News From Senior Physiologists

As originally published in The Physiologist
Volume 45, Number 2, April 2002, page 118

Letter to Novera Herbert Spector

Robert E. Nye, Jr., writes: “Many thanks for your letter of January 11, which arrived in this morning’s mail, congratulating me on my eightieth birthday, which occurred last Wednesday. 
    “As I retired as Professor of Physiology at Dartmouth Medical School, on July 1, 1987, my intention had been to work on a definitive history of the school. Depending on whether you insist on continuous existence under the same institutional governance, it is either the third or the fourth oldest medical school in the country. I had spent a lot of time in the Dartmouth College archives digging up the elements of a fascinating story.
    “However, shortly before my retirement my wife, Dr. Frances Nye, a psychiatrist at Dartmouth, who retired a couple of years before me, had made a couple of trips to Nicaragua. This was in the 1980s, when Reagan was doing his best to destroy the Sandinista government, even after it had been returned to power in the fair and open election of 1984. I got involved in this question, and made several trips to Managua under the aegis of the Committee for Health Rights in Central America, or CHRICA, a California-based medical group. So I lost my historical drive, and I haven’t done anything with it since then.
    “They let me keep an office, a telephone and a mail box in the department of physiology, however, and I go in regularly to the journal club meetings of the respiratory section of the physiology department. Let me confess it: I have a hard time keeping up. The main emphasis of research in my old part of the department is on the control of respiration. It involves single-cell recording of electrical activity in the brain stem; modification of this by drugs controlling ion channels in the cells of specific neural areas; correlation of this with neural discharge in phrenic, hypoglossal and other respiratory-related nerves and with respiratory movements and airway pressures. They also report on the effect of age, species, waking state versus sleep, and REM vs. slow-wave sleep on all these variables. I always leave these meetings with a mixture of admiration for my younger, still active, colleagues, and relief that I don’t have to be out in front in these areas, as they are.
    “What else do I do? Like my wife, I keep up with the news, go to meetings, and write letters to the editor and to our legislators. We travel a bit and visit our grandchildren. We have a lovely time.”

Letters to Felix Bronner

John Greenleaf writes: “I have been reading in The Physiologist the letters from senior physiologists for many years with great interest. It is impressive that many of the respondents are still pursuing scientific endeavors in their 70’s and some even in their 80’s. The interesting task is to ponder the relative causative proportions of heredity and environment responsible. One wonders whether knowing something about physiology engenders longer and more productive lives? I suspect so because of the accompanying self-discipline. But another factor would seem to be the pervasive joy of working in this profession. I have been fortunate to be able to acquire the joy of physiology during my graduate studies at Illinois, and to have been able to carry it over here at NASA, Ames Research Center for the past 40 years. A truly academic style research environment at a federal research center is rare. The trick to a joyous research career is to overcome those ever-present slings and arrows of outrageous fortune with dignity whenever possible. To that end I have found solace and guidance in reading the history of warfare and its leaders, especially Sun Tsu’s The Art of War and Clauswitz’s On War. I became eligible for retirement in 1993, but to insure domestic tranquility and also the joy of pursuing my research hobby have continued working in the laboratory on human research. It is troubling to see that funding for individual scientists conducting human research is declining rapidly, along with their new ideas; perhaps the old ones are more comfortable. Hopefully I can provide a similar response when I’m 80! Thanks for your interest.”

Robert Hill writes: “Thanks for your note on my 80th birthday.
    “After 10 years of post-doc academic work and 40 years of applied research in the pharmaceutical industry it is time for me to change directions. So I have decided to switch gears and get involved in things not biologically related, such as learning Spanish, designing and building educational toys for youngsters, travel and playing farmer on our acreage in the Santa Cruz mountains.
    “In my professional career, physiology, the basic science in mammalian biology, has served me in good stead, providing a healthy breadth of understanding of interrelationships of the body’s mechanisms and responses. I have enjoyed my career.”

