharmacology in 1963 and in 1966 he became a faculty member in that department. He was made full professor in 1978 and became the first African American dean of the College of Graduate Studies in 1982. He concurrently served as vice president for Research beginning in 1988. Dr. Ross’s major research interests were renal transport mechanisms, renal pharmacology and physiology, membrane properties and nephrotoxicities. His project “Renal Transport for Organ Compounds” was continuously funded by the NIH for 32 years. The Dr. Charles R. Ross Research Fellowship and the annual Charles R. Ross Ph.D. Research Poster Session were established at Upstate in his honor.
George F. Reed M.D. received his medical degree from the Syracuse University College of Medicine in 1946. He served the U.S. Public Health Service and was assistant clinical professor at Harvard. Dr. Reed first joined the Upstate faculty in 1965 as professor and chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology. He was the first dean for Graduate Medical and Continuing Education for Upstate, being appointed in 1974. He was made executive vice president and dean of the College of Medicine in 1976. Dr. Reed was asked to serve as interim president from 1979 to 1980 and from 1984 to 1985. He relinquished his role as dean in 1986, but remained professor of Otolaryngology and Communications until his death.
John Bernard Henry M.D., a pathologist by training, began his 35 year career at SUNY Upstate in 1964. Dr. Henry was the first director of Clinical Pathology and also the founding dean of the College of Health Professions that opened in 1972. He left Upstate in 1979 to serve as dean of the School of Medicine at Georgetown University. Dr. Henry returned as president of SUNY Upstate in 1985. Under his leadership, the East Wing of University Hospital opened and over $35 million in state support was raised for the new Institute for Human Performance. Dr. Henry was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal for Meritorious Achievement and the Meritorious Service Medal for his work in advancing naval medicine in Central New York and for his time as Officer in Charge, Naval Reserve Medical Unit PO262A (1957-1968, 1979-1995). Dr. Henry stepped down as president of Upstate in 1992.
Lewis W. Bluemle Jr. M.D. began his research career with the U.S. Army following World War II. He served as assistant director of the Army Hepatic and Metabolic Unit at Valley Forge Army Hospital and attained the rank of captain. He spent two decades in the study of the artificial kidney and in 1951 he set up one of the first dialysis units in the country at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Bluemle became President of SUNY Upstate Medical University in 1968, a time of growth and change for the institution. He recruited several new department chairmen, made major revisions to the curriculum, and expanded research. He also established the Department of Family Practice to encourage growth in areas of general care. Dr. Bluemle left Upstate in 1974 to become President of the University of Oregon Health Services Center. He retired as President of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia in 1990, where he oversaw construction of a new hospital and research building. Dr. Bluemle received an honorary degree from SUNY Upstate in 1992.
Suzanne H. Murray M.S.L.S. served as the director of the Library for SUNY Upstate from 1987 until 1995. Under her leadership, a new library building was opened in 1995. Ms. Murray received her master of science in Library Sciences from Syracuse University in 1960, where she focused on bibliography, and cataloging and classification. She received a Medical Library Association Scholarship to Columbia University’s course in medical bibliography and was awarded a Central New York Regional Medical Program Feasibility Study Grant in 1971 to design and run a medical library book mobile to illustrate to hospital personnel in a 17-county area how a relatively small, but targeted, collection could provide access to up-to-date medical information. Ms. Murray began her library career as a reference librarian at SUNY Upstate in 1960. She also served as the collection development librarian and associate director of the Library. Ms. Murray was selected for two People to People Delegations; the first delegation of medical librarians traveled to China in 1989 and the second delegation of medical educators traveled to Russia, Hungary and Czechoslovakia in 1992.
James B. Preston M.D. obtained his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He served in the Korean War as a member of the Army Signal Corps and as a medic with the 38th Parallel. Dr. Preston became an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology at SUNY Upstate in 1956 and was made professor and chairman of the department in 1960. He stepped down as chairman in 1991, but remained professor emeritus. Dr. Preston served on many state and national committees, including the American Physiological Society, and the National Board of Medical Examiners. A scholarship in his honor was established at Upstate.
Donald Charles Goodman Ph.D. received his doctorate in Zoology from the University of Illinois, Chicago in 1954. His research focused mainly on the recovery of brain functions after injury or disease. Specifically, he was interested in the possibility of a morphological basis for recovery of functions associated with vision and balance. Dr. Goodman held many senior level academic posts at SUNY Upstate, beginning with his arrival as chairman of the Department of Anatomy in 1968. He also served as dean of the College of Graduate Studies, vice president for Research, vice president for Academic Affairs, dean of the College of Health Professions and provost of the University. He was named interim president in September 1992, a position he filled until Gregory L. Eastwood was hired in 1993. Dr. Goodman retired as dean of the College of Health Professions in 1995. The Donald C. Goodman Endowment for Faculty Enrichment was established to encourage faculty in the College of Health Professions to pursue terminal degrees and to conduct research.
