AHC Oral History Project

Persistent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11299/119826

In 1970, the University of Minnesota’s previously autonomous College of Pharmacy and School of Dentistry were reorganized, together with the Schools of Nursing, Medicine, and Public Health, and the University Hospitals, into a centrally organized and administered Academic Health Center (AHC). The university’s College of Veterinary Medicine was also closely aligned with the AHC at this time, becoming formally incorporated into the AHC in 1985.

The development of the AHC made possible the coordination and integration of the education and training of the health care professions and was part of a national trend which saw academic health centers emerge as the dominant institution in American health care in the last third of the 20th century. AHCs became not only the primary sites of health care education, but also critical sites of health sciences research and health care delivery.

The University of Minnesota’s Academic Health Center Oral History Project preserves the personal stories of key individuals who were involved with the formation of the university’s Academic Health Center, served in leadership roles, or have specific insights into the institution’s history. By bringing together a representative group of figures in the history of the University of Minnesota’s AHC, this project provides compelling documentation of recent developments in the history of American health care education, practice, and policy.

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Visit the website of the AHC Oral History Project at http://z.umn.edu/ahcoralhistory

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 93

Interview with Robert B. Howard
(University of Minnesota, 2009-03-05) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Howard, Robert B.
Howard begins by briefly discussing his childhood, his schooling, and his experience in the Army Medical Corps. He then reflects on teaching and working in the Department of Medicine at the University of Minnesota in the 1940s and 1950s, including the changes that he observed in medical care providing after World War II. He discusses his administrative roles at UMN, including director of the Department of Continuation Medical Education, associate dean of the Medical School, and then dean of the College of Medical Sciences. He discusses the faculty private practice controversy in the 1960s, including the option of a strict full-time system. He describes his role in the reorganization of the Pharmacology Department, the establishment of the Ophthalmology Department, and appointing John Najarian as head of surgery after Owen Wangensteen retired. He discusses the increase in the Medical School class size in the 1960s, the attempted establishment of a medical school in St. Paul, the establishment of a medical school in Duluth, and the establishment of the Academic Health Center. He discusses the Nursing and Pharmacy Schools and some of his department head appointments while he was dean. He describes what he did after leaving the UMN, including working as director of Medical Education at Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and as editor in chief of Postgraduate Medicine Magazine. He reflects on the state of the funding of medical education in Minnesota while he was dean, the influence of the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid, the influence of federal legislation on the Medical School in the 1950s and 1960s, the perceived shortage of healthcare workers in the 1960s, issues of space in the Medical School, the role of external committees and reports in Medical School decisions, the relationships between the Medical School and local physicians, the state legislature, the Regents, and the Mayo Clinic.
Interview with H. Mead Cavert
(University of Minnesota, 2009-04-28) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Cavert, H. Mead
H. Mead Cavert begins by describing his background, including his childhood, his education, and why he chose medicine as his profession. He describes his work in the Department of Physiology and his research in the early 1950s. He discusses entering medical administration and his work as Assistant Dean, Associate Dean and Executive Officer of the Medical School, and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. He reflects on working with Maurice Visscher, Nathan Lifson, Jack Johnson, Neal Gault, Harold Diehl, Robert Howard, and Lyle French. He discusses the appointment of Robert Howard to replace Diehl as the Dean of the College of Medical Sciences, and the creation of the Vice President of the Health Sciences and the hiring of Lyle French. He discusses the faculty practice issue; the financing of medical education in the late 1950s and 1960s; the dean’s office relationship with the state legislature and its role in securing state funds; the revision of the Medical School curriculum in the 1960s and responses to the revision, including the Comprehensive Clinical Program and the Rural Physician Associate Program. He also discusses the development of the Academic Health Center; transfer students from the Universities of North and South Dakota in the late 1950s and 1960s; the attempt to establish a medical school in St. Paul; the establishment of the Medical Scientist Training Program, the history of the MD-Ph.D. program and Ph.D.s in clinical medicine at UMN; the relationship between the University of Minnesota and the Medical School and the Mayo Clinic; the issue of the status of residents as students or employees; team teaching in the health sciences; and the establishment of a program for minority students in the late 1960s. Cavert’s wife, June Cavert, sits through most of the interview, interjecting a few comments. At one point, she discusses the organizations for the wives of undergraduate medical students and residents, and the Caverts also discuss the contribution of spouses (generally wives) to the successful development of medical students and residents.