Sheldon F. Gottlieb writes: “Thank you for your letter of Febrary 4, 2002, congratulating me on having attained my 70th year. Also, thanks for your kind thoughts and the welcome invitation to tell you about my past and present activities. 
    “After obtaining the PhD from the University of Texas (1959), doing the dissertation research in the Physiology Department at the Medical Branch in Galveston under M. Mason Guest and Robert Celander, I went to work for what was then the Linde Division of the Union Carbide Corporation. Although my dissertation pertained to the relation between the clotting of blood and its subsequent lysis, I never again did anything in that area. 
    “While at Linde (1959-64), I became involved in studying the physiological and biochemical effects of oxygen and the helium xenon group of elements on living systems which brought me into the many facets of the physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology of diving and hyperbaric medicine. After four and a half years, I left for the then Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, where I had a joint appointment in the Departments of Physiology and Anesthesiology (1964- 68). After another four and a half years, 1968, we moved to Fort Wayne, IN, where I started as an associate professor and was promoted to full professor in the Biology Department of Purdue University at the combined Indiana University and Purdue University Campus in Fort Wayne. Twelve years later (1980) and in search of warmer climate, we moved to Mobile, AL, where I was Dean of the Graduate School and professor of biological sciences at the University of South Alabama (USA) for four and a half years and biology professor for the next 13 years. 
    “During our stay in Mobile, I also held the position as Director of Research at the Baromedical Research Institute (nee the Jo Ellen Smith Baromedical Research Institute) (BRI) in New Orleans (1984-98). Also, during most of these years in Mobile, 1988- 98, I had an adjunct professorship in the Department of Physiology in the College of Medicine at USA and, while associated with BRI, I held courtesy appointments in the Department of Physiology and in the Department of Medicine (Emergency Medicine Section), School of Medicine, Louisiana State University in New Orleans, 1990-98. 
    “I retired from USA on December 31, 1997—six months earlier than anticipated—the result of an MI in early October. We moved to Boynton Beach, June, 1998. 
    “While Eda and I are currently in the midst of having friends and relatives visiting South FL, some of whom are staying with us—tis the season, completing, at least temporarily, my phase of the landscaping, working on the book I am writing, maintaining an active Email correspondence, along with writing letters to editors of newspapers (some of which get published) on diverse subjects such as prayer in school, politics, hate with specific emphasis on all aspects of anti-Semitism and issues pertaining to science such as creationism vs. evolution in school curricula, science and religion and animal experimentation, visiting four children (three boys and a girl, she is second oldest) and ten grandchildren (in April it will be eleven), trying to play tennis— had to give up four wall handball (the game the gods invented)—making new friends in a new community while maintaining old ones, being active on the Education Committee of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society and trying to keep my wife happy, I still am finding time to engage in what has become my favorite pastime, i.e. getting into trouble. 
    “It seems that I developed that somewhat unusual avocation while participating in community activities in the various areas of the country in which we lived. Most of the activities were designed to help promote interreligious and interracial relations, advance environmental protection, and to educate the public with respect to a variety of philosophical and practical issues pertaining to science and medicine. 
    “I am not involved in any active physiological research. I do not have access to a lab. I do miss my interactions with my colleagues from different fields and universities—true scholars all—and the fun we had as we jointly produced three separate series of lectures designed to educate the people of “Lower Alabama” on issues pertaining to evolution, science and religion, and the great religions of the world. 
    “The aforementioned trouble pertains to a challenge to debate I made to someone and which he accepted. This debate, if the two society committees which are tangentially involved agree to cosponsor and produce it, should occur at a national meeting of the UHMS. 
    “The warm climate of South Florida, especially in the winter, has been beneficial for us. Admittedly, I would have preferred retiring to the mountainous region of the western or southwestern United States, places I came to love when we camped our way across the lower forty eight one month every summer during the decade of the 70s when the children were growing and developing—they ended up visiting 45 of the 48 contiguous states. Inevitably, these trips were tied in with scientific meetings at which I was presenting some of our research. Flat South Florida is not without its beauty. Within five miles of our home there are two magnificently beautiful sites which I visit frequently—when we have guests and many times alone, while Eda is busy overseeing the care of her elderly parents (mid-nineties)—to renew my connection with nature: the Wakodahatchee Wetlands built and managed by the Palm Beach County Water District and the Arthur Marshall Loxahatchee Wildlife Preserve. 
    “For the future, other than spending time with family, finishing the book and landscaping, we have some trips planned to visit various foreign lands and places in the US that we missed in our first (pre-retirement) life. 
    “Thank you for this opportunity. Also, thank the APS for providing us with online opportunity to keep in touch with developments in physiology. 
“Since our oldest son, who is currently stationed at the National Naval Medical Center, is living in Gaithers-burg—close to Bethesda, I am looking forward to visiting the APS and Marty Frank when we are in the area.” 

