Wallace Fills Endowed Chair
Professorship Set Up To Honor Kempner
The Department of Medicine has
established an endowed professorship in
honor of Dr. Walter Kempner, widely
known as the creator of the "rice diet"
program.
Dr. Andrew G. Wallace, a professor of
medicine and chief of the Division of
Cardiology, has been named as the first
holder of the endowed chair. Wallace is
also an assistant professor of physiology.
Kempner, a member of the Duke
faculty for 38 years, has attracted
patients from all walks of life and from
all parts of the world. Initially these were
patients with serious hypertension, and
later the group included patients with
diabetes and nephritis.
More recently the largest group of
patients have had marked obesity with
related medical and psychological
problems. Kempner evolved a unique
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VOLUME 21, NUMBER 14
APRIL 5, 1974
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
2 Faculty Members Named
James B. Duke Professors
DR. ROBERT L. HILL
DR. GUY L. ODOM
Two School of Medicine faculty
members are among four who have been
named to James B. Duke professorships,
the highest academic honor the university
bestows on its distinguished teachers.
They are Dr. Robert L. Hill, professor
and chairman of the Department of
Biochemistry, and Dr. Guy L. Odom,
professor and chief of the Division of
Neurosurgery.
The other two are Dr. Craufurd D.
Goodwin, professor of economics, and
Dr. Arlin Turner, professor of English.
Their appointments to the distinguished
professorships were announced by
University Provost Frederic N.
Cleaveland.
All four were honored at a dinner
Wednesday night. Also among those
honored at the dinner was Dr. Andrew G.
Wallace, who has been named Walter
Kempner Professor of Medicine (see
related story on this page.)
Odom is an internationally known
neurological surgeon. A graduate of
Tulane University Medical School, he
came to Duke in 1943 after completing
internships and residencies in several
neurological specialties at East Louisiana
State Hospital and at Montreal
Neurological Institute, and then teaching
neurosurgery a year at Louisiana State
University.
Professor of neurosurgery at Duke
since 1952 and chief of the division since
1960, Odom was elected president of the
Hospital Statistics Reveal Growth
• If the average adult were given all the
laundry that Duke Hospital washes in a
year, he wouldn't have to go to the
laundromat before October of 6544 A.D.
That's assuming he used approximately
2.5 pounds of laundry each day.
At current prices for self-service
washing and drying—say 50 cents per
10-pound load—the 4,170,624 lbs. would
cost him in excess of $208,500, not to
mention rent on the train which would be
required to get to the coin-munching
machines.
If the same fellow were to eat all the
food which is prepared yearly by Duke
Hospital's dietary department—1,411,980
meals—he'd be eating three times a day
for the next 1,289 and a half years,
provided, of course, he were to enjoy an
unusually long life and owned a large
refrigerator.
These figures are based on a report
compiled by the hospital business office.
Other statistics show that 1,875
newborn babies first saw the light of day
at Duke last year, an increase of 15 over
the previous year.
There were 13,806 operations, down
from 14,015 the year before.
Total outpatient visits increased from
346,418 to 370,371, and inpatient visits
rose from 26,004 to 26,130, not counting
the newborn.
The average length of stay for patients
was 9.65 days, a slight decrease from the
preceeding year.
Patients underwent a combined total
of 2,582,712 laboratory tests and
received 204,098 X-rays.
The Emergency Department treated
34,175 people, an increase of more than
2,000.
American Academy of Neurological
Surgery in 1967. He became president of
the American Board of Neurological
Surgery three years later.
In April 1971, he was elected
president of the American Association of
Neurological Surgeons, largest of the
professional bodies in that field.
He received the Neurosurgeon Award
of the American Academy of
Neurological Surgery, and the American
Board of Neurological Surgery's
Distinguished Service Award in 1972.
Hill is a specialist in protein and
(Continued on page 2)
Pharmacy Seminar
To Begin Today
The Department of Pharmacy is
hosting a seminar on "Current Topics of
Interest to Hospital Pharmacists." Milton
Skolaut, director of the pharmacy, will
act as coordinator.
The seminar is t>eing conducted today
and tomorrow at the Governor's Inn in
the Research Triangle Park from noon-6
p.m.
Approximately 125 pharmacists will
be attending the seminar from North
Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and the
District of Columbia.
Speakers from Duke include Dr.
William J. Murray, associate professor of
anesthesiology and Jeff H. Steinert,
assistant vice-president for health
affairs-business and finance. Murray will
discuss the bioavailability of drugs from
the various dosage forms from a
physician's viewpoint. Steinert will
discuss the impact of cost controls
imposed by the federal government and
how pharmacists can comply with them.
Other speakers will be Dr. Robert K.
Chalmers, professor of clinical pharmacy
at the School of Pharmacy. Purdue
University; Dr. William E. Smith, director
of pharmacy and central services,
Memorial Hospital Medical Center, Long
Beach, Calif., and William Hotaling,
director of pharmacy services, Children's
Hospital of the District of Columbia,
Washington, D.C.
The intention of the meeting is to
discuss in depth some of the major
problems facing pharmacists practicing in
hospitals today. This seminar is unique in
that these subjects are generally not
covered in routine pharmacy programs.
dietary approach to the management of
these diseases, with rice as a major
ingredient because of its low protein and
salt content. His achievements have been
attributed to his professional
competence, his charismatic and
authoritative personality, and a team
approach to patient care.
Kempner was brought to Duke by Dr.
Frederic Hanes, who first met him while
in Berlin visiting Dr. Otto Warburg, the
Nobel laureate in biochemistry. Kempner
came from a distinguished background,
both of his parents having held
professorships in medical schools in
Germany. Warburg regarded Kempner as
a man of extraordinary promise.
Eager to add a full-time medical
investigator of outstanding competence
to the Department of Medicine he then
headed, Hanes offered Kempner an
appointment which he eventually
accepted, becoming the first salaried
member of the Department of Medicine
whose major responsibility was medical
research. He remained on the faculty at
Duke until his retirement in August 1972
and is now serving in a consultant
capacity to the medical center.
The professorship established in his
name has a twofold purpose—to honor
Kempner by the appointment of an
outstanding clinician-investigator to the
endowed professorship; and to encourage
additional support for the continuation
of Kempner's special interests, notably
the program of research in cardiovascular
and nutritional diseases. In this way the
Department of Medicine hopes to
recognize in small part the contributions
Kempner has made to his patients, to his
field and to Duke University Medical
Center.
The new Kempner Professor, Wallace,
graduated from medical school at Duke in
1959 and completed an internship and
residency at Duke. He spent two years'
from 1961 to 1963, at the National Heart
Institute, then returned to Duke as an
associate and chief resident in medicine.
Wallace became an assistant professor
of medicine in 1964. He was promoted to
associate professor in 1967, and in that
same year was named director of the
Myocardial Infarction Research Unit
(MIRU).
In 1969 Wallace received the
additional appointment of assistant
professor of physiology. The following
year he was made assistant director for
graduate medical education at Duke.
Wallace became chief of the Division
of Cardiology in 1970 and the next year
was elevated to full professor of
medicine.
DR. ANDREW G. WALLACE