Interview with Robert Mulhausen
(University of Minnesota, 2009-07-13) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Mulhausen, Robert
Mulhausen provides a brief overview of his education and early career. He discusses the UMN Medical School’s decision to increase class size in the 1960s, the Health Sciences curriculum changes, and the reorganization into the Academic Health Center in 1970. He discusses his role as the representative of the dean’s office regarding facilities management, his role in space planning, and issues of space in the health sciences at UMN. He briefly describes the relationship of Twin Cities affiliated hospitals and the University Hospital and Medical School. He describes his move to St. Paul Ramsey Hospital as the chief of medicine, the establishment of a group practice plan at St. Paul Ramsey, his return to the VA hospital as associate chief of staff for ambulatory care, and some of the changes at the VA when he was there, including new outpatient clinics and reforming billing practices. He describes his research on acid-base balance and blood gas and the importance of obtaining blood gas machines for clinical use. He discusses the failed attempts to combine the University Hospital with the VA or affiliated hospitals in the 1970s and 1980s. He reflects on tensions between family practitioners and internists; house officers and changes in technology and computerization; relations between UMN health sciences schools and within the dean’s office; Elmer Learn and the Committee for the Study of Physical Facilities for the Health Sciences; his experience with the human volunteer policy; recruiting minority students, particularly American Indians; the relationship between clinical and basic science departments at UMN; and generally on the UMN Medical School, internal medicine, and primary care and geriatrics.
Interview with Richard M. Magraw
(University of Minnesota, 2009-07-31) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Magraw, Richard M.
Richard Magraw begins with his background and education. He describes his residencies and his work history and discusses his work as assistant dean at UMN. He discusses the effect of National Institutes of Health research funding on medical education in the late 1940s and 1950s, the focus on specialization and the de-emphasis of primary care during this time. He goes on to discuss the faculty practice issue at UMN in the 1960s, the regional and national concern in the 1960s over a shortage of physicians, the national trend in the 1960s of regional health planning, the development of family practice as a specialty, his book Ferment in Medicine, and the influence on medicine of the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid in the mid- and late-1960s. He discusses the Comprehensive Clinic Program (1960-67), the relationship between the Medical School and Minnesota state legislature, the reorganization and expansion of the health sciences in the 1960s, the relationship between the Medical School and the affiliated hospitals, and the relationship among the Schools of Nursing, Medicine, and Public Health within the College of Medical Sciences. He describes the attempt to establish a medical school in St. Paul, the establishment of the Department of Family Practice and Community Health, and the separation of the departments of Psychiatry and Neurology at UMN. He discusses what he did after he left the UMN, including his work in Washington, DC.
Interview with Elmer Learn
(University of Minnesota, 2009-08-15) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Learn, Elmer
Elmer Learn begins by describing his background and providing a brief summary of his career. He explains why he went into agricultural economics. He discusses his appointment as assistant to President O. Meredith Wilson in 1964 and his work in this position, including his work planning parking, as the coordinator of planning, as chair of the Committee for the Study of Physical Facilities for the Health Sciences, and working with the Regents. He discusses Communiversity and the Committee for the Study of Physical Facilities, including the subcommittee evaluations of the different health units, the influence of John Westerman, and the power structure and hierarchy within the committee. He describes the community attitudes toward the UMN president, the merging of the Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses into the “Twin Cities campus”, dealing with the Minnesota Legislature, the influence of the Mayo brothers, William G. “Jerry” Shephard, Don Smith, and Laurence Lundeen. He discusses Presidents Wilson and Malcolm Moos, including President Moos’ appointment. He describes his reasons for leaving the UMN and his work at University of California, Davis, particularly the financial problems Davis’ Medical School faced and its loss of accreditation.
Interview with Robert Geist
(University of Minnesota, 2009-11-04) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Geist, Robert
Geist first discusses his background, including his education. He then discusses his residency at the Minneapolis VA Hospital. He describes going into private practice, his experiences building his practice, the challenges he faced, and his relationship with the University of Minnesota. He discusses women in his medical school class and in urology, the impact of the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid, the concerns over the shortage of doctors in the 1960s, and the increase in the UMN Medical School’s class size because of those concerns. He discusses some of his involvement in medical politics since 1973, including his experiences with HMOs after their creation, with the Minnesota Medical Association, and with fee-splitting and referral practices. He reflects on the relationship between St. Paul and Minneapolis physicians and between them and the UMN, including the contentious politics between some St. Paul doctors and the UMN in the 1960s, particularly in relation to the attempt to establish a St. Paul medical school.
