100 Years of the Bulletin

Bulletin Spotlight: Vol. 1 No. 5; April 1925, Page 7

The Gross Clinic

A distinguished presence has paused a moment from an operation for the removal of a sequestrum from the thigh bone to explain to the class the details of the procedure. This painting faithfully depicts a scene familiar to Jefferson graduates before the days of antiseptic surgery more than 50 years ago. It is the masterpiece of one of America’ s most famous artists and was first exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876.

1920’s

For a century, the Bulletin has faithfully chronicled Jefferson’s clinical and research progress, as well as student, faculty, and alumni achievements. But from the start, it’s been less a “paper of record” than it has been a paean to a philosophy of medicine.

Jefferson was founded on the idea that the best way to train physicians is to get them in front of patients. Compassionate care can’t be taught in lecture halls; it’s learned at the bedside. Medicine, when done right, is as much about the heart as it is the head.

Empathy and creativity lay at the core of a Jefferson education. Perhaps that’s why the first decade of the Bulletin featured such a vibrant collection of alumni-penned tributes to iconic professors, poems about the “Jefferson spirit,” and even an ode to a table Samuel Gross performed surgery upon.

The first issue, published in December 1922, was a 6-by-9-inch, 12-page pamphlet with one image on the back cover, a grainy architect’s rendering of the planned Samuel Gustine Thompson Annex Jefferson Hospital. Created by the Executive Committee of the Alumni Association, the publication was in response to repeated requests by alumni for “news of the College and Hospital and activities of graduates in various portions of the world.”

The front page of the first issue featured a letter from William Potter, president of the board of trustees, who addressed an “impression among certain alumni that Jefferson might ultimately merge with the University of Pennsylvania.” Potter affirmed the board was unanimous that Jefferson would indeed continue independently.

Initially published once a year (occasionally twice by the end of the decade), the Bulletin in the 1920s would regularly follow the progress of the construction of the new annex hospital and alumni giving (or subscriptions, to use the parlance of the time).

Bulletin Spotlight: Vol. 1, No. 16; January 1931, Page 11

Aerial View Showing Jefferson Medical College and the New Curtis Clinic

The Curtis Clinic, named for benefactor Cyrus H. K. Curtis, replaced the old College building and adjoined the new college. A May 1938 issue recalled the old College’s “dark, dingy unkempt lecture halls” and antiquated medical equipment.

1930s

The arrival of the ’30s initiated promising growth for Jefferson and the adolescent Bulletin—and right alongside it, an era of optimism for the future and reverence for the past. Exciting new developments were underway, and the young alumni journal would be there to celebrate it all.

The decade’s first issue announced that “a dream has been realized.” The Curtis Clinic, named for benefactor Cyrus H. K. Curtis, replaced the old College building and adjoined the new college. A May 1938 issue recalled the old College’s “dark, dingy unkempt lecture halls” and antiquated medical equipment.

“[We] cannot help but wonder how we progressed so far,” the author wrote in a first-page memoriam that honored the passing of Dean Ross Patterson, who was credited with actualizing the dream. “Dr. Patterson’s generalship and influence…[and] the twenty years of reconstruction has given us our Jefferson of today,” the commemoration concluded.

In the May 1939 issue, newly appointed Dean Henry K. Mohler penned his “sincere ambition” to link past and present and to “[continue] to encourage [Jefferson’s] development.” By suggestion of the dean and the Executive Committee, this same issue presented new features intended to “familiarize Alumni more fully with the activities of their Alma Mater,” and even included a questionnaire for readers to send their own ideas and feedback.

This decade’s Bulletin decorated its pages simply with portraits of the university’s esteemed leaders, design plans for future buildings and classrooms, and photos of new renovations and innovations. Perhaps the inaugural issue of the ’30s captured the spirit of this era best:

“We are no longer smugly complacent in the great deeds of our glorious past. With a vigorous spirit born of new loyalty in a unified Alumni and with indomitable courage…we look forward to our greater responsibilities in the teaching of medicine and investigation of disease.”

Bulletin Spotlight: Vol. 3 No. 5; March 1943, Pages 12–16

Jefferson in the War: The 38th General Hospital

After Pearl Harbor, it did not take long for Jefferson alumni all over the country to demand active service wherever they might be most needed. Their alma mater, too, was on the alert. Under the leadership of Professor Baldwin L. Keyes, MD 1917, who had won great reputation as a psychiatrist between the two wars, the membership of a complete Army Hospital Unit had been held in readiness for some time. On June 14, 1942, that group of Jefferson doctors and nurses, some 160 strong, left for intensive training at Camp Bowie, in the flat, dust-swept plains of Texas. They had at last officially become the 38th General Hospital of the Army of the United States.

