Historical Reflections: The Medical Heritage Center Blog

Richard Meiling

Richard Lewis Meiling (1908-1984) received his BA from Wittenberg College in 1930, and his MD from the University of Munich in 1937. He maintained a long career in the military and pioneered air evacuation for the allied armies in World War II. Upon returning to the States, Meiling was a professor at OSU (1947-1960) and served as Dean of the College of Medicine (1961-1970). Among other things during his tenure as Dean, Meiling obtained art glass panels for the College documenting its history (featured on the 1^st floor of Meiling Hall); a mosaic for Prior Hall; and, an official seal for the College of Medicine.

The Medical Heritage Center has an archival collection about Dr. Meiling and the finding aid for it can be viewed at https://hsl.osu.edu/mhc/pdf/richard-l-meiling-md-collection.

Robert Zollinger

With a career that spanned much of the 20^th century, Robert Milton Zollinger (1903-1992) was respected by his peers, feared by his students and loved by his patients.  In 1955, working with Dr. Edwin Ellison, he discovered the Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome, which dealt with the relationship between non-beta islet cell tumors of the pancreas and diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

Zollinger also co-authored the Atlas of Surgical Operations, a textbook currently in its ninth edition.

The Medical Heritage Center has an archival collection about Dr. Zollinger and the finding aid for it can be viewed at https://hsl.osu.edu/mhc/pdf/robert-m-zollinger-md-collection.

William H. Havener, MD (1923-1991) was the first full-time ophthalmologist at The Ohio State University College of Medicine (1959-1961) and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology. After being appointed chairman in 1959 at age 35, Dr. Havener established an innovative teaching program for residents. Dr. Havener became interested in repairing retinal detachments, and developed a technique using a donor fascia lata for scleral buckling. He was dedicated to residents and student teaching and set up a number of formal instruction programs for both the medical school and residency. A distinguished teacher and internationally known author, Dr. Havener was an innovative and skillful surgeon, thoughtful citizen, an avid gardener, and most of all, a considerate and caring physician.

The Medical Heritage Center has an archival collection about Dr. Havener and the finding aid for it can be viewed at https://hsl.osu.edu/mhc/pdf/william-h-havener-md-collection.

Charles A. Doan

Charles Austin Doan (1896-1990) enrolled at Hiram College and after he became a senior left on November 7, 1917 to join the U.S. Army Medical Corps where he did clinical laboratory work. He served in World War I and World War II. He then enrolled at the University of Cincinnati completing the requirements for entrance into The Johns Hopkins Medical School, and during his four years there he spent two summers in investigative work at Harvard and one summer at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. Following receipt of his M.D. degree in 1923 he studied abroad for several months then returned to the Department of Medicine at Harvard. For the next five years he was associated with the Rockefeller Institute and worked there with Dr. Florence Sabin from 1925 to 1930.

In 1930, he came to the Ohio State University as Professor of Medicine as well as Director of the newly established Department of Medical and Surgical Research. At Ohio State, Doan served as Professor and Chairman, Department of Medical and Surgical Research, 1930 – 1936; Professor of Research Medicine, 1936 – 1961; Professor of Medicine, 1936 – 1961; Chair, Department of Medicine, 1936 – 1944; Dean, College of Medicine, 1944 – 1961; Physician-in-Chief, Starling Loving and St. Francis Hospitals, 1936 – 1944; Director of Starling Loving Hospital, 1944 – 1951; Director of University Hospital and Health Center, 1951 – 1961; and, Chief of Division of Hematology, 1952 – 1966.

He was the single individual most responsible for the conception and the fundraising of the new University Hospital which was completed in 1951. University Hospital was renamed Doan Hall in 1984. He also encouraged the development of the College of Nursing and acquired what became Upham and Means Hall.

Doan was one of the major individuals who helped established blood banking and the volunteer donor program while he was a member of the Medical Advisory Board and the American Red Cross. He was also known for his research and clinical studies which proved that humans can exist without a spleen and that removal of a spleen would cure some blood dyscrasias. He published more than 250 scientific articles.

The Medical Heritage Center has an archival collection about Dr. Doan and the finding aid for it can be viewed at https://hsl.osu.edu/mhc/pdf/charles-doan-md-collection. They also sell a book about him for $12 plus applicable sales https://hsl.osu.edu/service-areas/mhc/services/publications-sale.

Leslie Bigelow

Leslie L. Bigelow (1880-1943) received his A.B. from Harvard College in 1903 and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1906. He married Elizabeth Cole on June 8^th, 1909 and had three sons: Edmund Lawson, Leslie Cole and Robert Gibbons. Bigelow taught at Starling-Ohio Medical College from 1912-1914. He then taught surgery at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, attaining full professorship in 1938. He also served as surgeon at Grant, St. Francis and Children’s Hospitals, where he was Chief of Staff for 25 years. He was one of the original founders of the Ohio Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1914, and the Ohio State Medical Association President (1927- 1928). Bigelow was also a former President of the Chesapeake and Ohio Association of Surgeons and member of the Columbus Medical Academy of Medicine. In 1942 he was appointed Acting Dean of the OSU College of Medicine, but died suddenly on January 15, 1943.

The Medical Heritage Center has an archival collection about Dr. Bigelow and the finding aid for it can be viewed at https://hsl.osu.edu/mhc/pdf/leslie-l-bigelow-md-collection