1. Anthony Rudolph Curreri, 1974 to 1976
  2. David Packard, 1976 to 1981
  3. Jay Philip Sanford, 1981 to 1990
  4. James Allen Zimble, 1991 to 2004

Anthony Rudolph Curreri

CurreriIn 1974, this internationally known thoracic surgeon and oncologist took a three-year leave of absence from the University of Wisconsin, to become the first president of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). He was not only an adept scientist and clinician, but also a politically astute public servant. In the Capital region, he was physician to some of the Nation's foremost political names, including the House Speaker, Sam Rayburn. Curreri had developed a close friendship with Melvin R. Laird during the years that Mr. Laird served as part of the Wisconsin Legislature. This friendship continued into the years when Mr. Laird was Secretary of Defense (1969 to 1975) under President Richard M. Nixon. The period of Laird's tenure as Secretary of Defense covered the time when the first USUHS Board of Regents members were appointed by President Nixon.

Curreri was born on September 18, 1909, to Italian immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York. One of seven children, he attended elementary and high school in Brooklyn. During these years, from his Italian neighborhood, he regularly rode a bicycle to and from Coney Island. At Coney Island, there was a gymnasium where several professional boxers trained. Tony Curreri became very proficient at this pugilistic art. Before graduating from high school, he was advised by a science teacher that upon graduation he should attend college at the University of Wisconsin. Not only was it scholastically sound, but also known for its superb boxing program.

Thus, in 1926, at the age of 17, Curreri enrolled at the University of Wisconsin. While there, he was active in both baseball and boxing. In the latter, he became an Olympic-class competitor. He was the All-University tournament champion in his weight (128 to 135 pounds) in 1927, 1928, and 1929. Academically, he took a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1930, a Master of Arts degree in 1931, and a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1933. During the following two years, Dr. Curreri interned at Columbia and Children's Hospitals, both in Milwaukee. He spent the years 1935 to 1936 in a practice of general medicine at Isle Royale, Michigan. Following this he became a surgery resident at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals. He remained with the University of Wisconsin system until he joined USUHS in 1974. His first faculty appointment was as instructor of Surgery in 1939. Curreri became assistant, associate, and full professor, respectively, in 1941, 1943, and 1954. He was Director of the Cancer Research Hospital in the years 1948 to 1961. It was during this latter period that Curreri first met Melvin Laird. Curreri was leading a charge against an anti-vivisection group who wanted to ban medical experimentation involving animals.

Tony Curreri was Chief of Staff, Wisconsin University Hospitals in 1960 and 1961. Later, in 1963, he was appointed Director, Division of Clinical Oncology, and remained in this office until 1970. He served as Chair of the Department of Surgery from 1968 until March 1972, when he became Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences. He was in this position when he was appointed, in 1973, to the USUHS Board of Regents. One year later, he relinquished the Vice Chancellor position at the University of Wisconsin when he took the three-year leave of absence, beginning in January, 1974, to join USUHS.

True to his word, after the enrollment of the charter class at USUHS in 1976, he returned to the University of Wisconsin. He resumed his position as the Evan P. Halfaer Distinguished Professor of Surgery and was also appointed Associate Director of Education at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison.

Curreri served in the US Army Reserve from 1936 to 1939 as a First Lieutenant; the Wisconsin National Guard from 1939 to 1944 as a Captain; and the US Army Reserve again from 1945 to 1958, advancing from Major to Colonel. He was a mobilization designee in Surgery, US Army, from 1953 to 1970. Duty included time in both the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.

Dr. Curreri was a member of 22 professional organizations, including the Society of Sigma Xi; four editorial and advisory boards; the Board of Thoracic Surgery (1959 to 1964); and the National Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society (1952 to 1954). He served as president of the Society of Medical Consultants to the Armed Forces; the Wisconsin Surgical Society (1962 to 1963); and the Wisconsin Division of the American Cancer Society (1950 to 1952). He held consultative positions to four foreign universities and 22 US institutions, 13 with the Public Health Service; 3 with the Department of Defense; 4 with the American College of Surgeons; and 2 with the American Cancer Society. He was also a visiting professor of 16 American universities and schools.