1940s

Perhaps the ’40s were best summarized by Jefferson graduate and Surgeon General James Carre Magee in the Bulletin’s June 1942 issue. In a salute to the men of the medical college who were preparing to serve in World War II—or had already been drafted—General Magee (class of 1905) wrote, “For some this solemn hour in history represents the third summons to war within the short span of a lifetime; for others it is the first.…[t]hrough the felicitous, the troubled, the perilous years alike—[the men of Jefferson] have kept the faith…”

During this unprecedented time, the U.S. Army needed not only soldiers but also physicians, nurses, and medical supplies. “We are confronted with grim realities… the privilege of serving as an instrument which will shape destiny itself... Men of Jefferson, we have heard that clear call like our forefathers did before us.”

And answer the call, Jefferson did. The Bulletin dedicated a March 1943 issue to the 38th General Hospital for the U.S. Army, organized by Jefferson in 1940 and 1941 to provide medical treatment to those injured on the battlefield.

In June 1946, the Bulletin covered the changes at Jefferson between the years of 1941 and 1946. “Definite advances, made under the great handicaps of expedited curriculum and reduced personnel in the departments,” wrote editor Adolph A. Walking, “promises well for Jefferson’s future growth and should be a source of great pride to her alumni.”

In 1941, the Bulletin experienced a change in masthead, as beloved editor Thaddeus Montgomery, MD 1920—who was “responsible for the high standing which the Bulletin ha[d] attained”—retired from his editorial duties.

Bulletin Spotlight: Vol. 8 No. 4; October 1953, Page 16

The Present Status of the Heart and Lung Apparatus

Dr. John H. Gibbon Jr. wrote of his miraculous machine: “The artificial lung is basically a device which spreads blood in a thin film in an atmosphere of oxygen. Carbon dioxide diffuses from, and oxygen is absorbed by, the blood. The artificial lung, or oxygenator, consists of a series of stainless-steel screens suspended in a plastic lucite chamber. The venous blood withdrawn from the subject is pumped into the top of this chamber by pump; from here it passes by gravity through narrow slits onto the screens. Screens have an advantage over smooth plates because the horizontal bars of the screen produce gentle tumbling of the blood as it descends by gravity to the bottom of the oxygenator. The turbulence produced in this fashion improves the efficiency of the oxygenator. The oxygenated blood is then automatically returned to the subject by pump. We believe that we now have available an apparatus by the aid of which many congenital defects of the heart may be successfully treated by surgical means.”

1950s

During the ’50s, the Bulletin evolved, offering a glimpse of what the magazine would become. It was published more often each year, found a more regular schedule, stretched to 50-plus pages, and gained a full-color cover. Class Notes officially appeared, with alumni submitting scores of updates on career and life milestones. Many of these improvements can be traced to the indefatigable efforts of Melrose E. Weed, the long-serving executive secretary of the Alumni Association, who passed away in 1956.

The decade kicked off with notices for celebrations of the 125th anniversary. (Historians would later, correctly, confirm Jefferson was founded in 1824, but the college and clinic did not open to its first class of students until 1825.) In keeping with its stated mission “to acquaint alumni with Jefferson and of keeping them informed concerning the outstanding progress of medical education at the institution,” the Bulletin launched a series of essays diving deeper into each of the departments, which were usually written by the chair.

In the May 1953 edition, John B. Flick, MD 1913, wrote a lovely tribute to John H. Gibbon Sr., MD 1891, emeritus professor of surgery. That month, his son John H. Gibbon Jr. MD ‘27 would alter the course of medicine with his famous heart-lung machine, which John Jr. described in great detail later that year in the October edition.

Alumni philanthropy continued apace, featuring prominently in the Bulletin with appeals, “roll calls,” expenditure updates, and lists of benefactors occupying almost every issue. In 1957, 3,319 alumni contributed $113,362, the highest total yet.

Bulletin Spotlight Vol. 14 No. 8; Summer 1965, Pages 2–4

Jefferson Awards First MD Degrees to Women

Jefferson’s 141st Commencement Exercises heralded a first in Jefferson’s history—the first time the college awarded MDs to women. Eight women were among a class of 157 who received medical degrees at exercises at the Academy of Music, June 11, 1965.

1960s

Radical social change and counterculture revolution defined the ’60s—and transformed Jefferson forever.

