Back on Cedar Street, 600 celebrate John Peters, the Yale System and reunions

More than 400 medical alumni and friends and close to 200 public health alumni gathered in New Haven June 5 and 6 for a reunion weekend that featured a New England clambake, the roasting of retiring public health professor Lowell Levin, D.Ed., and a symposium on John P. Peters, M.D., a legendary Yale professor accused of disloyalty in the McCarthy era.

Alumni began trickling into the school Friday, June 5, for a series of lectures sponsored by the Yale Surgical Society in the Hope Building. Alumni also toured the historical library and Yale-New Haven Hospital. AYAM President Nicholas M. Passarelli, M.D. ’59, opened the weekend with welcoming remarks in the Hope Building. Robert H. Gifford, M.D., deputy dean for education, made a presentation on The Yale System, Its Evolution,
Its Strengths and Problems.

At a symposium Saturday morning, speakers described the life and achievements of Dr. Peters, known for his pioneering work in metabolism and his fight to clear his name during the McCarthy era, when his loyalty was questioned by a review board.

Before a buffet luncheon in Harkness Hall, alumni attended presentations on research at Yale by three professors who discussed new lines of inquiry in hypertension, women’s health and molecular psychiatry.