Honors were many. He received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin; the Outstanding Alumnus Award and the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Wisconsin; the Bronze Medal of the American Cancer Society; the Shahbanou of Iran Gold Medal; the Lila Motley Foundation Award; the Decoration of Commander to the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic; and so many other awards and honors that they are too numerous to list.

Dr. Curreri was married to the former Dorothy Huebsch. The couple had three children: Peter William, Cynthia, and Joanne. Anthony R. Curreri died at the age of 69 on May 3, 1979, in Madison (1 - 10).

References

  1. Curreri, Anthony R., Curriculum vitae prepared by Dr. Curreri in ca 1975.
  2. Curreri, Anthony R., Declaration of Appointee, SF61-B, 1976.
  3. Curreri, Anthony R., Uniformed Services University President Returning to Wisconsin Chair of Surgery, News Release, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, November 8, 1976.
  4. Curreri, P. William, Anthony R. Curreri. Who Was That Guy?, Second Anthony R. Curreri Distinguished Lecture, USUHS, January 11, 2001.
  5. Sullivan-Fowler, Micaela, History of Medicine Librarian, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, personal communication with K.E. Kinnamon, September, 2002.
  6. Doherty, Jim, Requiem For A Middleweight, Ring 8 Boxing Web site, April, 2000, Courtesy of M. Sullivan-Fowler, September, 2002.
  7. Clark, Paul F., The University of Wisconsin Medical School, A Chronicle, 1848 - 1948, Published for the Wisconsin Medical Alumni Association by The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Milwaukee and London, 1967, p168,169. Courtesy of M. Sullivan-Fowler, September, 2002.
  8. Wyngaard, Tim, Curreri to Head Military Med School, The Capital Times, January, 1974, Courtesy of M. Sullivan-Fowler, September, 2002.
  9. Dr. Anthony R. Curreri Dies, Medical University President, The Washington Post, May 5, 1979.
  10. Curreri, P. William, Personal communication with K.E. Kinnamon about Anthony R. Curreri, 2002.

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David Packard

David PackardThis former Deputy Secretary of Defense (1969 to1971), co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company, and self-made multi-billionaire acted as University president from 1976 to 1981. He was also chairman of the Board of Regents from 1973 to 1982.

David was born in Pueblo, Colorado on September 7, 1912, to a father and a mother who were, respectively, an attorney and a high school teacher. From the family home on the north side of the city, one could see Pike's Peak 50 miles to the north. He relates that his "growing-up" was a "fun time." Childhood activities included fishing, hunting, and riding his pony, Laddie. But, his activities also included violin lessons, poring over all the natural science entries in the World Book Encyclopedia, and playing with explosives. Unfortunately, while engaging in this dangerous recreation, David managed to cause a violent burst which resulted in damage to his left hand. For the rest of his life he would live with a distorted thumb. His love for skiing and canoeing would come later in life.

In high school he was popular. He was elected president of his class all four years. His 6'5" frame lent itself to athletics. He participated in track, winning the high jump, long jump, low and high hurdles, and discus, setting a new record in the all-state meet. He also played football and basketball, being selected all-state in the latter. His professional basketball playing days would come after four years of college.
Packard enrolled at Stanford University in 1930 where he did well academically. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and perhaps most notably, selected by the now-legendary educator Fred Terman to take a graduate course in radio engineering. Packard was the first undergraduate to be invited to take this graduate offering.

As in high school, he excelled in sports at Stanford. He won letters in track, basketball, and football. He maintained that his four years of football while at Stanford were instrumental in his learning how to build a winning team. These skills would be useful in his later years when he managed the Hewlett-Packard Corporation, a huge conglomerate which employed over 96,000 at the time of his retirement in 1993.

David Packard finished school at Stanford, the first time, in the spring of 1934, with a Bachelors Degree. He then took some fall quarter courses at the University of Colorado at Boulder before reporting for work. This employment began in February 1935 at the General Electric Company (GE) in Schenectady, New York. It was here that he became convinced that his "management by walking around" was a sound management concept.