In 1961, Jefferson finally permitted women to attend, a decision that, according to the Bulletin’s Summer 1965 issue, “caused pandemonium.” Four years later, eight women out of a class of 157 graduated. In 1967, a program to recruit disadvantaged medical students was established due to the efforts of the Committee for Black Admissions.

The Vietnam War was a hot topic within the Bulletin’s pages. An author in the Spring 1966 issue lamented South Vietnam’s “already-formidable civilian health problems,” blamed the “pressures of Communist insurgency,” and wondered about medicine’s role in so-called “third-world countries.” This opinion did not go unchallenged, however, and numerous articles showcased the debate among students and faculty. “Without television coverage of the effect of hostilities upon children and women, the aversion to the Vietnamese war probably would not have developed,” a Spring 1969 feature observed. “People tend to be indifferent to what they barely know or do not know at all. Let them witness what is happening and definite emotional attitudes arise.”

The Bulletin’s aesthetic reflected the decade’s visual preference for modernism, the resurgence of art deco of the ‘20s, and two other styles—optical and pop art—pioneered by icon Andy Warhol. Clean lines and color bridged the gap between the geometric layouts and materialism of the ’50s and the anti-conformity and art culture of the ’60s. Subjects in photographs appeared less posed, as photographers opted for a more stylistic slice of life.

The Spring 1969 issue celebrated the development of Jefferson Hall, a “benchmark in the framework of the medical school to be.” President A. Herbut called it “one of the finest medical basic science and student commons building in the country.”

On July 1, 1969, a significant revision for the university occurred: The medical college became Thomas Jefferson University.

Bulletin Spotlight: Vol. 25 No. 2; Winter 1975, Pages 3–18

The Sesquicentennial Weekend

Rejoicing at Jefferson took the form of a yearlong Sesquicentennial Celebration. It was inaugurated with the dinner of the Alumni Association of Jefferson Medical College on March 1 and concluded with The Royal Ballet of Sweden at the Academy of Music on November 15 and a reception at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on November 16. In between, there were 19 other programs.

The highlight of the night at the Academy, however, was the premier orchestral performance of the “Jefferson Processional,” a piece written by Philadelphia composer Burle Marx and commissioned by the Alumni Association as its sesquicentennial gift to Thomas Jefferson University.

1970s

As the ’70s came and went, three themes reappeared throughout the decade and, of course, throughout the pages of the Bulletin.

The first theme was commemoration. For Jefferson in the 1970s, there was no shortage of events deserving of celebration. A 1970 Special Issue highlighted the centennial anniversary of the Alumni Association; in 1977, the Jefferson Medical College Hospital also observed a centennial birthday of its own; the magazine’s yearlong celebration of the university’s sesquicentennial carried on throughout 1974–1975; and finally, in 1976, Philadelphians and Jeffersonians alike rejoiced in the city of Philadelphia as the country celebrated its bicentennial.

Another defining theme was development. The Bulletin’s Winter 1976 issue featured the opening of Jefferson’s new $1.4 million hospital on the block between Chestnut and Sansom and 10th and 11th streets. In spring 1977, the Bulletin reported on the success of “The Campaign,” a plan to provide modern medical facilities and improved services to “meet the challenge of the 21st century.” The Campaign’s goal of $15 million in giving was met—and exceeded—by more than $750,000.

The third theme was diversification. The magazine devoted attention to women’s role in healthcare, society, and Jefferson. The Bulletin’s “Women in Medicine” issue, published fall 1974, contained features, articles, and photos of notable women in Jefferson’s history.

A couple of years later, the Bulletin ran a profile on a notable woman in its own history, Joy Roff Mara. As an editor, Mara had penned bylines and stories for the magazine since 1972. She received, as the Bulletin noted, “particular praise” for her pieces on the Winged Ox (Summer 1976), the 25th reunion story for the class of 1950 (Summer 1975), and the fraternity article in the spring of 1973. Her food reviews of local Philadelphia restaurants in the Spring 1976 Bulletin were especially lauded. “[Mara’s] series in this issue will be her last,” the Spring 1977 issue sadly announced. “It has been a pleasure to have [her] on the Bulletin staff.”

Bulletin Spotlight: Vol. 36 No. 2; Winter 1987, Page 25

Robert C. Gallo Profile

Robert C. Gallo, MD ’63, was one of the six winners of the 1986 Albert Lasker awards for medical research and public service. Dr. Gallo of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and Dr. Luc Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, who worked separately, were both cited for their identification of the virus that causes AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).

