Duke Hospital, InterCom
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InterCom
Published by Dnke University
iMedical Center and Duke Hospital
Auxiliary
Evelyn S. Stead, Editor
Patricia Wynn, Feature Editor
Committee
Elon II. Clark
Charles II. Prenzel
George H. Kantner
Ethel T. ilacduff
Norman K. Nelson
Nina Waite
ilailin" address: Box ‘2895, Duke
Hospital, Durham, N. C.
The Building
(Continued from page 1)
research and clinical facilities to the
new building where diagnostic pro
cedures prior to abdominal surgery
will be performed and where his re
search in hypertension and peripheral
vascular problems will be conducted.
Two members of the department of
pediatrics will occupy the new build
ing. Dr. Sidbury’s office and labora
tory spaces will enable him to expand
his work on carboliydrate metabolism.
Dr. Stempfel’s spaces include his
office, examining rooms and laboratory
facilities for children with endocrine
problems.
From the department of medicine
Drs. Sieker and Ilansen will move tlie
offices, laboratories and clinical facil
ities for problems of allergic diseases
and pulmonary function to the Diag
nostic and Treatment Center. Drs.
Tyor and Ruffin and all of the related
gastroenterologic functions are now
operating in the new building. These
include a radioisotope, cardiac cathe
ter and chemistry laboratories, and of
fice and clinical spaces.
To attain the desired coordination
of effort, some research is being car
ried on in the same laboratories that
serve the clinical functions in the
Diagnostic and Treatment Center.
But the major emphasis is, undoubt
edly, on diagnostic and clinical rather
than pure research work. Just the
opposite is true of the Gerontology
Building. This building is devoted en
tirely to research into the process and
problems of aging.
The study of aging—gerontology—
and the treatment and prevention of
diseases of aging—geriatrics—are rel
atively new sciences. Interest in this
area began at Duke in 1954 when Dr.
Ewald Busse, chairman of the depart
ment of psychiatry, began extensive
study of selected elderlj’ people in the
community. Within a year the need
for coordinated study of the problem
was recognized and Duke’s Council on
Gerontology was formed. This coun
cil was made up of more than a dozen
department heads. Monthly seminars
were sponsored and an effort was
made to coordinate the investigation
by all departments into problems of
an aging population.
By 1957 the U. S. Public Health
Service felt the need for regional
centers to work on these ])roblems and
asked Duke Medical Center to co
operate as the first of about half a
dozen such centers in the country. So
the Regional Center for the Study of
Aging came into being. Since that
time a wealth of projects has been
undertaken in the medical school and
university concerning aging. Again,
effort was spread over a large area.
with no central place for accumula
tion of data. The new Gerontologj’
Building answers this need.
Here are located all of the labora
tories for every aspect of geriatric
research plus ample room for inter
viewing and evaluating the entire
older person. The data accumulated
by these studies are kept on IBM
tapes. From these tapes, in less than
10 minutes, the gerontologists can get
any answer or hundreds of answei-s
involving their entire group of sub
jects studied over the years.
The opening of this new building
creates two more firsts for Duke Med
ical Center. The Diagnostic and
Treatment Center rei)resents a rare
opportunity for the Duke clinician to
have right at hand all of the tools and
facilities needed to practice adequate
medicine in an academic center. This
allows for more effective care of pa
tients, teaching and research. The
Gerontologj' Building facilitates more
research into this fascinating new
science and acts as the center for a
unique, coordinated effort by many
different departments of the entire
university.