The University of Michigan Medical School capped the year-long commemoration of its 150th anniversary with a special Sesquicentennial Celebration and All-Classes Reunion in Ann Arbor October 13-14, 2000. Alumni from 53 different classes and 31 different residency and graduate programs comprised the largest and most diverse representation ever assembled for a Medical School reunion.

Howard Markel, the George E. Wantz Professor of the History of Medicine, begins the morning Heritage Program with a history of the University of Michigan Medical School.

Observing that it is "the mark of a great institution to keep its past alive," Dean Allen S. Lichter opened the two days of reflection and celebration with a special Heritage Program and introduced Howard Markel, M.D., Ph.D. (M.D. 1986), director of the Historical Center for the Health Sciences, as the first George Wantz Professor of the History of Medicine. Markel referred to the Wantz Professorship, created by George E. Wantz (M.D. 1946) of New York, as a shining example of alumni support, noting that receiving an endowed professorship from the institution at which he trained is "the highest honor." Markel presented a history of the Medical School, highlighting its contributions to research and education as an "example worthy of imitation," a phrase derived from the Flexner Report of 1910 which identified the University of Michigan and a handful of its early peers as models of medical education.

Following Markel’s address, George Morley (M.D. 1949, Residency 1952), the Norman F. Miller Professor Emeritus of Gynecology, presided over the induction of 76 "true Michigan greats" into the new Medical Center Alumni Society Hall of Honor which recognizes alumni/ae who have contributed significantly to medical science and education over the past 150 years. Located in the lobby of Dow Auditorium in the Towsley Center for Continuing Medical Education, a collection of plaques bearing the image and brief biography of each honoree was unveiled and dedicated by Dean Lichter and Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs Gil Omenn. A complete listing of the first members of the MCAS Hall of Honor appears on pages 26-28.

Donald S. Fredrickson (M.D. 1949), former director of the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, concluded the Heritage Program with a reflective address recounting his life journey from youthful origins in Colorado to college-town Ann Arbor via troop trains during World War II. His rather casual choice of medicine as a course of study turned out, he said, to be inspiration borne of youthful ignorance. "Science is an unselfish, incurable addiction," he said, describing the way in which his life had been happily consumed by his love of medical science and the challenges it presented to him. Even greater challenges remain for those who choose to pursue them, he suggested, with tremendous opportunities for study and exploration ahead.

That prediction was echoed by luncheon speaker Marshall W. Nirenberg (Ph.D. 1957), winner of the Nobel Prize in 1968 for his early work on the genetic code and its role in protein synthesis. "There has been no other time with such great opportunities in medical research," Nirenberg said. Stating that the age of gene discovery is already over, Nirenberg predicted that the genome will accelerate research and that computers will make an enormous difference in processing the resulting information—information that used to reside in the minds of the men and women performing the research. "Fifty years ago, no one knew where we’d be today," Nirenberg said, advising younger researchers who might be inclined to avoid high-risk projects with uncertain outcomes to embrace the unknown, that even though they might not realize it at the time, "those projects are the most important."

A spectacular black-tie gala, with reception, dinner, entertainment and dancing, brought the day to a rousing end, followed the next afternoon by a sesqui-romp over the Indiana Hoosiers in Michigan Stadium, 58-0, with a special half-time salute to the Medical School by the U-M Marching Band.

Also:

Awards and Transitions

Medical Center Alumni Society Hall of Honor