Interview with Ellis Benson
(University of Minnesota, 2009-12-01) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Benson, Ellis
Ellis Benson starts with his background, including growing up in China (his parents were missionaries), why he went into medicine and academic medicine, and his educational history. He discusses his residency in pathology at the UMN, his internal medicine residency at the VA Hospital, joining the Department of Laboratory Medicine, his work while he was in charge of the blood bank, his work as director of Clinical Laboratories, and his work as head of Pathology. He offers reflections on cardiac surgeons Richard Varco and Walter Lillehei and how they dealt with the Lab and the Blood Bank, as well as working with the Department of Surgery and surgeons more generally. He discusses the appointment of Robert Howard as dean of the College of Medical Sciences in 1959 and Howard’s deanship, the Vice President of the Health Sciences search and the appointment of Lyle French. He also discusses Franz Halberg, and David Brown. He discusses his work on protein chemistry and going to the Carlsberg Laboratory in Copenhagen, the UMN’s Clinical Laboratory providing community services to anyone in Minnesota, the Medical Technology program, why technologists tended to be women, and specialization in medicine. He describes the founding of the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists, the creation of the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the UMN in 1959, space issues in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the merger of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, and the relationships between the clinical and basic science departments within the Medical School. He discusses the attempt to establish a second medical school in St. Paul, relations between the Medical School and other UMN health science schools in the 1960s and 1970s, faculty attitudes toward the 4 reorganization in 1970, the impact of the introduction of Medicaid and Medicare, the attempt to create a School of Allied Health Sciences in the late 1960s and early 1970s, relations between the Medical School and the Mayo Clinic, and relations with the University Hospitals.
Interview with Davitt Felder
(University of Minnesota, 2009-12-04) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Felder, Davitt
Davitt Felder discusses his background and provides an overview of his career. He describes why he went into medicine and surgery; his decision to enter private practice; and his decision to retire. He discusses at length the establishment of the Northern Association for Medical Education and the organization’s attempt to establish a medical school in St. Paul. He describes his work in vascular surgery and the establishment of the Midwestern Board for Medical and Allied Education. He discusses the relationship between Minneapolis and St. Paul private physicians and the University of Minnesota; the private practice issue at the University of Minnesota; and Robert Howard, Owen Wangensteen, Walter Lillehei, Michael E DeBakey; the relationship between the Surgery Department and other clinical departments; and his work with the Health Care Financing Administration.
Interview with Robert McCollister
(University of Minnesota, 2009-12-09) Tobbell, Dominique A.; McCollister, Robert
Robert McCollister begins by discussing his background, including his education and medical training. He discusses getting into administration, how he became involved with the curriculum, working in the Department of Laboratory Medicine, and his work as assistant dean of student affairs. He offers many reflections on the development of the Medical School curriculum. He describes the work to improve the governance in the Medical School in the mid-1960s, revising the curriculum in the 1960s, the expansion of Medical School class size in the 1960s, recruitment of minority students, and Robert Howard’s departure as dean of the College of Medical Sciences and the appointment of Lyle French as the first Vice President of the Health Sciences. He discusses the Educational Policy Committee, the large number of women in leadership positions in the Department of Laboratory Medicine, the reorganization of the health sciences in 1970, department “fiefdoms”, Curriculum 2010, the Comprehensive Clinic, the Department of Family and Community Health, specialization in medicine, Phase C of the medical school curriculum, the teaching of behavioral science within the curriculum, transfer students from the Dakotas, the Program in Human Sexuality, and the student attempt to get a medical ethics course included in the curriculum. He talks about Ray Amberg, C.J. Watson, Richard Ebert, Frederic Kottke, Robert Howard, Benjamin Fuller, Frank Cerra, and Lyle French.
