Beeson evokes memories of Yale

With all due respect to the “Iron ‘Terns” and their considerable accomplishments [“Six Degrees of Paul Beeson,” Yale Medicine, Spring 2015], Paul Beeson, M.D., attracted and inspired many outstanding classes of house officers during his 13-year tenure as chairman (pardon the old designation) of the Department of Medicine at Yale. He was aided in this task by an outstanding faculty: Gerald Klatskin, M.D., in liver diseases, Philip Bondy, M.D., in endocrinology, Stuart Finch, M.D., in hematology, Howard Spiro, M.D., in gastroenterology, Allan Goodyear, M.D., in cardiology, and Elisha Atkins, M.D., his partner in the study of fever, just to name a few. I was privileged to meet Dr. Beeson when I was but an intern in surgery at Yale in the 1953-54 academic year. I had recently returned from a brief convalescence in Florida following a nine-week hospitalization for what was known then as serum hepatitis contracted from a needle stick. Dr. Beeson was facing an abdominal operation and, thinking ahead, wondered whether convalescing in Florida was a good idea, and he asked me! I didn't think he knew I even existed, let alone that I had been ill. Our very pleasant professional and even personal relationship continued through my residency in surgery and my years on the faculty before I moved to Stanford in March 1965 at the invitation of Bob Chase. Dr. Beeson was planning a sabbatical year at Stanford to begin in July 1965, and I was doing a little house and school searching for him and his family. In May of that year, I received a letter from Dr. Beeson saying that he would not be coming to Stanford because he had accepted the offer to become Nuffield Chair of Medicine at Oxford‒as understandable a reason as one could imagine for such a change in plans.

Paul Beeson was a towering figure in medicine, at once highly accomplished, quietly stimulating, approachable, and modest. Maybe someone has constructed a family tree of his trainees similar to the “Iron ‘Terns.” If not, someone should. That might even be a suitable project for a Yale School of Medicine thesis or a talk at a meeting of the Yale Historical Society.

James B. D. Mark, M.D., HS ’54

Professor of Cardiothoracic

Surgery, Emeritus

Stanford University School of Medicine

Having fond memories of Paul Beeson, M.D., upon receiving the recent Yale Medicine, I open immediately to the double-page photograph of the Iron ‘Terns. Imagine my surprise and delight in seeing myself 50 years younger in the group. I’m the funny-looking guy with glasses standing in the front row, second from the right‒between John Burke (#14) and Harold Federman (#15). I was an assistant resident, having graduated from Yale School of Medicine in 1963, and having been an intern in 1963-64. For the record, while not as academically distinguished as many of my fellow interns, I subsequently was in the private practice of internal medicine for 30 years in a small Vermont city, served as president of the medical staff at the Rutland Regional Medical Center, and was a clinical instructor in medicine at the University of Vermont.

David F. Cross, M.D. ’63, HS ’64

Glade Hill, Va.