MEDICAL
DUKE
UNIVERSITY
CENTER
VOL. n, NO. 7 p V ’ DECEMBER, 1963 DURHAM, N. C.
Laboratories in the new building are designed to provide efficient and pleasant quarters.
Behind the intricate and gleaming glassware, Mrs. Rhoda Billings is at work in Dr.
Stempfel’s steroid lab in the Diagnostic and Treatment Unit. Duke photo by Sparks
Frontiers in Medicine
by Norman K. Wlsoii
The Duke Medieal Center played a
major role in one of the biggest week
ends in the University’s history last
month when university scientists ex
plored the frontier lands of medical
education and research.
On Friday, November 15 the Uni
versity sponsored the tenth seminar in
a series begun last year on “The Thii-
versity in a Changing World.” The
title of this seminar was “Frontiers
in Medicine.” Over 100 guests—lead
ers in the fields of business and th(>
professions from across the country—
were in\dted to participate in the
seminar. The purpose of this series of
seminars is to further the exchange
of ideas between scholars and mature
citizens from outside the university
community on matters of importance
to both groups.
Dr. Deryl Hart, of the Duke sur
gery department, and Dr. William G.
Anlyau, associate dean of the Duke
Medical School, presided at these ses
sions. Speakers and their subjects
were: Dr. Ewald W. Busse, director
of the Duke Center for the Study of
Aging, “The Aging Process and the
Health of the Aged;” Dr. Eugene A.
Stead, chairman of the Department
of Medicine, “The Future of Clinical
Research;” Dr. Philip Handler,
chairman of the Department of Bio
chemistry, “The Role of (rovernment
in Medical Education and Research;”
and Dr. Barnes Woodhall, dean of
the School of Medicine, “Long Range
Plans in Medical Education.”
Dr. Handler spoke out vigorously
in favor of government support of
medical research and education—but
warned also that universities must bo
alert to the danger of federal control.
Stating that “The nation’s medical
schools are a national resource and
the American people are entitled to
the best medical education, medical
research and medical care they can
devise and can afford,” Dr. Handler
said that “no mechanism other than
the partnership of government and
the medical schools will make this
possible.”
“Let us, therefore, welcome the
partnership—while keeping our guard
up,” he said. “And the only means
by which we can successfully do this
is to continue to maintain our inde
pendence out of the knowledge that
our basic operations are financed with
funds privately and voluntarily given
to the University in good faith. Only
thus can we be truly j)artners in the
enterprise rather than wards of the
federal establishment. ’ ’
In another seminar address, Dean
Barnes Woodhall said, “we are proud
that many of our faculty have made
substantial contributions in ideas and
in time to government. . . . Certainly,
if the university does accept from the
government increased resources for
the conduct of their mutual affairs,
then the university must further its
responsibility to government in the
form of a more substantial opera
tional unit.”
Dr. Woodhall said also, “the uni
versity must say rather quietly to
government in the next ten years the
same thing that it has stated to
church and state for many ' cen
turies—that it must preserve its free
dom and its control of its destiny. ’ ’
Dr. Ewald W. Busse, director of
the Duke University Center for the
Study of Aging, predicted that “in
the years ahead, the problem of tlu'
aging and the aged will not decline