Interview with Arnold Anderson
(University of Minnesota, 2010-02-02) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Anderson, Arnold
Arnold Anderson begins by discussing his background, including his education and why he became a physician. He discusses his experiences as a medical student at the University of Minnesota, as an intern at San Diego County Hospital, in the army as a pediatrician, and as a pediatric fellow at the Mayo Clinic. He describes setting up his group practice and establishing the Park Nicollet Clinic and the development and building of the Minneapolis Children’s hospital. He discusses pediatric medicine, the University of Minnesota Medical School, the UMN Medical School’s relationship with private practitioners, Internal Medicine at the UMN, the Department of Pediatrics at the UMN, the relationship between the Mayo Clinic and the UMN Medical School, the relationship between the UMN Medical School and Twin Cities hospitals, and relations between departments at the UMN Medical School. He discusses the Teenage Medical Center, Human Ecology, physician fees, academic medicine, and principles of management and leadership. He talks about Robert Howard, Irvine McQuarrie, John Anderson, Robert Good, and Richard Magraw.
Interview with Frederic Kottke
(University of Minnesota, 2010-02-04) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Kottke, Frederic
Frederic Kottke begins by describing some of his background, including his education and why he went into medicine and specifically physical medicine and rehabilitation. He briefly talks about the establishment of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; the integrative and interdisciplinary approach to medicine in physical medicine and rehabilitation; the different types of patients he saw; funding at the University of Minnesota; perceptions in the 1960s that there was a shortage of physicians; the Medical School curriculum revisions in the 1960s; the faculty practice issue; the attempt to establish a medical school in St. Paul; the reorganization of the health sciences in 1970; Lyle French and Neal Gault; the establishment of the Program in Human Sexuality; the support of members of Congress; and the VA Hospital.
Interview with Vincent Hunt
(University of Minnesota, 2010-02-09) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Hunt, Vincent
Vincent Hunt begins by discussing his background, including his education and why he became a physician. He discusses his experiences working as a physician in a rural area (Red Lake Falls, MN); as a medical student in the late 1950s; as an intern at Bethesda Hospital; and as a resident at the UMN. He discusses curriculum changes in the late 1950s, the University of Minnesota’s Comprehensive Clinic, comprehensive clinic programs at other universities, lobbying the state Legislature, the Department of Family Practice, Minnesota Academy of General Practice and Herb Huffington, the Rural Physician Associate program and the Rural Medical Care program, relations between the Schools in the health sciences, the heath sciences reorganization in 1970, and relations between the Medical School and the Mayo Clinic. He talks about the UMN Medical School faculty, Owen Wagensteen, Richard Magraw, Ben Fuller, Robert Howard, and Edward Ciriacy. He discusses medical ethics, his decision to enter general practice, nurses in Red Lake Falls, the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid, family practice as a specialty, rural medicine, tensions between academic physicians and private practitioners, the attempt to establish a second medical school in the Twin Cities in the 1960s, the relationship between family practice and internal medicine, general practice, and the comprehensive health insurance plan.
Interview with Robert Ulstrom
(University of Minnesota, 2010-02-18) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Ulstrom, Robert
Robert Ulstrom begins the interview by describing his background, including his education, his service in the US Army, and why he became a pediatrician. He reflects on his mentor Irvine McQuarrie, and his colleagues John Anderson, Robert Howard, and Lyle French. He discusses his experiences in University of Minnesota Medical School, his move to UCLA, his return to the University of Minnesota in the mid-1950s, and his work as associate dean in the College of Medical Sciences. Other topics discussed include, his research, the private practice issue, relations with affiliated hospitals and their faculty after the expansion of the Medical School class size in the 1960s, the curriculum revision in the 1960s, the attempt to establish a medical school in St. Paul, the establishment of the Department of Family Practice, tensions between private practice physicians and Medical School physicians, the effort to establish a Minneapolis children’s hospital in the 1960s, tensions between Minneapolis and St. Paul physicians, the reorganization of the health sciences into the Academic Health Center in 1970, the Mayo Clinic and the Mayo School of Medicine.
