MEMORIAL THOMAS FINDLEY, M.D. BY A. CALHOUN WITHAM, M.D.
Tom Findley, an enthusiastic member of the A.C.C.A. for over twenty years, died in Augusta, Georgia, on October 18, 1974, at the age of 73. He had served as Vice-President in 1962 and subsequently was a member of the council for five years. He was one of America's best known and most respected internists, having taught and practiced in Philadelphia, Ann Arbor, St. Louis, New Orleans, Augusta, Atlanta and
Taiwan. He was born April 15, 1901, in Chicago, but moved to Omaha as a child, the son, grandson, and brother of physicians. Baccalaureate degrees were earned at both Princeton University (1923) and the University of Minnesota (1925), and the doctorate of medicine was granted by the University of Chicago (Rush 1928). After two years on the housestaff at University Hospital in Philadelphia, he spent three years as an Instructor in Medicine at Ann Arbor. The first of the several medical history clubs which he was to initiate, instigate, or resuscitate, was soon founded there. Ann Arbor was important to him in other ways, too, for there he met Jean Kyer, later Findley, whose friendship so many of us have enjoyed at these meetings. He returned to the University of Pennsylvania as a Research Fellow in Pharmacology from 1932-1935. His preceptor, the late Professor A. N. Richards, was greatly admired, and their shared research experiences engendered a life-long fascination for the mysteries of renal function which he continued to probe for three decades. From 1935-1942 he practiced in St. Louis and taught at Washington University. In 1942 he moved to the Ochsner Clinic as Chief of the Section of Internal Medicine. In New Orleans he quickly became active in medical and academic affairs. As Professor of Clinical Medicine at Tulane University he sandwiched a heavy teaching schedule between his practice commitments and research interests. He had a keen feel for organizations, intuitively sensing when they were needed, when better abandoned, or best still-borne. He was instrumental in formation of the New Orleans Academy of Internal Medicine and selved as its president in 1947-1948. The Southern Society for Clinical Investigation was very much his child and, according to its official history, was conceived in 1946 by a troika consisting of Findley, Raymond xxix
xxx
MEMORIAL
Gregory of Galveston, and James Greene of Houston, who also later joined the A.C.C.A. Its members elected him its president in 1950. In 1954 he moved to Augusta, Georgia, and in 1957 became Chairman of the Department of Medicine of the Medical College of Georgia. He had an uncanny ability to spot the potential in young but as yet unproven academic physicians. For eight years he was an active examiner for the American Board of Internal Medicine and was its secretary from 1955-1960. His reputation among candidates, especially repeaters, was formidable, both because of his erudition and the opportunities for disaster lying just submerged beneath his carefully crafted questions. With gifted applicants these encounters often ended in mutual admiration. A surprising number later appeared on his faculty roster. While busily reorganizing his department, recruiting a full-time faculty, and helping to shape national policy for internal medicine, he never surrendered to the temptation to neglect the teaching of students, housestaff and younger faculty. His technique was unusual, a blend of the Socratic and the Delphic. His own answers to direct questions were rarely direct. Often he spoke in parables and the sun, or several, may have set before all the implications were clear. They were ingenuously designed to help, or force, the questioner to come to his own conclusions. He became Emeritus in 1968 and promptly did a year-long stint as Visiting Professor in Taiwan. In 1970 he accepted a two-year assignment as a Regional Medical Program Director in Appalachia with offices in Knoxville, Tennessee. He opened this chapter of his life with the feeling that "it might be the most important thing I've ever done". He soon voiced frustration, however, at the confusion of aims and priorities, and with an environment of "coordinators coordinating coordinators". He was deeply disappointed. He found that "my move back from the Federal to the private sector of medicine gave me a fresh sense of freedom and renewed appreciation for the health care system which we now have". Tom Findley was a warm and gentle man with a sly wit. His humor was sometimes pungent, eminently quotable, and many of his aphorisms survive him. He was always the skeptic and the advocate, sometimes with tongue-in-cheek, of the alternative approach. He cultivated an air of dismay and horror at the impetuosity of his surgical colleagues and loved to prick them. At a prestigious meeting he was once asked to comment on a surgeon's paper whose dubious conclusions were heavily shored up by statistics. He observed wryly that "surgeons, unfortunately, tend to use statistics for the same reason that a drunk uses a lamp post-more for support than illumination". His most satisfying
MEMORIAL
XXXi
recreational pursuits were more intellectual than athletic but his golf games with his close friends, particularly the late Harry Flippin, were an exception. They were characterized by high humor and even higher scores. Tom was a prominent figure in American medicine for many years. He was elected to many organizations but this one was probably closest to his heart. In addition, he believed strongly in a role of leadership for the American College of Physicians, serving as a Governor, Regent and Vice-President. The prestigious Alfred Stengel Memorial Award of the College was presented to him in 1968. He enjoyed the exhilaration of swimming against tides, both medical and pedagogic. He espoused the critical role of blood volume in hypertension long before effective agents were available to influence it. He spoke and wrote eloquently against contracting the length of education for medical students in general and internists in particular, and would, no doubt, be encouraged that this trend may have run its course. He defended vigorously the role of carefully prepared lectures by gifted speakers at a time when some curricular committees were eliminating them entirely. Medical students know little of and care less about national reputations. He knew that their esteem was not for sale and was immensely pleased when the student year book at the Medical College of Georgia was dedicated to him in 1966. The editor summarized in these words: "Dr. Findley's gentlemanly demeanor, quiet dignity, and vast knowledge have inspired the admiration and respect of his colleagues and students."
