The Perelman School of Medicine: A Proving Ground for History’s Top Academic Leaders

As the celebration of the 250^th anniversary year of the founding of the Perelman School of Medicine comes to an end, it seems appropriate to take a brief look at the school’s role in preparing its students, trainees, and faculty members for important positions in academic medicine. In fact, at one of the presentations during this spring’s Medical Alumni Weekend, “Front Row Seats,” one of the speakers pointed out that Penn has educated and trained many people who went on to become medical school deans, both at Penn and elsewhere. 

It is not a surprise that, as the nation’s first medical school, it looked to its own alumni for academic leaders. In the school’s earliest years, the deanship was more of a rotating post, and the deans served for shorter terms. But consider those who served as deans once the position had been more clearly defined. William Edmonds Horner (MD 1814), for example, served as dean for an amazing 30 years, from 1822 to 1852. He succeeded Philip Syng Physick, widely considered “the father of American surgery,” as chair of anatomy; discovered an important muscle of the eye; took over Caspar Wistar’s medical collection (the forerunner of today’s Wistar Institute) and expanded it; and wrote the first pathology textbook published in the United States. Joseph Leidy (MD 1844) served as dean from 1877 to 1888. His learning was so broad that a biography of him published in 1998 was called The Last Man Who Knew Everything. An early champion of the microscope, Leidy investigated both dinosaurs and tiny parasites and much in between. He determined that Trichina spiralis was the cause of the dangerous trichinosis and noted that thoroughly heating the pork would kill the parasite.

Another dean from the earlier days was Charles Harrison Frazier (MD 1892). A pioneer in neurosurgery, he started at Penn as an instructor in surgical pathology in 1896, was elevated to clinical professor of surgery in 1901, and in 1903, at age 33, was appointed dean of the medical school.

During his 10-year term, he was responsible for strengthening the institution’s academics substantially; that included raising entrance requirements and introducing new faculty trained at outside institutions.

In his segment during “Front Row Seats,” Daniel Albert (MD 1962), a distinguished professor of ophthalmology at the University of Wisconsin, provided a look at more recent times. He asserted that Penn Med has long turned out outstanding clinicians and researchers – but deans as well. James Eckenhoff (MD 1941) was dean of Northwestern Medical School for 13 years; Robert B. Daroff (MD 1961) was associate dean at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and served two years as interim dean. Edward Stemmler (MD 1960), who was in the audience during the presentation, was dean of Penn’s own medical school during one of its periods of growth, from 1975 to 1988. His legacy was honored when the school named what was then its chief academic building after him. Robert I. Grossman (MD 1973) currently serves as dean and CEO of N.Y.U. Langone Medical Center. At Penn, he had been chief of Neuroradiology and associate chairman of Radiology. Since 2013, Jack A. Elias (MD 1979) has been dean of the Alpert Medical School at Brown University. A specialist in pulmonary medicine, he had previously served as chair of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. Albert also mentioned Edward Holmes (MD 1967), who had been chairman of Medicine at Penn. Holmes later served as dean of Duke University’s School of Medicine and dean of the University of California at San Diego.

Among alumni-deans not cited by Dr. Albert is Jerome F. Strauss III (MD 1973). Formerly associate chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Penn and founding director of the Center for Research on Reproduction and Women’s Health, Strauss became dean of Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine in 2005.

Several alumni of Penn’s medical school have gone on to serve not as deans but in other significant roles in academic medicine. Robert L. Barchi (MD 1972) was chair of both Neurology and Neuroscience at Penn before becoming provost of the University of Pennsylvania and then president of Thomas Jefferson University. Currently, he is president of Rutgers University. The late Jerome H. Grossman (MD 1968) was chairman and chief executive of the New England Medical Center from 1984 to 1995, while also serving as a professor of medicine at Tufts University.

In addition, many people who completed their residency training at Penn Medicine have become leaders in academic medicine across the nation. For example, Francisco Gonzalez-Scarano (GME 1981) was chair of Neurology at Penn before leaving to become dean of the University of Texas School of Medicine. Similarly, Eric G. Neilson (GME 1980), served on Penn Medicine’s faculty for 23 years and headed the Renal-Electrolyte and Hypertension division. In 2011, he joined the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University as vice president for medical affairs and the Lewis Landsberg Dean.

Another category we could examine would be Penn faculty members who did not graduate from the school but nonetheless used their tenure at Penn to lay the groundwork for influential careers. The careers of two of Penn’s former chairs of Medicine demonstrate how leading the medical school’s largest and most complex department -- with more than 225 faculty members -- offers invaluable experience for diverse leadership roles in other areas of medicine. Arnold Relman, who led the department for nine years, was editor of The Journal of Clinical Investigation from 1962 to 1967. But he is best remembered for serving as editor of The New England Journal of Medicine from 1977 to 1991 and for helping to raise its standards and broaden its reputation. Laurence E. Earley, who was chair of Medicine for 13 years, became president of the American Association of Physicians and chairman of the American Board of Internal Medicine.

In the years ahead, which students currently enrolled in this birthplace of American medical education will make their marks as deans and other leaders in the field?