A. Geno Andreatta M.S. graduated from San Francisco State College after studying social science, anthropology, and international relations. He came to SUNY Upstate in 1963 as administrative assistant to the dean of Admissions and Student Affairs and as an instructor in the School of Allied Health Sciences (now the College of Health Professions). Mr. Andreatta served as assistant director, director, assistant dean, and finally dean of Admissions and Student Affairs for Upstate. He was also an assistant professor during his time here, and served simultaneously as co-director of a research project on physician shortage and health care in rural New York and as an advisor to the Rural Medical Service Committee of the Medical Society of the State of New York. Mr. Andreatta retired from SUNY Upstate in 1995.
David H.P. Streeten M.D. Ph.D. was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He received his medical degree from Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and his doctorate in pharmacology from Oxford University. He was the recipient of a Rockefeller Tarvling Fellowship in 1949 and he traveled to Harvard Medical School for training in endocrinology. He began his career with Upstate in 1960 as an associate professor with the Department of Medicine. He quickly advanced to professor by 1964. Dr. Streeten was an expert on hypertension and was one of the first doctors to attempt to treat high blood pressure using interleukin 2 (or IL-2), a therapy developed by Richard S. Tuttle of the Masonic Medical Research Laboratory in Utica, NY. Dr. Streeten became professor emeritus in 1994.
Thomas S. Szasz M.D. was born in Budapest, Hungary, but became a United States citizen in 1944. That same year he completed his medical degree at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. In 1951, he joined the staff of the Institute for Psychoanalysis in Chicago and in 1954 he joined the US Navy as the psychiatrist in charge of the Enlisted Psychiatric Services, U.S Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Szasz joined the faculty of SUNY Upstate as a professor of psychiatry in 1956. Dr. Szasz coined the phrase the “myth of mental illness”, which is part of the vocabulary of modern psychiatry and social science. He wrote numerous books with such titles as The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct; The Manufacture of Madness; The Ethics of Psychoanalysis: The Theory and Method of Autonomous Psychotherapy; and Ideology and Insanity: Essays on the Psychiatric Dehumanization of Man. He was a co-founder of the American Association for the Abolition of Involuntary Mental Hospitalization Inc. Dr. Szasz was a controversial figure in his field, but he revolutionized thinking about psychiatry and the moral implications of its practice.
Lloyd S. Rogers M.D. graduated from the University of Rochester Medical School and served overseas in World War II. Dr. Rogers taught at Trinity College and the University of Rochester before coming to Syracuse in 1953 as the first chief of surgery for the VA Hospital and as an assistant professor with the Upstate College of Medicine. In 1965, he became the first full-time professor in the Department of Surgery and was made director of General Surgery at Upstate University Hospital in 1967. He stepped down as director of General Surgery in 1977, but he served as vice chairman of Surgery from 1982 until his retirement in 1985. The Lloyd S. Rogers Professor of Surgery Endowment was established in his honor in 2000.
M. Janice Nelson Ed.D. R.N. received her masters in Education in 1970 and her doctorate in Nursing Education in 1977 from Teachers College at Columbia University. Her diploma in nursing had been completed at St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing in Minot, North Dakota in 1960. She was the founding dean for the College of Nursing at SUNY Upstate; she served as dean from 1986-1996. Ms. Nelson played a key role in developing the R.N. to M.S. degree program and other initiatives intended to aid the working practitioner. Before becoming dean she had been the director of nursing for University Hospital. Ms. Nelson published and presented on philosophical and ethical issues in nursing. She was appointed to the New York State Nurses Association Council on Ethical Practice and was appointed to the New York State Task Force on Law and Life. Ms. Nelson retired from Upstate in 1996.
