Interview with Reginald H. Fitz, September 12, 1984

Interview Summary

University of New Mexico Medical Center history; Fitz Family history; ancestors who were physicians; receiving his medical degree at Harvard; internship at Denver General Hospital and becoming chairman of Medicine there during the Korean War and eventually Chief of Service; accepting position of Assistant Dean at the University of Colorado; Ward Darley as a father figure for physicians after World War II; reasons for accepting the position of Dean of the Medical School at the University of New Mexico; impetus for establishing a medical school in New Mexico; recruiting faculty members (Lester Leboe-- Robert Divett-- Saul Papper-- John Ladmann-- Sydney Solomon-- Lee McClaren-- Robert Lawfield-- Robert Stone-- Ted Cooper); designing and planning the Medical Center; designing the first year curriculum; different approaches taken by Arizona and New Mexico for establishing medical schools; reason why the president of the University of New Mexico requested Fitz to resign as Dean in 1968; accepting position of senior medical officer of the Commonwealth Fund in 1971; the Lovelace Foundation and Clinic; Fitz's disappointments and successes at New Mexico.

Interview Keyword

Health Services Medicine Physicians

Interview LC Subject

Academic medical centers Fitz, Reginald H. Fitz, Reginald H.--Interviews

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Interview Usage

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