Francis Haddy writes: “Thank you for your birthday wishes and for inviting me to communicate with the American Physiological Society’s membership via The Physiologist under ‘News from Senior Physiologists.’ My wife of 55 years and I are healthy and still active, though not to the extent that we were a few years ago. After 25 years in the Washington, DC, area, we recently moved back to our home state of Minnesota and are now living in the Charter House, a retirement community operated by and connected by skyway and subway to the Mayo Clinic. This allows us to select from the Clinic’s elaborate and complete seminar program, including that of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics in the Mayo Medical School. I attend about six basic science and clinical seminars (medical grand rounds, physiology and biomedical engineering, hypertension, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and renal) a week. I also function as an executive secretary for several life science study sections (cardiopulmonary, integrative physiology, and clinical research) for the National Air and Space Administration (NASA), utilizing Email, fax, telephone, and trips back to NASA headquarters in Washington, DC. I consult on several hypertension research projects carried out in the research laboratories of the National Hypertension Association in New York City. About 12 years ago I started taking painting lessons and since then have been producing several acrylic landscapes each month. Believe it or not, I was president of the Montgomery County Art Association before leaving Washington and now have a number of my paintings on display in an art gallery here in Rochester.
    “My wife, Terry, who is a pediatric hematologist-oncologist, continues to function as an academic advisory member of the staff of Children’s National Medical Center in DC. We have three children and seven grandchildren. Our son, Richard, is professor and vice chair for clinical affairs in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Louisville, Louisville, KY. Our daughter Carol has degrees in nursing and fine arts and is active in both areas in Plymouth, MN. Our daughter Alice is a tenured associate professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, NC. The grandchildren range in age from 8 to 17, and the oldest will enter college in the fall. One of the most satisfying things in life is to see your offspring grow up healthy and happy in their endeavors.
    “The same is the case for students. In my years as a faculty member in physiology and sometimes internal medicine at Northwestern, Oklahoma, Michigan State (MSU), and the Uniformed Services Universities, the physiology departments invested much thought and effort in training pre- and postdoctoral fellows in the physiological sciences. The MSU department had over 50 graduate students at any one time and one year granted 11 PhD degrees in physiology. Almost all of the graduates pursue careers in teaching, research, and administration, and some of them are now full professors, chairpersons, deans, and journal editors, and, indeed, one of them became president of APS. I also participated in teaching 42 classes of medical students and a variety of paramedical students, and almost all of them are in active practice in the medical sciences. Watching students develop into critical thinkers, teachers, and investigators in physiology, and dedicated practitioners of the art and science of medicine, is almost as rewarding as watching one’s own children succeed. I thank the discipline of physiology for allowing me to participate in this stimulating endeavor.
“Many of our accomplishments were possible because of a unique and favorable set of circumstances. The Flexner report of 1910 emphasized the importance of the basic medical sciences in educating physicians. By the time I joined the physiological sciences, medical schools were increasing in number and enlarging the size of their classes, research and training funds were plentiful, and physiology was viewed with respect within the medical school curriculum. Physiology was considered to be the basis of medicine because it fostered critical thinking on the function of the body in health and disease. It was, therefore, awarded resources and time in the curriculum commensurate with this important role. Physiology, along with the other basic medical sciences, was largely responsible for upgrading the quality of medical education during the first half of the last century, thus, satisfying one of the goals of the Flexner report.