This was the second time Dr. Gallo won the prestigious award created four decades prior to honor medical researchers and promoters of public health. He won the award in 1982 for his research on retroviruses, the class to which the AIDS virus belongs.

1980s

The ’80s presented enormous challenges to healthcare and, by proxy, to Jefferson. Multihospital systems multiplied. Managed care grew exponentially. Competition among clinics increased. Insurance costs shifted from employers and unions to the employee, and private plans quickly followed suit.

Responding to the Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association’s “Future Directions for Medical Education” report, Dean William F. Kellow, MD, wrote an article titled “State of the College” in the Winter 1981 issue that compared the report’s requirements to Jefferson’s past, present, and future educational responsibilities.

Though the last to admit women, Jefferson was the first coeducational medical school to appoint a woman as dean. In 1982, the Bulletin profiled Dean Leah M. Lowenstein, MD, DPhil. Sadly, health concerns caused her to resign after just 18 months on the job. She died from cancer within a year.

In fall 1984, the Bulletin published “Options for Hospital Funding” by university president Lewis W. Bluemle Jr., MD, who contemplated “the dream” of a “one-class” system of healthcare, affordable and accessible for everyone. He wrote that “this dream is now being tempered by a realization that hospitals cannot afford it. A complex set of forces has driven our health care system to a point apparently beyond the ability of hospitals to control its cost…Competition, not on quality of service but on price reduction, seems the country’s only answer.”

Also in 1984, the Bulletin announced, “Microcomputers are beginning to play a significant role in most academic institutions, Thomas Jefferson University being no exception.” Later, in 1987, the Bulletin reported on the massive effort to collect, maintain, and make available digital records of Jefferson’s history. “All of [this] will be stored on a magnetic disc,” the issue explained, “that can be corrected and updated easily.”

In 1989, the Bulletin covered the installation of the Alumni Association’s first woman president, Nancy S. Czarnecki, MD ’65. She was also the school’s first female graduate.

Bulletin Spotlight: Vol. 45 No. 2; June 1996, Page 13

Kimmel Foundation Donates $10 Million, Establishing the Kimmel Cancer Center

The Sidney Kimmel Foundation generously donated $10 million toward cancer research at Thomas Jefferson University, the largest individual grant Jefferson had received to date and one of the largest gifts to cancer research in the region. In honor of Kimmel’s gift, the university named its world-renowned cancer center and cancer research institute as the Kimmel Cancer Center of Jefferson Medical College and the Kimmel Cancer Institute.

1990s

The ’90s rang in a notable decade of technological innovation and institutional metamorphosis, as Jefferson teamed up with Frankford, Main Line Health, Einstein Health, and Magee Rehab to form the Jefferson Health System.

The Winter 1993 issue covered an incredible discovery: Jefferson researchers uncovered the gene on chromosome 11 that “plays a key role in many forms of acute leukemia,” and the fusion of this gene with one from chromosome 4 can be caused by an abnormal protein.

The use of computers at the hospital and university continued to rise—a 1996 cover of the Bulletin featured “computer-generated images of a potential CD4-based drug developed at Jefferson.”

Also in 1996, Jefferson received one of the largest gifts to cancer research in the region. The Sidney Kimmel Foundation donated $10 million to cancer research to establish what is now the NCI-designated Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center. 

In a welcome contrast to previous decades, the university admitted more women than ever: By 1998, women made up 50% of the incoming class and 25% of the medical school faculty.

In the last decade of the 20th century, the Bulletin found a consistent style that balanced the gloss of an alumni magazine with the gravity of a medical journal. Any given issue featured black-and-white photos of campus news and updates, splashes of high-definition color highlighting features, clinical articles announcing strides in research and discoveries, and even advertisements for Jefferson merchandise that captured the collegiate fashion trends of the day.

Bulletin Spotlight: Vol. 56 No. 1; Winter 2007, Pages 25–27

Dorrance H. Hamilton Building

A pregnant Dorrance “Dodo” Hamilton was asked to have her baby at Jefferson, and thus began a nearly 40-year relationship with Jefferson. Her husband’s family, the Vauclains, also had a Jefferson connection. Family legend has it that Vauclain paid Dr. Martin E. Rehfuss when the family was healthy; when they got sick, the payments stopped—Rehfuss wasn’t doing his job. At least, that’s how the story goes.

