Historical Reflections: The Medical Heritage Center Blog

Robert Atwell

Robert James Atwell (1919-2006) received his BS in 1941 and his MD in 1944 from Duke University. He became a faculty member at OSU in 1950. He was Chief of Medical Services at the Ohio Tuberculosis Hospital in Means Hall and was the founding director of the OSU School of Allied Professions (SAMP). Atwell served as director of SAMP from 1971 to 1983.

Atwell Hall was completed in 1971. The building was known as both the School of Allied Professions Building and the Allied Medical Professions Building until 2000 when it was officially named Robert J. Atwell Hall.

John A. Prior

John A. Prior (1913-1992) received his BA and MD degrees from The Ohio State University, where his father was professor of civil engineering. After internship at Grant Hospital he was a resident and fellow in pulmonary disease in Cincinnati, and soon became recognized in the area of chest disease. He was President of the Ohio Trudeau Society with research interest in tuberculosis and in histoplasmosis. Prior was not only chair of the committee that was responsible for the design of the health sciences library – renamed the John A. Prior Health Sciences Library in his honor on September 1, 1988 and renamed the John A. Prior Hall in 2011 after a two floor expansion – but also instrumental in the development of the Allied Medical Professions Program, the Pulmonary program, and the consolidation of the Ohio Tuberculosis Hospital at OSU. He was one of the motivating forces for OMEN (Ohio Medical Education Network) and for continuing education.

The Medical Heritage Center has an archival collection about Dr. Prior and the finding aid for that can be viewed at https://hsl.osu.edu/mhc/pdf/john-prior-md-collection.

Charles F. Wooley

Charles F. Wooley (1929-2008) was one of the earliest full time academicians in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and was Director of the Cardiology Catheterization Laboratory (1963-1971). After establishing the Overstreet Cardiovascular Teaching and Research Laboratory, Wooley served as its Director from 1982 to 1991. Notable contributions from this lab were the studies of left bundle branch block which became the basis for biventricular pacing, aortic physiology and pathology, connective tissue disorders, and his family study.

Early on, prior to most contemporary cardiologists, Wooley became interested in pacemakers and electrophysiologic studies. These early EP studies defined mechanisms of atrial arrhythmias and atrial conduction disorders (he was one of the first to do such studies). He was an expert in angiography of valvular and congenital heart disease, including some innovative studies with upright posture. He also pioneered intracardiac sound and hifidelity pressure recordings.

Wooley’s major areas of interest were mitral and tricuspid disease, mitral valve prolapse and MVP syndrome (for which he developed the definitive classification and disease mechanisms), function and disorders of the aorta, cardiovascular manifestations of connective tissue disorders, and his family with familial cardiomyopathy – the studies of which evolved over 35 years (1^st publication in 1972) and eventually defined the natural history, genetic basis, pathology, and therapy. This study identified the appearance of hereditary disease in middle life and its progression from arrhythmia to muscle disease.

After retirement in 1992, he remained active in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. As his interest in medical history grew in the 1990’s, he along with others developed the Medical Heritage Center at The Ohio State University Health Sciences Library in 1997.

In the last half of his academic career, Wooley became a world renowned historian. Wooley’s interest in the historical aspects of mitral valve prolapse began with realization that MVP was not a new disease. DaCosta’s original work during the Civil War in which he described midsystolic clicks in “disabled” soldiers led Wooley to uncover the MVP story. Wooley wrote nearly twenty papers on this story and compiled them in his book, “The Irritable Heart of Soldiers and the Origins of Angelo-American Cardiology” published in 2002. He was also the author of “Academic Heritage: The Transmission of Excellence” (1992), “The Second Blessing: Columbus Medicine and Health The Early Years” (2006) and countless articles and papers.

The MHC also sells copies of some of his publications: https://hsl.osu.edu/dept/medical-heritage-center/publications-and-scholarship-0

James Warren with the Heartmobile

James Vaughn Warren (1915-1990) was an internationally renowned cardiologist and the former Chair of Medicine at The Ohio State University from 1961-1979.

Warren graduated from The Ohio State University in 1935 with a B.A. in chemistry and from Harvard Medical School in 1939 with his medical degree. He served in residency at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston and later taught medicine at Emory University Medical School, Duke University Medical School, University of Texas Medical School and The Ohio State University.

Warren gained worldwide recognition for 50 years of work in cardiovascular research and for his important contributions to the understanding and prevention of sudden cardiac death. He authored many scientific and educational publications dealing mostly with congestive heart failure and blood flow. He was one of the first physicians to use cardiac catheterization for diagnosing heart problems and helped to define the mechanisms of congestive heart failure. In 1988 he was honored by the Columbus USA Association in his native city of Columbus for his creation of the Heartmobile, a coronary emergency unit that is credited with saving thousands of lives in the city.

The Medical Heritage Center has an archival collection about Dr. Warren and the finding aid for it can be viewed at https://hsl.osu.edu/mhc/pdf/dr-james-v-and-gloria-k-warren-collection.

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

Charles Pavey

Charles William Pavey II (1906-2004) received a Bachelor of Science from Ohio State in 1926. He promptly followed that with a medical degree from the class of 1928. At the time of his death in 2004 he was the youngest man to ever graduate from The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Pavey’s medical career spanned 57 years; 43 of which were spent as a member of the OSU faculty in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He also unofficially held the title of most experienced obstetrician in Columbus. In his 57 years of service, Pavey is said to have delivered more than 25,000 babies, and no one is disputing this claim. Celebrated journalist Walter Winchell even nicknamed Pavey “the Baby-Catcher” in a 1932 column for the Ohio State Journal.

The Medical Heritage Center has an archival collection of Dr. Pavey’s and the finding aid for it can be viewed at https://hsl.osu.edu/mhc/pdf/charles-w-pavey-md-collection