David Packard left GE in August of 1938, returning to Stanford to acquire a second degree in electrical engineering. He and his wife, Lucille Packard nee Salter, rented a house at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto. It was in the garage at the back of this house that Packard and William R. Hewlett, with capital of $538, began part-time work in 1938. In 1989 the garage was designated by the state of California as the birthplace of Silicon Valley. In January of the next year (1939), a partnership between Packard and Hewlett was formed. A coin toss decided the name of the company.
Immensely successful as a businessman, Packard turned to public life in 1969. Following the election of Richard M. Nixon in 1968, the President appointed Melvin R. Laird as Secretary of Defense. Laird, in turn, chose David Packard to be his Deputy Secretary. It was a successful pairing. The Laird-Packard team, according to the Washington Press Corps, was the best leadership team in the history of the Pentagon.

Packard in action was a marvel to observe. He quietly, firmly, and efficiently interacted with those of a group. He seemed not to be caught up in his own self-importance. He appeared to afford a kind of equality to those around him. At a gathering, when he introduced those in attendance, he might introduce a senator, a foreign ambassador, other luminaries, and the driver of his car in the order that he scanned the group. He was not given to "posturing," and was more inclined to make his own telephone calls directly, rather than have a secretary or some other "get the other party on the line."

Honors for Mr. Packard were many. They included The Medal of Freedom (the country's highest civilian award), the Grand Cross of Merit from the Republic of Germany, honorary degrees from six universities, including one from USUHS, and at USUHS a building and a lectureship named in his honor. He was director of several corporations and a member (and often the chairman) of many business, educational, environmental, and government associations and commissions. He served as Council of Directors Chairman of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine from 1983 to 1991.

David Packard died at the age of 83 in Palo Alto, California on March 26, 1996.

References

  1. Curriculum vitae, David Packard prepared by himself.
  2. Kinnamon, Kenneth E. & Bryce C. Redington, "Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine: A Brief History," Mil Med 166:577-580, 2001.
  3. Laird, Melvin, "David Packard," Presentation at the Dedication of David Packard Hall, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 23 March 1998.
  4. Packard, David, The HP Way; How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company. Harper Collins, New York, NY, 1995.
  5. Packard, David, Who's Who in America, Marquis, Reed Reference Co., 121 Chanlon Road, New Providence, NJ, 1994, p 2622.

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Jay Philip Sanford

Jay SanfordIn 1975, there may have been another who could have taken the reins and done well in developing the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). But perhaps no other had the unique blend of leadership, perspective, and skills to accomplish so superbly the monumental task. In the face of overwhelming odds, he took little more than an idea, fashioned it into a vision, and, within the framework of the founding legislation, made the dream a reality. It is an understatement to say that Jay P. Sanford exceeded all expectations in orchestrating that which became a showpiece of military medical excellence. In his fifteen-year tenure at the University, he served as both Dean of the Medical School (1975 to 1990) and as President of the University (1981 to 1990).

Jay Sanford was born to Joseph and Arlyn Carlson Sanford in Madison, Wisconsin, on May 27, 1928. He moved at least four times before he began college in 1945. He relocated with the family when his physician father was reassigned by his employer, the Dupont Company most of the time. Jay, at the age of two, went to New Jersey for two years and then to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for five. It was during this period that his only sibling, his sister Barbara, was born. In 1937, when Jay was 9 years old, the family moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. During this stay of six years, Jay became a boy scout, attaining eagle scout rank by the time he was 14. This boy scout exposure is believed by some to be the reason that he had a decided military orientation which remained with him for the rest of his life. Jay moved in 1943 to Stephenson, Michigan, the place where both his parents had lived and where his future wife Lorrie had been born. Jay attended the last three years of high school there. He did well. He was class president in his junior and senior years, and was very active athletically. He played basketball, ran track, and was quarterback of the football team. He graduated in 1945, valedictorian of his class.

Jay attended the University of Michigan as an undergraduate from 1945 to 1948, where he excelled academically and was a part of a national championship swimming team. He then entered Michigan's Medical School and, in 1952, received the MD degree, cum laude (first honors).

