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Dear Alumni/ae and Friends:
 Welcome
to the sixth issue of Medicine at Michigan! It’s hard to
believe that the sesquicentennial celebration has ended. The
events over the past year have become another important part
of the legacy of our Medical School, and I want to thank each
and every one of you who took advantage of all of the opportunities
to help us celebrate our anniversary.
When the Michigan Marching Band left the field at half time
during the October 14th homecoming game, the celebration of
the Medical School’s sesquicentennial officially ended.
The high-energy program was a fitting conclusion to the final
week of campus events that began with a "birthday party"
outdoor barbecue for nearly 5,000 students, faculty, staff and
hospital employees.
Other major events during the week included the opening of
Seeing Is Healing? at the University of Michigan Museum of Art;
the dedication of the MCAS Hall of Honor in the Towsley Center;
the Medical Center Alumni Society all-classes reunion activities
including keynote addresses by noted alumni Donald S. Fredrickson,
M.D., former director of the National Institutes of Health,
and Marshall Nirenberg, Ph.D., Nobel-prize-winning medical researcher;
and a sesquicentennial gala dinner.
While the last anniversary toast has been offered and the final
set of remarks delivered, many lovely reminders of the celebration
are now in place in the Medical School. Patients, visitors,
staff and students alike pass through a permanent anniversary
project when they walk through the connector between the Medical
School and the hospital. Graduation class composites now hanging
there re-establish the tradition begun when the composites first
hung in the connector to Old Main. The turn-of-the-century doctor’s
office exhibit in the hospital lobby offers a historic view
of a typical Ann Arbor practice. Seven of our leading basic
science faculty members now have lecture halls named after them.
Near the third-floor entrance to Medical Science II Building
is a colorful 27-foot-long art installation that pays tribute
to John Jacob Abel, Minor J. Coon, James V. Neel, Horace W.
Davenport, Frederick C. Neidhardt, Elizabeth C. Crosby and Gerald
D. Abrams. (See pages 42-45 for details.) Lastly, four bronze
markers are now located around campus to mark important sites
in the history of the Medical School at the University.
With a newfound appreciation for the greatness of the Medical
School’s proud history and of all the men and women who
contributed to it over many years, we are more determined than
ever to carry that illustrious heritage forward. In this issue,
as in the five that have preceded it, you will learn more about
the truly outstanding people and programs that make up this
wonderful place. The Medical Scientist Training Program is one
of our most prestigious and exciting programs, one in which,
with the support of the National Institutes of Health, we train
some of the most creative and most ambitious of the next generation
of physicians and medical scientists. The efforts of Ron Koenig
and all of the Medical School faculty who participate in recruiting
and training these outstanding students is crucial to the success
of the Medical School’s mission. Also, you’ll read
about how Betsy Lozoff’s conscientious and long-running
work examining the role of iron deficiency in the development
of children’s brains is having an impact on children’s
well-being in countries throughout the world.
Allen S. Lichter, M.D.
Dean
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