Interview with Thomas Kottke
(University of Minnesota, 2010-03-25) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Kottke, Thomas
Thomas Kottke begins by discussing his background, including his education and why he became a physician. He discusses his time as a medical student at the University of Minnesota; going to McGill University for his residency; some of his experiences as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota Medical School, and getting the Preventive Cardiology Academic Award and his work on tobacco control and smoking. He described his impressions of the new Medical School curriculum as a student, his experience at a Sexual Attitude Reassessment Seminar, his experiences on the Council of Deans and Directors as a student representative, the perceived shortage of doctors in the 1960s, the relationship between the Medical School and the Mayo Clinic, and the reorganization of the health sciences in 1970. He discusses the Council for Health Interdisciplinary Participation (CHIP), family medicine, the recruitment of minority students, women students, and the affiliated hospitals. He discusses his father, Frederick Kottke, and his father’s connections with Democratic Congressional members, including Hubert Humphrey.
Interview with Florence Marks
(University of Minnesota, 2010-04-13) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Marks, Florence
Florence Marks begins by describing her background, including her education and why she went into nursing. She describes traveling to Denmark to temporarily work as a nurse; her experiences as a staff nurse and then assistant head nurse at the University Hospital; getting her master’s in nursing administration; working as nursing supervisor at Variety Club Hospital; her experiences as an instructor in the School of Nursing; and some of the other work she did after she had children. She discusses in detail her experiences as a nursing student at the University of Minnesota, including the School of Nursing curriculum when she was a student, clinical instruction and her experiences worked at different affiliated hospitals, her rural nursing experience, and living in Powell Hall. She describes working as a woman chemist in the early 1950s; the perceived and real differences between RNs, LPNs, and nursing assistants; the technologies she worked with; curriculum changes in the School of Nursing; and the different ways women physicians were treated from the 1950s through the 1970s. She discusses the different relationship between nurses and physicians in private hospital settings and teaching hospitals; minority nursing students; nursing shortages; nursing students failing the state boards in the 1960s; the reorganization of the health sciences in 1970 and the impact on the School of Nursing. She compares her experiences as a nurse in Denmark and at the University Hospital. She talks about Katherine Densford, Florence Brennan, Ray Amberg, and Edna Fritz.
Interview with A. Marilyn Sime
(University of Minnesota, 2010-04-15) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Sime, A. Marilyn
A. Marilyn Sime begins by discussing her background, including her education. She discusses her experiences as a baccalaureate student at the University of Minnesota; working as a nurse at the University Hospital in the late 1950s; working as a nurse in Minot, ND, in the 1950s; her experiences as an instructor at the University of Minnesota; teaching in the baccalaureate program; and her doctoral research. She compares her responsibilities at the different places she worked, particularly Minot and the University Hospital. She describes nursing curriculum changes in the 1960s; technologies she interacted with in the critical care unit; how physicians treated nurses; the efforts of the School of Nursing to secure funding for building Unit F; the concern in the 1960s over the shortage of health care workers; challenge exams for RNs in the 1970s; the Boston University School of Nursing; the rural nursing program at the University of Minnesota; and the Block Nurse Program at the University of Minnesota. She discusses team nursing; faculty organization issues and discontent with Edna Fritz’s leadership; the effects of the School of Nursing being part of the College of Medical Sciences in the 1960s and the changes with the reorganization of the health sciences in the School of Nursing becoming more autonomous in 1970; and relations between the health science units and their faculty after the reorganization. She talks about the practical nursing program; changes in the graduate nursing curriculum and the development of doctoral program; funding; issues of gender; the women’s health movement; the development of the nurse midwifery program; the public health nursing program; the relationship between the University Hospital and the School of Nursing; the Minnesota Nursing Association, the American Nursing Association, and the National League of Nursing; and nurse practitioners. She remembers Katherine Densford, Edna Fritz, Isabel Harris, Irene Ramey, and Lyle French.
Interview with Eugenia Taylor
(University of Minnesota, 2010-05-27) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Taylor, Eugenia
Eugenia Taylor begins by discussing her background, including growing up in Montana, her education, her early nursing career, and why she became a nurse. She discusses her experiences as a diploma student, as a baccalaureate student at the UMN, getting her MA in education, and as faculty member at the UMN. She talks about the UMN School of Nursing faculty and deans, including Katherine J. Densford, Edna Fritz, and Isabel Harris. She discusses the practical nursing program and its position within the School of Nursing; the rural nursing program; licensed practical nurses (LPNs) versus registered nurses (RNs); nursing education; the Child Bearing-Child Rearing program; Building F; the Shyamala Rajender decree, sex discrimination, and women at the UMN; the Disaster Nursing Program in the 1950s/1960s; the School of Nursing and the reorganization of the health sciences in the late 1960s; the nurse midwifery program; the nursing Ph.D. program; the Area Health Education Commission; and the School of Nursing’s regional work. She describes changes in nursing education curriculum in the 1960s; the creation of a School of Nursing dean and the appointment of Isabel Harris as the School’s first dean; nursing education in the Twin Cities; nursing licensing; nursing aids; physicians assistants; nurse practitioners; relations in the School of Nursing between faculty with Ph.D.s and those without; and nursing research laboratories.
