Dr. Chandler's twenty years as Dean of the Stanford Medical School (the longest tenure of any of the Stanford Medical Deans) included the Great Depression, World War II and the decision to move the School to the Stanford Campus. He dealt with these and other significant issues with a mature judgment and equanimity which led his successor (Dean Windsor Cutting, 1953-1957) to refer to him as "one of the wisest and most respected men in Stanford's history." Administrative talent was indeed his greatest endowment, continually called upon in coping with the many issues with which he dealt during his 20 years in office. [1]
Dr. Chandler was born in 1895 on a farm in San Joachin Valley near Fresno, California and had his primary and secondary education in Fresno. While In high school he went out for football. On his first day the coach saw him standing alone on the football field and asked: "Who is that tall Yankee over there?" Within a week he became known as "Yank Chandler," a name that graced his personality well and stayed with him for the rest of his life.
Yank's Father, Wilbur F. Chandler, was a grape grower, oilman and state senator. The family migrated from St. Johnsbury, Vermont, to the San Joaquin Valley where farming was the way of life for Yank and his four brothers, all raised in a Spartan environment of hard work. [2]
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Curriculum Vitae Stanford Degrees. A combination of scholarship, leadership, and sterling personal qualities won Yank Chandler admission to Stanford University where he received an A. B. degree in 1920 and an M. D. in 1923. Stanford Appointments 1923-24 Senior Intern in Surgery, Stanford University Hospitals Experience 1938-53 Trustee and Vice President, College of Physicians and Surgeons,
School of Dentistry, San Francisco Honors Nu Sigma Nu; Alpha Omega Alpha; Sigma Xi; Association Officer Pacific Coast Surgery Association (President, 1954-55 |
Appointment as Dean (1933). Upon completion of his residency training in Surgery at Stanford University Hospitals in 1925, Dr. Chandler joined the faculty as a Clinical Instructor in Surgery and entered surgical practice in downtown San Francisco. Over the ensuing decade he developed one of the largest surgical practices in the city, specialized in pediatric surgery and continued to serve on the faculty.
Dr. Arthur Bloomfield came to Stanford University School of Medicine as a full-time professor of medicine in 1926 and Dr. Emile Holman arrived as a full-time professor of surgery in 1925, just as Dr. Chandler started his career in practice and teaching. He admired the new excellence in teaching and patient care which they brought to Stanford and worked with them through the depression years as a geographic full-time faculty member. It was during this period that Dr. Chandler's talents as a teacher and administrator caught the favorable attention not only of the senior faculty but also of President Ray Lyman Wilbur who interested Dr. Chandler in the concept of voluntary prepaid health insurance, and introduced him to University Trustee Herbert Hoover.
Small wonder then that, when Dr. Ophüls retired as Dean in 1933, Dr. Chandler was appointed Dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine for he had by that time gained the support of President Wilbur, Trustee Herbert Hoover, and both the Full-time and the Clinical Faculty. [4]
Dr. Chandler's deanship was above all distinguished by the respect and affection with which he was universally regarded. His long tenure in office was fondly remembered by the faculty, students and alumni of his day as a golden era of devotion to learning in an atmosphere of cooperation, pride in the alma mater and lasting friendships.
Such then was the wholesome influence of the personality and administrative style of Dr. Chandler on the affairs of the Medical School that we shall now turn directly to his own views on the subject.
Dr. Chandler's Reflections on his Deanship. "I think my contribution to Stanford, if any, has been in personnel rather than fundamental science research or basic changes in educational technique. I've always believed that you should get the right man in the right place and then let him alone. Be sure he is an expert in his field. Be sure he knows how to teach. And don't fence him in with too many rules and regulations made by somebody who is not an expert. That's what deans are for. And, I think, they are also meant to say 'yes' most of the time. They should think hard before they tell one of the crew 'No, you can't have that.' The dean's major task is to keep up the faculty's enthusiasm and excitement for the job." [5]
Running a medical school is something like running a team of 100-odd horses of different speeds, of different temperaments, and of different degrees of irascibility, but Dr. Chandler managed to keep the faculty functioning as "a big happy family." This doesn't mean that he was "soft." In fact, he did not believe that a medical school could be run by committees. "The more committees you have," he said, "the more time elapses until you can make a decision. Somebody has to sit at the head of the table."
Dr. Chandler took charge of the medical school in the depths of a depression when financial difficulties severely afflicted both the school and the students. The task of financing medical research and teaching through private support did not come easy in those days. An astonishing medical revolution also took place during Dr. Chandler's deanship, brought on by the discovery of antibiotics, newer diagnostic techniques for cancer and heart disease, and the phenomenal advances in general surgery that led to the present day developments in open-heart surgery and organ transplantation.
In spite of these innovations one thing did not change - Dr. Chandler's conviction that it is the faculty that makes a medical school tick. "You can have all the buildings you want," he said, "but you must also have the experts - the masters who can make a thing so simple that the student wonders why he didn't think of it himself. You need experts who can teach and good teachers will produce others, who at the same professional age will be better than they were."
Funding Teaching Patients. One of the major problems he encountered as a dean was meeting the hospital and other costs of teaching patients. Dr. Chandler solved this problem by a plan he championed - that of including not only the "medically indigent " in the teaching program, but also the great mass of patients covered by Blue Cross and the California Physicians Service and other programs of prepaid medical care of which he was a strong advocate. The policy of including private patients in the teaching program was later to become standard practice in the school. [6]
Ruth Lucy Stern Research Laboratory. Obtaining funds for research was also particularly difficult during the depression years which made the gift of a research building by Mrs. Sternin 1939 both unexpected and especially welcome. Dean Chandler's surprise and gratification are apparent in his account of receiving the gift [7]
| We received a magnificent gift from the late Mrs. Lucy Stern, known to Stanford students as "Aunt Lucy." This was a promise to pay the bills for the construction of a three-story building located on Clay Street opposite the Stanford University Hospitals and to be devoted entirely to medical research. This was like money from home. Promptly, and without delay, a building was planned and constructed, equipped, dedicated and opened for operation in the autumn of 1939, Mrs. Sterns paying all the bills. To this day I don't know and I don't know anyone else who does know exactly how much that building and its extras cost. |