A Brief History Of the Department Of Pathology
At the University Of Oklahoma
We Celebrated Our Centennial in 2002!
The University of Oklahoma was created by legislative act in 1890, had its first president and students in 1892, and by 1898, four years of college courses were offered. During the 1898-1899 school year, a "Premedical Department" was created as a division of the Biology Department under Albert H. Van Vleet. Because President David Ross Boyd was opposed to the concept of an administratively distinct medical school, when Lawrence N. Upjohn was named the first medical school "Dean" in 1900, his official title was "Head of the Premedical Department and Director of Physical Culture." Pathology was added as a field of study and a series of lectures was given by various local physicians in 1902, which can be considered the date for the beginning of a Department of Pathology at the University of Oklahoma. However, it was not until 1906 that EDWARD MARSH WILLIAMS was named "Instructor in Pathology and Bacteriology" and was temporarily in charge of the Department of Pathology and Bacteriology. By 1907, the medical school had five departments that were recognized by the Regents: Department of Anatomy, Department of Chemistry, Department of Forensic Medicine, Department of Physiology, and Department of Pathology and Bacteriology.
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| College of Medicine, 1909 |
In 1908, LOUIS ALVIN TURLEY , from Harvard University, was named Instructor in Pathology and Neurology, with the additional duty of Bacteriologist for the Oklahoma State Board of Health, and in 1909 was promoted to Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pathology and Bacteriology.
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| First Year Medics, University of Oklahoma, 1911 |
In 1912, Gayfree Ellison, an Instructor in Surgical Anatomy, was named Chairman of the new Department of Bacteriology and Hygiene, and Dr. Turley's department became the Department of Histology and Pathology. A pre-World War I glimpse of the Department is obtained from a note written by Dr. Turley in 1914: "The Library has to use a stock room for its reading room. The Pathology Museum Room has to serve as an office for the Assistant Professor of Bacteriology. The wooden Anatomy Building is a fire trap with no toilets, no storage tanks, and very inadequate heating. The Professor of Bacteriology has a 9 by 12 foot office which is also used as a store room. There is only one 10 by 12 foot animal house. Histology and Embryology have no space of their own. The Head of Pathology has his office in a Technique Room. In one small teaching laboratory, we hold courses for 32 medical, 98 pharmacy, 32 pharmacology and 20 arts and science students." Dr. Turley served as Professor and Chairman of the Department until 1944. The basic sciences were moved from Norman to Oklahoma City in 1928 when the new College of Medicine Building was completed. From 1915 to 1928, Dr. Turley was also Assistant Dean, a position he again occupied from 1935 to 1939. Dr. Turley retired in 1949.
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College of Medicine, 1928 |
In 1920, the Department of Histology and Embryology was created with Joseph Thuringer as the Chairman. An originator of horizontal sectioning in the fields of histology and surgical anatomy, he pioneered the investigation of melanocytes and melanin in human and animal skin. In 1946, Dr. Thuringer hired Zola Cooper from Washington University (St. Louis), who was one of the founders of dermatopathology and was Professor of Histology and Embryology and Dermatology until 1949. Dr. Thuringer exemplified the European research-oriented scientist with broad cultural interests, playing bassoon in the first Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra. In 1951, Dr. Thuringer resigned and his department was merged with anatomy.
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OUHSC, 1930's |
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| College of Medicine (date unknown) |
Children's Hospital (date unknown) |
In the early 1940s, hospital laboratories were independent of the Department, and many clinicians considered them substandard. In 1944, George Lynn Cross became President of the University and named HOWARD C. HOPPS as Chairman of the Department of Pathology, combining the direction of the laboratories and the Department under a single physician (pathologist). Dr. Hopps received his MD from the University of Oklahoma in 1937, after which he trained at the University of Chicago. He had contracted tuberculosis following exposure during an autopsy. During his tenure as Chairman, two European-trained pathologists, Bela Halpert and Walter Joel, achieved prominence in departmental educational programs. Dr. Hopps served as Chairman until 1957, when he resigned because of inadequate financing for the department and continued problems with the direction of clinical pathology (in 1955, the Regents had voted to create a separate Department of Laboratory Medicine when funds became available). Dr. Hopps moved to the University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston) until 1964, when he went to Temple University, and later the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.
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| Univ. Hospital (left) and College of Medicine (right), 1949 | College of Medicine, 1949 |
Dr. Hopps was succeeded by WILLIAM JAQUES , who served as Chairman from 1957 to 1966. Dr. Jaques received his MD from McGill University. Like Drs. Turley and Hopps before him, Dr. Jaques was buffeted by the politics of clinical pathology and he moved to the University of Arkansas as Chairman in 1966. In 1963, Ben Heller, an Associate Professor of Medicine, was named Chairman of the newly activated Department of Laboratory Medicine. Dr. Heller had been trained in the Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Biochemistry at the University of Minnesota, and his new department encompassed the clinical laboratories in the teaching hospitals. For the next decade, much of the testing now considered clinical pathology was located in this new Department of Laboratory Medicine.