Upon graduation, Sanford served from 1952 until 1954 as house officer and assistant in medicine at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, and as research fellow at Harvard Medical School. In 1954, he entered the US Army and performed on active duty as the Chief of Bacteriology in the Department of Experimental Surgery at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR). He left WRAIR in 1956, but he remained in the reserve, and for a period in the U.S. Public Health Service, finishing his uniformed service at the rank of colonel with the U.S. Army’s 11th Special Forces Group (Airborne).
From 1956 to 1957, Dr. Sanford occupied a position as Senior Assistant Resident in Medicine at Duke University Hospital before moving to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas (UTSWMC). At the latter location, he was a member of the faculty of the Department of Medicine, and was Chief of Infectious Diseases. He was also the Chief of the Bacteriology Laboratory at Parkland Memorial Hospital. While wearing these multiple hats, he established a collaborative program with those at Brooke Army Medical Center (Ft Sam Houston, Texas) to train UTSWMC students in the essentials of disaster medicine. In 1975, he was chosen to be the Founding Dean of the USUHS' School of Medicine.

While at the University, he not only adeptly functioned as President and Dean, but regularly presented classroom teaching and made hospital rounds. The level of esprit de corps among students, faculty, and staff was near legend. This was accomplished in great part by his maintaining close contact with those around him. He believed in management by walking around. He could be seen "popping in" to a regularly scheduled meeting of one of the academic departments, rapidly surveying activities in the multidiscipline laboratories, or chatting with one or two of the workers on the loading dock. He viewed those around him as co-workers, not as individuals over whom he reigned as President or Dean. His views on vehicle parking perhaps say it best. Except for the spaces for the handicapped; official visitors; and those won by duty, e.g., service person of the quarter or civilian employee of the year, there were no reserved places, not even a space reserved for himself.

With students especially, he did not follow a philosophy which merely said, in effect, "Do what I say." With them, he lived in the field during military exercises, parachuted from airplanes, repelled down the walls of University buildings, and otherwise participated in their many pursuits. His masterful interaction with these doctors-to-be was in great part responsible for these future military physicians to be acclaimed after graduation. Many saw USUHS graduates as the best educated, trained, and highly motivated medical corps officers in all the world. He resigned as President of the University and Dean, F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine in 1990.

During his professional life, Dr. Sanford received 35 appointments and consultantships; was affiliated with 27 professional societies and offices: held 15 editorial positions; presented at least 33 named visiting lectures; authored 193 original manuscripts (articles) and reviews; created 147 textbook chapters; wrote or edited seven books; directed and produced three teaching films; and penned 39 editorials, book reviews, and monographs. He served as President of both the American Board of Internal Medicine and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. His Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy is one of the most widely read medical references in the world. He was a master in the American College of Physicians and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (Institute of Medicine). He had two lectureships, a Chair in Tropical Medicine, and the principal auditorium at USUHS named in his honor. He received so many other honors, awards, and accolades that they are too numerous to mention here.

With all these professional activities, he made ample time for his family. His wife of 46 years was the former Lorraine Burklund. The couple had five children: Jeb, Nancy, Sarah, Philip, and Cathy. He died at the age of 68 in Dallas, Texas, on October 23, 1996.

References

  1. Sanford, Jay P., Curriculum vitae prepared by Dr. Sanford after his retirement in 1990.
  2. Sanford, Lorraine Burklund (wife of Jay P. Sanford), Personal communication with K.E. Kinnamon, 2002, 2003.
  3. Sanford, Jeb C., (son of Jay P. Sanford) Personal communication with K.E. Kinnamon, 2002, 2003.
  4. Sanford, Lorraine Burklund, Letter from Jay P. Sanford’s sister to Mrs. Sanford.
  5. Review Committee, Intercollegiate Swimming Review, Official Swimming Guide, National Collegiate Athletic Association, 1949.
  6. Defense Taps Dr. Sanford as Medical School Dean, Hospital Highlights, Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, TX, Jan/Feb 1975.
  7. Sanford, Jay P., Memorial Service November, 1996, USUHS.

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James Allen Zimble

James ZimbleThis former US Navy Surgeon General was selected in 1991 to be University President. He had been a part of the US Navy for 35 years.

He was born on October 12, 1933, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. But from infancy until he was a teenager he was reared in Little Rock, Arkansas. In his preschool years, he decided that he would be a doctor. His reasoning was that when he became a physician he could one day make his father and mother able to hear again. His parents, both hearing impaired, were themselves teachers of the deaf. At thirteen, he and his family relocated to Philadelphia where he, an only child, spent pre-college time involved in many activities. These included playing the trombone in school bands and engaging in theatrical productions, mostly during the summer.

