The Hourglass Project

Alumni Links:

Please share your own comments about the topics discussed in the Class of 1954 “Hourglass Project” essays. We appreciate constructive comments, welcome dialog, and invite you as patients, physicians or other health care workers to add your own personal reflections and experiences with changing patient-physician relationships.

chloe alexson said on 9/8/2004 at 3:39:36 PM:: Bravo! Lanse. You did it!
Lanse Hoskins said on 9/9/2004 at 8:04:01 AM:: Many thanks, Karen and your webmasters for getting this on line!
David Kluge said on 9/10/2004 at 11:34:25 AM:: This provides an easy access to make comments. I would hope the webmaster could suggest the commenters identify themselves as being a U of R medical school graduate, their year of graduation, a nurse, a graduate of another medical school, another type of health care worker, a patient, the public, or any individual who cares to comment. This would allow a categorization of the comments for future reference.
Arthur Lindner said on 10/12/2004 at 6:23:08 PM:: The same themes appear in most of the essays, as I'm sure truths always do, but the approaches to the topic and the styles are all different, and I found The Hourglass Project fun to read! It was a great idea.
Lanse Hoskins said on 3/14/2006 at 10:29:15 AM:: Checking the link to the comments page.
Bert Hansen, Ph.D. said on 3/30/2006 at 8:07:44 PM:: Dear Dr. Hoskins,
I found your website after seeing a notice about it in the Hist. of Sci. Soc. Newsletter. You and your collaborators deserve hearty thanks.
I'm an historian of medicine, and I look forward to reading these essays as time permits.
But I'm writing with a suggestion in case you decide to make changes and improvements at some point. It would be wonderful if somehow all the separate essays could be combined in a single document for searching, or if a search function could be built into the website. For example, my first query would be to see if any of these people mention reading Microbe Hunters or Arrowsmith early in their careers. It might be worthwhile to be able to search on disease names, hospital names, professors' names, etc. across the whole group.
Again, thanks, and best wishes,
Bert Hansen, Ph.D.
Professor of History, Baruch College, CUNY
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/wsas/departments/history/faculty/hansen.html
Lansing C. Hoskins, M.D. said on 3/30/2006 at 8:11:57 PM:: Dear Doctor Hansen;
5/2/2005.
Dear Dr. Hansen;
Thanks so much for your message of 4/30/2005 and your suggestions. I hope you will find the essays useful. I think what you would like would be to have an index of terms at the beginning of the collection, with references to where a particular item could be found among the various essays. Except for frequent reference to three of our most influential teachers, Dean George Whipple, Professors George Engel and John Romano, the postgraduate experiences among the 28 essayists were so diverse that there really wasn't any common topic among them that would warrant an index. The specific question the essayists addressed was supposed to be how the changes in medical practice we experienced over 50 years affected the patient-doctor relationship beween us and our patients. Only two addressed the question why they went into medicine in the first place (I also read and was indpirecd by Arrowsmith and Microbe Hunters as a high school student, and these fortified my resolve to make a career out of biological/medical science and patient care).

We floated these essays into cyberspace to reach persons like yourself. We will welcome any and more of your suggestions about this collection. I will send you separately a remarkable response to one of the essayists from a former patient who had read his essay.

Sincerely,

Lanse Hoskins
Lansing C. Hoskins, M.D. said on 3/30/2006 at 8:20:22 PM:: 1/21/2006

Dear Professor Hansen;

Our medical school class just finished celebrating our 52nd reunion following graduation on a 10-day tour of Costa Rica with 24 members and their spouses (we are a close and tightly knit Class). As a result, I turned to the Class Hourglass Project and reviewed your email note to me of April 30, 2005. I now realize that I had not specifically addressed your question about reference to Arrowsmith and Microbe Hunters by any other contributors. I read all essays submitted to date, and there were no references to these works. My impression is that most, like myself, may have read them but were already emotionally and intellectually committed to a career in medicine or health sciences. If your interest is the impact of literature in medical career decision-making I would mention that Alexis Carrell's Man the Unknown and LeComte De Nouy's Human Destiny were profoundly stimulating to me during High School. Watson's The Double Helix undoubtedly has had a similar impact. for this generation. If your interest is what motivates for a medical career, Gangarosa's and Smith's essays are insightful.

This Hourglass Project is open-ended. We have had three more essays submitted since October, 2004, and I hope to achieve a target of 35 contributions by our 55th reunion in 2009. Depending upon the response to these essayts they might be pubished in a booklet form under the auspices of the University of Rochester. In that case there would be a subject index. We might also fashion one for the current website, but, as I mentioned previously, there are few cross-references other than three influential faculty members.

In any event, I would appreciate your perspective as an historian about what you would be looking for in this material and any suggestions you would have in making them valuable from the standpoint of future medical historians and medical sociologists..

Sincerely,

Lanse Hoskins
(Lansing C. Hoskins, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University)
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David Kluge, M.D. said on 1/30/2007 at 8:33:20 PM:: Dear Dr. Bert Hansen,
I was surprised to learn of your question about "Microbe Hunters." I had not discussed that book with anyone of our classmates over the years but did read it in 7th or 8th grade. It had a very strong influence on me and led me to read all the medical biographies found in our very small country town library. My decision to become a physician came during my thirteenth year despite hard times during the depression.
Thank you for your insightful comments.
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Helen M. Hickey said on 8/3/2007 at 12:09:07 AM:: David Kluge,M.D.
I saw David's name and had to ask if he grew up on Seneca St. In Ebenezer,N.Y. If he did we lived across the street many long years ago.
Sorry this isn't professional but I am an artist who wanted to be a doctor as a girl. I'd appreciate it if you could send him this note.
Thank you, Helen Lingl Hickey

hmhgallery@gmail.com
Sandra said on 10/22/2007 at 5:18:51 PM:: Did any of the alumni of 1954 donate sperm for artificial insemination?
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