In 1966, A. LAWRENCE DEE was named Chairman of Pathology. Dr. Dee received his MD from Johns Hopkins University in 1951 and trained in pathology at Stanford University. He served as Chairman from 1966 to 1971. Continuing institutional politics regarding clinical pathology contributed to his decision in late 1971 to move to Charlotte, North Carolina. L. CLARKE STOUT, JR. , a faculty member, was named Interim Chairman in September 1971 and resigned in June 1972. At that time another faculty member, JACQUELINE JONES COALSON (a brilliant PhD researcher in pulmonary diseases), was named Administrator of the Department. This period of turmoil ended in 1973 with the appointment of ROBERT M. O'NEAL as Chairman and the integration of the Department of Laboratory Medicine with the Department of Pathology. Dr. O'Neal received his MD from the University of Tennessee in 1945 and trained in pathology at Washington University (St. Louis). He served as Chairman until 1978. Among his accomplishments were effecting the move of the Department of Pathology into the new University Hospital and the hiring of Ronald L. Gillum in 1977 as Director of Clinical Pathology to revamp the hospital laboratories. In addition, he led the successful effort in 1973 to establish a pathology service headed by Jan V. Pitha at the Oklahoma City Veterans Administration Hospital and end the contract services previously provided.
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| Biomedical Sciences Building - present location of the Department of Pathology |
Following Dr. O'Neal's departure, Dr. JACQUELINE JONES Coalson was named Interim Head of Pathology, a position she held until 1979, when she accepted an offer of a Research Professorship at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio. Dr. Coalson was among a number of prominent scientists in the Department, including Paul Kimmelstiel (renowned for his work on the kidney) and Fletcher Taylor (internationally recognized for his studies in blood clotting and hemostasis).
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| Everett Tower of the University Hospital, 1999 |
Dr. Coalson was succeeded by MARK ALLEN EVERETT, Regents' Professor and Chairman of the Department of Dermatology (and son of a former Dean of the College of Medicine). Dr. Everett was Director of Dermatopathology and had chaired the search committee for a new Chairman of Pathology. When the committee's candidates were unobtainable, the Interim Dean of the College of Medicine, G. Rainey Williams, asked Dr. Everett to serve as Interim Chairman of Pathology. During his tenure from 1979 to 1984, Dr. Everett was able to: move the departmental office to the new Biomedical Sciences Building; introduce a central computer system for the department; create three divisions (Anatomic Pathology, Clinical Pathology, and Research and Graduate Education); establish a summer research program for second year medical students; and reintegrate into the department the majority of the clinical laboratories previously dispersed throughout the various hospital services. Dr. Everett continued as Chairman of Dermatology through 1996.
Jess Hensley , former Director of Laboratories at Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, was given a term appointment as Chairman of Pathology for the period 1984-1985. Dr. Hensley was instrumental in recruiting and acquiring new leadership talent and was responsible for beginning the financial restructuring of the Department of Pathology. Dr. Hensley was succeeded in a term appointment as Chairman of Pathology by RICHARD W. LEECH , who was a graduate of the University of Washington. Dr. Leech received his anatomic pathology training at Washington University (St. Louis) and training in neuropathology at the University of Washington and in clinical pathology at the Swedish Hospital in Seattle. During his tenure from 1985 to 1989, Dr. Leech was able to institute professional billing for pathology services and laid the groundwork for the future financial success of the Department. Dr. Leech then continued to serve as Vice-Chairman for Administrative Affairs in the Department.
In 1989, FRED G. SILVA , an Oklahoma City native and University of Oklahoma graduate who had trained in pathology at Columbia University and was then Director of Surgical Pathology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, was named Lloyd E. Rader Professor and Chairman. Under his leadership, the Department experienced unparalleled growth in number of faculty, house staff, research grants, and budget. One of his major goals had been to establish a number of departmental endowments, and by 1999, when he moved on to serve as Executive Director of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, five new endowed professorships and endowed awards for excellence in service, teaching, and research had been provided to the Department.
Dr. Silva was succeeded by ROGER A. BRUMBACK , David Ross Boyd Professor of Pathology, who served as Interim Chairman for two years. Dr. Brumback received his MD from Penn State University (Hershey) and subsequently trained in pediatrics (Johns Hopkins University), neurology (Washington University in St. Louis and NIH), and pathology (University of Rochester). Dr. Brumback guided the Department through the critical transition period of the merger with Columbia/HCA.
In 2000, NANCY K. HALL , Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation Professor of Pathology, and Associate Dean for the College of Medicine, was named Interim Chair of Pathology. Dr. Hall has served as a member of the Department of Pathology at OUHSC since 1976. She was actively engaged in research in the immunology of cryptococcosis for 12 years after which she shifted her focus to teaching and university service in the Dean's Office. Dr. Hall's creative contributions centered on education program development and curricular design and implementation, leading her to serve as the Chair of the Academic Program Council. During her tenure as Interim Chair of Pathology, Dr. Hall was instrumental in implementing a successful laboratory and hospital consolidation by HCA and University Physicians Medical Group. She also played a critical role in recruiting our current Chair of Pathology, Dr. Ann Thor; from Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, and Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, Evanston, Illinois.
Department Chairs of the 20th Century (pictures and terms)
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1906 |
Pathology and Bacteriology |
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1909 |
Pathology and Neurology |
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1912 |
Histology and Pathology |
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1916 |
Pathology (including Histology) |
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1920 |
Pathology (Histology and Embryology removed) |
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1955 |
Pathology (Clinical Pathology "to be separated") |
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1964 |
Pathology (Laboratory Medicine separated) |
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1973 |
Pathology (Laboratory Medicine separated) |
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2001 |
Pathology (Anatomic, Clinical, Experimental, Dental and Veterinary) |
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