In 1951, at the age of seventeen, Jim Zimble entered Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 60 miles from his home. Four years later he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree. Also in 1955, he became a student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. After one year, he entered the Naval Reserve as an ensign and received, three years later, a Doctor of Medicine degree.

Beginning in 1959, Dr. Zimble interned for a year at the U.S. Naval Hospital at St. Albans, New York. He then trained in undersea medicine at the US Navy Deep Sea Diving, Submarine, & Nuclear Power Schools, and attended the Special Radiation Control & Health Physics course. As the submarine medical officer for commissioning crew of the USS John Marshall, he received his Submarine Medical Qualification. Dr. Zimble returned to St. Albans in 1963 for residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN). He completed this in 1966 and was assigned, from 1966 to 1970, to the OB/GYN staff at the Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton, California.

He received orders to report to the US Naval Hospital in Philadelphia and was on his way to this new assignment when on August 1 (1970), he was involved in a motor vehicle accident. This resulted in his being hospitalized for a year and a half. He vowed during this time that, if he sufficiently recovered, he would remain in the Navy and concentrate his skills in the arena where he felt he could do the most good - executive medicine. He did recover and his Navy career continued. After his ordeal, he reported to the hospital in Philadelphia and was on the staff until 1972.

Dr. Zimble then was sent to the Naval Hospital in Lemoore, California, where he was the Chief of OB/GYN and the Director of Clinical Service. He remained there from 1972 to 1976. From 1976 to 1978, he was assigned as Director of Clinical Services at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Long Beach, California. Following this, and until 1981, he was Commanding Officer of the Naval Regional Medical Center in Orlando, Florida.

In 1981, Jim Zimble was promoted to flag rank and was sent to be "The Medical Officer" (TMO) of the US Marine Corps. He was stationed at US Marine Corps Headquarters. In 1983, RADM Zimble became Fleet Surgeon and Medical Advisor to Supreme Allied Command, Atlantic Fleet. There, he was responsible for the health of Navy and Marine Corps personnel and contingency and wartime planning of medical support to operational forces.

In 1986, RADM Zimble was appointed as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategic Planning & Medical Program Management in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense. Zimble was the Executive Secretary of the Department’s Advisory Committee on Graduate Medical Education. He was responsible for the oversight of the development of an integrated worldwide master plan for military medicine and the implementation of the Military Health Services System Sizing model.

In 1987, this "two star" was promoted to Vice Admiral and became Surgeon General of the Navy. In this role, Zimble was the principal medical advisor to the Department of the US Navy. He was responsible for developing and establishing overall Naval health care policies and priorities, continency and wartime planning, and program development. This was in support of more than 2.8 million Navy and Marine Corps active duty and retired beneficiaries and their families.

Honors and awards that Dr. Zimble has received include an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the University of New York at Syracuse, the Surgeon General's Medal, the Frank Brown Berry Prize in Federal Health Care, the Public Health Service Surgeon's Medallion, the Army Order of Military Merit Medal, the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the US Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Naval Reserve Association Distinguished Service Award, the Department of Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (three awards), the Department of Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Department of Navy Meritorious Service Medal, the Department of Navy Commendation Medal, and the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States Founder's Medal. He has presented the USUHS Faculty Senate Packard Lecture, and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Ash Lecture. Dr. Zimble is a member, fellow, or delegate of 15 professional associations; has served as Chairman or Director of three executive level committees; and he has served as a member of 13 others.

Dr. James A. Zimble is married to the former Mona C. Melton. He has three children, nine grandchildren, and five step-children.

James A. Zimble retired from the University in August 2004.

References

  1. Zimble, James A., Curriculum vitae prepared by Dr. Zimble, 2000.
  2. Zimble, James A., Resume provided by Mary L. Swartz, Executive Assistant to the President, USUHS.
  3. Zimble, Biography prepared by the USUHS Office of University Affairs, 1996.
  4. Zimble, James A., Personal communication with K. E. Kinnamon, 2003, 2004.

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Phone: 301-295-3013
Email: president@usuhs.edu

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