Interview with Ida Martinson
(University of Minnesota, 2010-07-07) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Martinson, Ida
Ida Martinson begins by discussing her background, including her education and why she became a nurse. She discusses working at St. Luke’s Hospital as a diploma student, working with Christian Family Service Center, studying tuberculosis nursing in Japan as part of the University of Minnesota Student Project for Amity among Nations, going to the University of Illinois for her Ph.D., working in the University of Minnesota School of Nursing as faculty, and going to the University of California, San Francisco. She describes relations between nurses and physicians; the medical technologies she interacted with at St. Luke’s Hospital; and having a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Physiology and in the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. Other topics discussed include relations between diploma and baccalaureate nurses; interactions between the School of Nursing and other health sciences schools at the University of Minnesota; interactions with insurance companies; her research in Asia; the building of Unit F; regional planning and nursing workforce in the 1970s; and the Midwest Nursing Research Group. Martinson describes her research, including her doctoral research, doing research in Taiwan, and the Home Care for the Dying Child Project. She discusses doing clinical work when she was a baccalaureate student; School of Nursing curriculum revisions; concern over the shortage of health care workers in the 1960s; the federal Nurse Scientist Program; the School of Nursing’s efforts to develop a nursing doctoral program during the 1970s and early 1980s; the reorganization of the health sciences in 1970; public health nursing; sabbaticals; working with the Human Subjects Research Committee; her work in China; nurse practitioners; the Nurse Midwifery Program; the Program for Human Sexuality and attending a Sexual Attitude Reassessment; efforts by the health sciences faculty to establish a health sciences bargaining unit; the development of the 4 Block Nurse Program; and a nursing exchange program with China. She talks about the faculty at the University of Minnesota while she was a student, Katherine Densford, and other School of Nursing deans.
Interview with Ruth Weise
(University of Minnesota, 2010-07-28) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Weise, Ruth
Ruth Weise starts with describing her background, including her education and why she went into nursing. She discusses her experiences as a student at the University of Minnesota, working as a staff nurse, teaching operating room nursing, why she left the University of Minnesota, and her work at St. Barnabus Hospital. She describes working with iron lungs, surgeons’ treatment of nurses, working in the operating room and with different technologies, and the Area Health Education Centers program. She discusses the relationship between diploma and degree nurses at the University of Minnesota; curriculum changes in the 1940s and 1950s; changes in the School of Nursing between the 1950s and 1970s; the move in nursing to working with communities; the relationship of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing to other nursing programs in the region; the closing of nursing diploma schools, changes in the School of Nursing after the reorganization of the health sciences in 1970; the perceived shortage of health care professionals in the 1950s through 1970s; public health nursing; and the move to have nursing faculty with Ph.D.s and what it was like to not have a Ph.D. in this context. She remembers Katherine Densford, Isabel Harris, Edna Fritz, Irene Ramey, and Ellen Fahey.
Interview with Theresa "Tess" Sullivan
(University of Minnesota, 2010-10-07) Tobbell, Dominique A.; Sullivan, Theresa
Theresa Sullivan begins by describing her education and her decision to become a nurse. She discusses her experiences as a student at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing during 1940s, her clinical experience, and working as a nurse at the University Hospital in the 1940s. She discusses World War II; changes in nursing and medical practice since the 1940s; nurses’ relationships with interns; how physicians and surgeons treated nurses; diploma nurses; the atmosphere around the Medical School in the 1950s; the Medical School faculty’s relationship with their students; the position and power of the Medical School within the health sciences and the University more broadly; attitudes of local medical community toward the Medical School; and the relationship between the Medical School and the state legislature. She talks about her husband, Dr. Albert Sullivan; Earl Bakken and the development of the pacemaker; Walton C. and Katherine Lillehei; John Najarian; and Katherine Densford.

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