Sarah Loguen Fraser M.D. was born in Syracuse, NY as Marinda Sarah Loguen to Caroline Storum and the Reverend Jermain Wesley Loguen. Her parents were lifelong abolitionists and the family home was a safe house on the Underground Railroad that harbored nearly 1,500 African Americans en route to asylum in Canada. Dr. Loguen Fraser graduated from the Syracuse University College of Medicine in 1876, making her the fourth African American woman in the United States to earn a formal medical degree. Her medical practice focused heavily on pediatric and obstetric care, due to need and personal inclination, but also owing to restrictions on women physicians of the era. Dr. Loguen Fraser moved to the Dominican Republic with her husband Dr. Charles Fraser, a pharmacist and plantation owner, and was able to run a free clinic with the funds from her husband’s successful business. After the death of her husband in 1894, Dr. Loguen Fraser lived in Washington D.C., France, and even returned to Syracuse for a short time. Dr. Loguen Fraser was educated during the propitious years following the end of slavery, before the abrupt end of the egalitarian movement that ended under constraints of Jim Crow racism. By the turn of the century she found herself struggling financially and professionally. She continued to practice despite these obstacles and was honored by Howard University on the 50th anniversary of her graduation from medical school. She died of kidney disease at her daughter’s home in 1933. SUNY Upstate has honored Dr. Loguen’s legacy by naming a street, Sarah Loguen Place, and the Dr. Sarah Loguen Center in her honor. A scholarship and annual lecture was established in 2000 to honor her 150th birthday.
Robert K. Brewer M.D. graduated from the Syracuse University College of Medicine in 1913, but he had become an instructor of chemistry for the College in 1909. Dr. Brewer never entered the private practice of medicine, but devoted all his time to teaching and research. He worked his way up to chairman of the Department of Physiological Chemistry by 1917. He was a consultant for Hospital of the Good Shepherd, Syracuse Memorial Hospital, Syracuse City Hospital, Syracuse Psychopathic Hospital and the Syracuse Department of Health. Dr. Brewer died unexpectedly in 1945 while still serving as chairman.
Frederick B. Parker M.D. completed his medical degree at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. He joined the faculty at SUNY Upstate in 1971 and was named chair of the Department of Surgery in 1990. Dr. Parker retired as chair of the Department of Surgery in 2001. He was a member of the board of the Upstate Foundation for fourteen years, where he took leadership roles on the capital campaigns for Golisano Children’s Hospital and the Upstate Cancer Center. In 2015, he was given the President’s Award for Philanthropic Service, Individual and the Frederick B. Parker Jr. M.D. Endowed Lecture in Cardiothoracic Surgery has been established in his honor. A classroom in the Setnor Academic Building was also named for Dr. Parker.
Joseph P. Whalen M.D. received his medical degree from SUNY Upstate in 1959; he also completed his internship in internal medicine and his residency in radiology with Upstate. He served on the faculty at Upstate from 1963-1967, but left to take a position with Cornell University Medical College. He was appointed professor and chairman of their Department of Radiology in 1976. The 1970s brought big changes to the field of radiology and Dr. Whalen was a pioneer in the interpretation of anatomical relationships and disease using ultra-sound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Under his leadership, graduate medical opportunities in radiology at Cornell were some of the most sought after in the country. He authored over 200 peer reviewed articles and four textbooks over the course of his career. Dr. Whalen returned to Upstate in 1992 as the dean of the College of Medicine and vice president for Medical and Biomedical Education, a position he held until 1995. A sought after educator, Dr. Whalen held numerous visiting professorships at institutions like The Medical School of the University of Dublin and The Postgraduate School of Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, London. He was a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland; The New York Academy of Medicine; The American College of Radiology; and the Royal Society of Medicine.
Eugene A. Kaplan M.D. began his association with SUNY Upstate as a medical student and psychiatric resident. Dr. Kaplan joined the faculty in 1961 and was made professor of Psychiatry in 1984. He became chairman of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in 1986. Under his leadership, the department expanded and revitalized many programs, including the Child Psychiatry Division. New programs were established, including the Family Therapy Program and the Institute for Applied Psychiatry. Dr. Kaplan is a life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and served as a senior examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry for 25 years. He became professor and chair emeritus in 1999.
Maxwell M. Mozell Ph.D. received a master of science and a doctorate from Brown University. He was an Aviation Experimental Physiologist for the Navy from 1955-1959 and a post-doctoral fellow for the National Institute for the Humanities from 1959-1961. Dr. Mozell’s area of expertise was olfactory processes; he held an NIH grant for more than 40 years and in 1988 was given a Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award for a distinguished record of research contribution. He came to SUNY Upstate as an assistant professor of Physiology in 1961 and attained the rank of professor in 1970. Dr. Mozell served as acting director of the Division of Educational Communications, associate dean for Academic Program Development for the College of Medicine, project director for the Clinical Olfactory Research Center, and director of the Neuroscience Program. He was named dean of the College of Graduate Studies in 1990. In 2005, Dr. Mozell was appointed a Distinguished Service Professor by the SUNY Board of Trustees and in 2008 a lecture program was held in his honor and a seminar series has been named for him. Dr. Mozell died of COVID-19 during the 2020 global pandemic.