Hamilton was the first woman to be named to the board of trustees. She served as president of the Woman’s Board from 1969 to 1972. Her gift of $25 million established the Dorrance H. Hamilton Building, dedicated to creating an environment for team teaching. As a trustee, Hamilton understood the vision set forth in the new strategic plan: “It seemed apparent that there were ways of doing things that were better or easier. Jefferson seemed to be going along the right path.”

2000s

The 2000s ushered in a new millennium and the start of several new eras at Jefferson.

In 2004, Robert L. Barchi, MD, PhD, was appointed president of Thomas Jefferson University. His vision for interdisciplinary education at Jefferson was advanced with the construction of the Dorrance H. Hamilton Building and Sidney and Ethal Lubert Plaza.

In 2007, Thomas J. Nasca, MD ’75, MACP, stepped down as the Anthony F. and Gertrude M. DePalma Dean and began his tenure as CEO and executive director of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. President Barchi honored Dr. Nasca’s service to Jefferson by spotlighting his writing for the Bulletin: “His essays ask us to reflect on how morality affects our professional behaviors…In each of his essays, the underlying theme is compassion.”

In 2008, the Jefferson School of Pharmacy welcomed 76 students and established itself as Philadelphia’s first pharmacy school to open its doors in 107 years. That same year, the university adopted a bold strategic plan to transform its Department of Health Policy into the nation’s first School of Population Health.

In 2009, Barchi recruited Mark Tykocinski, MD, from the University of Pennsylvania to become the 26th dean of the medical college.

However, for many alumni, perhaps the biggest story of the decade was the end of an era—in 2006, the university sold Thomas Eakins’ masterpiece The Gross Clinic for $68 million. While recognizing the Jefferson community’s deep affection for the painting, Barchi told the Bulletin, “This sale will help us realize our strategic goals, bolstering Jefferson’s leadership position and strengthening our reputation as a premier academic medical center.” Nevertheless, several alumni wrote to the Bulletin questioning the decision. William Nelson, MD ’88, wrote, “The Gross Clinic inspired me to become a physician. ... It is what gives Jefferson some of the intangible qualities that separate it from other, routine, run-of-the-mill schools.” John McGuire, MD ’92, agreed: “I think in selling this picture, you missed the bigger picture.”

The magazine implemented some experimental changes that endure to this day. The Fall 2006 issue premiered the Bulletin’s first “By the Numbers”; this inaugural feature flexed Jefferson’s presence around the world.

Bulletin Spotlight, Vol. 65 No. 2; Fall 2017, Pages 9–11

The New Jefferson

On July 1, 2017, Thomas Jefferson University and Philadelphia University combined to create a different kind of comprehensive university. The new, transformed Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University) promised to deliver hands-on, transdisciplinary, interprofessional education in medicine, nursing, health professions, science, architecture, design, fashion, textiles, business, engineering, and more, all grounded in the liberal arts.

2010s

Nearing the end of the 2010s, a special edition of the Bulletin reflected on the 10-year (and counting) tenure of Mark L. Tykocinski, MD, as the Anthony F. and Gertrude M. DePalma Dean.

“My decade at Jefferson,” Dr. Tykocinski wrote, “has been quite a ride.”

He was being modest: It was more like a 37-million-horsepower space shuttle launch. Or rather, launches, because big change came rapidly and often.

As Jefferson raced toward its third century, the school and health system continued to reinvent—to reimagine—itself. In a 2014 interview with the Bulletin, newly appointed president and CEO Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, promised that in five years, Jefferson wouldn’t look the same. He was right.

The boutique health science university acquired the design-focused Philadelphia University to become a two-campus, professions-based, R2 university. The three-hospital health system mushroomed into an 18-hospital regional health powerhouse. The medical college curriculum was completely redesigned. Two landmark gifts—$110 million in 2014 and $70 million in 2019—from Caroline and Sidney Kimmel would name the medical college and a new research facility, respectively.

The Bulletin chronicled these big moments, yet what stands out during the decade are the stories devoted to the art and humanity of being a physician. Articles examined issues like the importance of empathy (summer 2011), the art of diagnosis (spring 2012), what happens when doctors need to go to the doctor (winter 2014), and the strain of physician burnout (summer 2018). Profiles revealed alumni, students, and faculty who embraced art—from dancers (Carrie Walsh, MD ’20) to painters (Gerald Marks, MD ’49) to singers (the “Testostertones” and the “Arrhythmias”), and more.

In putting the experience of practicing medicine front and center in its reporting, the Bulletin returned to where it started: a publication in praise of a uniquely “Jeffersonian” philosophy of how to train—and be—a good physician.