    “Unfortunately, we now see an erosion in the position of physiology in medical schools and an intrusion of non-science based practices into medicine. Physiology is now often taught in an integrated curriculum, which requires a large manpower, sometimes teaching outside areas of expertise, often in new and emerging subdisciplines that wax and wane in their relevance to medical practice. Physiological departments are often combined with other departments, thus, obscuring the discipline at the graduate and postdoctoral levels and creating the potential for loss of control of the teaching content in the medical and paramedical physiology courses.
    “There is an appalling intrusion of questionable and sometimes harmful practices into medicine. Alternative/complementary medicine is now accepted even by some of our most prestigious medical schools, even to the extent of piercing the ears of little children with acupuncture needles. The beneficial effects attributed to alternative/complementary medicine are, in fact, placebo effects, defined in Webster’s Dictionary as ‘improvement in the condition of a sick person that occurs in response to treatment but cannot be considered due to the specific treatment.’ To claim otherwise is immoral and unethical, particularly when dealing with a child in need of an honest role model, and particularly when sponsored by an established medical institution that is caving in to a money-generating fad. The motive here is greed. To justify alternative/complementary medicine by saying that it is safe, does no harm, and is relatively inexpensive is wrong. Alternative/complementary medicine is in fact harmful, by delaying proper treatment and sometimes by being directly toxic, and it is expensive, by superimposing its costs upon those of conventional medical care. It also causes false hopes, which can be psychologically damaging, especially to a child.    
    “There are other evidences of intrusion and greed. Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and insurance companies claim cost savings, yet reap huge profits for chief executive officers (CEOs) and stock holders, while restricting laboratory tests and referrals to specialists for patients. One large Midwest health group’s two top officers each cashed out about 10% of their stock options in December, 2001. One CEO netted $47.9 million from the sale of 920,000 shares. He had netted $46.4 million from one million shares in the previous year. He still has 90% of his stock options. Between them, these two top guns realized about $90 million from stock alone, in 2001. The chief executive’s total salary in 2000 was in excess of $54 million. The HMO reported a profit of almost one billion dollars in the year 2001. Yet the group increased the cost of insurance premiums by 13%, which is greater than the increase in the cost of medical care, while discouraging the use of laboratory tests, prescription drugs, and referrals to medical specialties such as cardiology, gastroenterology, and orthopedics. These administrative decisions contribute to the rising cost of health care and, at the same time, decrease the quality of care. We need to remove the profit motive from health care and seek a motive that puts the welfare of the patient first.
    “Physicians, pharmaceutical firms, food supplement producers and retailers, health maintenance organizations, and insurance companies advertise, showing further evidence of greed, and no one holds them accountable for their statements, some of which are patently false. Even scientists advertise these days. The hype surrounding stem cell research is an example. We have recently seen lead statements in newspapers and newsletters, such as ‘The ability to grow replacement body parts is rapidly approaching reality ...’ and ‘....a breakthrough in healing hearts.’ Such statements are premature and inappropriate since they raise false hopes in the minds of many patients ill with serious diseases. Let’s not repeat the mistakes made with gene therapy, where a similar hype promised cures that are still to appear.
    “Physiology is important because it fosters critical thinking about the function of the body in health and disease. It is still the basis of medicine, and the salvation of physiology and medicine is to keep it that way. The critical thinking fostered by physiology is crucial to medicine, and we must resell this message. If we don’t, both physiology and medicine will deteriorate and we’ll lose the best young minds to other disciplines. Perhaps it’s time for a new Flexner report. Clearly, physiology and medicine are in crisis and need a careful re-examination.”