E. Robert Heitzman Jr. M.D., SUNY Upstate class of 1951, was a radiologist and veteran of the United States Airforce. Dr. Heitzman co-founded the X-Ray Pathologic Conference in 1955 and was the first person to rigorously compare anatomous findings and clinical radiodiagnostic images of certain pulmonary conditions. Dr. Heitzman had been chairman of the Department of Radiology at both the VA hospital and Crouse-Irving Hospital in Syracuse before becoming director of Diagnostic Radiology at Upstate University Hospital in 1965. He served as acting chairman of Diagnostic Radiology from 1973 to 1974. Dr. Heitzman began his teaching career at Upstate in 1957 as an assistant professor and was made professor in 1968. He was honored as a Distinguished Service Professor in 1990 and retired from Upstate in 1999.
Robert B. King M.D. graduated cum laude from the Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1946. He completed his graduate medical education in Surgery and Neurosurgery at Washington University, after which he completed a fellowship in Neurology and Neuropathology at the National Hospital, Queens Square in London. Dr. King was awarded the Neurosurgeon of the Year Award from the American Academy of Neurological Surgery in 1979. He was at various times chairman of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, president of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery, president of the Society of Neurological Surgeons, president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and chairman of the American Board of Medical Specialties. While leading the American Association of Neurological Surgeons in 1981, he founded the Neurosurgical Research and Education Foundation. He came to SUNY Upstate in 1957 as director of the Neurological Program and he served as chairman of Neurosurgery from 1966-1987. Dr. King was made medical director of University Hospital and associate dean for Graduate Medical Education in 1989. The Robert B. and Molly G. King Endowed Professorship in Neurosurgery is presented by SUNY Upstate to honor his contributions.
Chung Taik Chung M.D. was educated at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, completing his medical degree in 1967. He came to the United States in 1970 and began a residency in Radiation Oncology at SUNY Upstate in 1971. He returned to Upstate as assistant professor of Radiation Oncology in 1976 and was promoted to associate professor in 1981. He accepted a joint appointment in Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences in 1982 and became a full professor in both departments in 1991. In 1995, Dr. Chung became professor and founding chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology. Under his leadership, the department established three off-site radiation therapy offices and implemented state-of-the-art therapies at University Hospital. Dr. Chung was also chair of the Cancer Center Task Force and was instrumental in the completion of the Upstate Cancer Center, which opened in 2014.
Gregory L. Eastwood M.D. received his M.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1966. He held administrative positions at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Harvard Medical School, Jefferson Medical College, The University of Pennsylvania and The Medical College of Georgia prior to accepting the position of President of SUNY Upstate in 1993. Dr. Eastwood, a gastroenterologist, served as president of Upstate until 2006. During that time, University Hospital became the first smoke-free hospital in New York and the first SUNY institution to boast an entirely smoke free campus. His work with the University Hill Corporation was one of many ways he sought to increase interaction between Upstate and the Syracuse community. Dr. Eastwood oversaw the opening of the renovated East Wing of University Hospital, the new Health Sciences Library building, the Golisano Children’s Hospital, the Institute for Human Performance and further physical expansions that make his term as president one of unprecedented capital improvements. Dr. Eastwood was asked to serve as interim president after the resignation of President David R. Smith M.D. in 2013. Dr. Eastwood filled this position through 2015 when he came a professor of Bioethics and Humanities.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the United States. He took office in 1933 and was elected to four consecutive terms. In 1936, President Roosevelt was in attendance at the cornerstone laying ceremony for the new building being erected to house the Syracuse University College of Medicine, which was partially paid for with federal funds. The president laid the cornerstone for the new building and the trowel he used is part of the Historical Collections of the Health Sciences Library. The building is now known as Weiskotten Hall and the cornerstone, engraved with “1936”, is clearly visible.
Gregory A. Threatte M.D. is a 1973 graduate of the SUNY Upstate College of Medicine. Dr. Threatte was a post-doctoral fellow in Experimental Hematology at the Lawrence Berkley Laboratory in Berkley CA and assistant professor of Pathology at the School of Medicine and Dentistry. He returned to his alma mater in 1986 as associate professor of Pathology, director of Clinical Chemistry, and deputy to the president for Minority Affairs. In his role with Minority Affairs he was concerned with increasing application and matriculation rates as well as graduation rates for minority students. He became chairman of the Department of Pathology in 2003. Dr. Threatte retired in 2012 and is currently professor emeritus of Pathology at Upstate. He is also trustee emeritus for Colgate University and is a trustee for The Commonwealth Medical College.
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