Tom Findley, an enthusiastic member of the A.C.C.A. for over twenty years, died in Augusta, Georgia, on October 18, 1974, at the age of 73. He had served as Vice-President in 1962 and subsequently was a member of the council for five years. He was one of America's best known and most respected internists, having taught and practiced in Philadelphia, Ann Arbor, St. Louis, New Orleans, Augusta, Atlanta and
Taiwan. He was born April 15, 1901, in Chicago, but moved to Omaha as a child, the son, grandson, and brother of physicians. Baccalaureate degrees were earned at both Princeton University (1923) and the University of Minnesota (1925), and the doctorate of medicine was granted by the University of Chicago (Rush 1928). After two years on the housestaff at University Hospital in Philadelphia, he spent three years as an Instructor in Medicine at Ann Arbor. The first of the several medical history clubs which he was to initiate, instigate, or resuscitate, was soon founded there. Ann Arbor was important to him in other ways, too, for there he met Jean Kyer, later Findley, whose friendship so many of us have enjoyed at these meetings. He returned to the University of Pennsylvania as a Research Fellow in Pharmacology from 1932-1935. His preceptor, the late Professor A. N. Richards, was greatly admired, and their shared research experiences engendered a life-long fascination for the mysteries of renal function which he continued to probe for three decades. From 1935-1942 he practiced in St. Louis and taught at Washington University. In 1942 he moved to the Ochsner Clinic as Chief of the Section of Internal Medicine. In New Orleans he quickly became active in medical and academic affairs. As Professor of Clinical Medicine at Tulane University he sandwiched a heavy teaching schedule between his practice commitments and research interests. He had a keen feel for organizations, intuitively sensing when they were needed, when better abandoned, or best still-borne. He was instrumental in formation of the New Orleans Academy of Internal Medicine and selved as its president in 1947-1948. The Southern Society for Clinical Investigation was very much his child and, according to its official history, was conceived in 1946 by a troika consisting of Findley, Raymond xxix
xxx
MEMORIAL
Gregory of Galveston, and James Greene of Houston, who also later joined the A.C.C.A. Its members elected him its president in 1950. In 1954 he moved to Augusta, Georgia, and in 1957 became Chairman of the Department of Medicine of the Medical College of Georgia. He had an uncanny ability to spot the potential in young but as yet unproven academic physicians. For eight years he was an active examiner for the American Board of Internal Medicine and was its secretary from 1955-1960. His reputation among candidates, especially repeaters, was formidable, both because of his erudition and the opportunities for disaster lying just submerged beneath his carefully crafted questions. With gifted applicants these encounters often ended in mutual admiration. A surprising number later appeared on his faculty roster. While busily reorganizing his department, recruiting a full-time faculty, and helping to shape national policy for internal medicine, he never surrendered to the temptation to neglect the teaching of students, housestaff and younger faculty. His technique was unusual, a blend of the Socratic and the Delphic. His own answers to direct questions were rarely direct. Often he spoke in parables and the sun, or several, may have set before all the implications were clear. They were ingenuously designed to help, or force, the questioner to come to his own conclusions. He became Emeritus in 1968 and promptly did a year-long stint as Visiting Professor in Taiwan. In 1970 he accepted a two-year assignment as a Regional Medical Program Director in Appalachia with offices in Knoxville, Tennessee. He opened this chapter of his life with the feeling that "it might be the most important thing I've ever done". He soon voiced frustration, however, at the confusion of aims and priorities, and with an environment of "coordinators coordinating coordinators". He was deeply disappointed. He found that "my move back from the Federal to the private sector of medicine gave me a fresh sense of freedom and renewed appreciation for the health care system which we now have". Tom Findley was a warm and gentle man with a sly wit. His humor was sometimes pungent, eminently quotable, and many of his aphorisms survive him. He was always the skeptic and the advocate, sometimes with tongue-in-cheek, of the alternative approach. He cultivated an air of dismay and horror at the impetuosity of his surgical colleagues and loved to prick them. At a prestigious meeting he was once asked to comment on a surgeon's paper whose dubious conclusions were heavily shored up by statistics. He observed wryly that "surgeons, unfortunately, tend to use statistics for the same reason that a drunk uses a lamp post-more for support than illumination". His most satisfying
MEMORIAL
XXXi
recreational pursuits were more intellectual than athletic but his golf games with his close friends, particularly the late Harry Flippin, were an exception. They were characterized by high humor and even higher scores. Tom was a prominent figure in American medicine for many years. He was elected to many organizations but this one was probably closest to his heart. In addition, he believed strongly in a role of leadership for the American College of Physicians, serving as a Governor, Regent and Vice-President. The prestigious Alfred Stengel Memorial Award of the College was presented to him in 1968. He enjoyed the exhilaration of swimming against tides, both medical and pedagogic. He espoused the critical role of blood volume in hypertension long before effective agents were available to influence it. He spoke and wrote eloquently against contracting the length of education for medical students in general and internists in particular, and would, no doubt, be encouraged that this trend may have run its course. He defended vigorously the role of carefully prepared lectures by gifted speakers at a time when some curricular committees were eliminating them entirely. Medical students know little of and care less about national reputations. He knew that their esteem was not for sale and was immensely pleased when the student year book at the Medical College of Georgia was dedicated to him in 1966. The editor summarized in these words: "Dr. Findley's gentlemanly demeanor, quiet dignity, and vast knowledge have inspired the admiration and respect of his colleagues and students."
