Thursday, November 1, 2007

Halstead's Vision for STPM

"The scientific standing of a medical school is based upon the amount of high quality research work that is done and not by the number of graduates that it turns out each year."
- Bruce W. Halstead

The School of Tropical and Preventive Medicine, Loma Linda, CA

"With a school of tropical medicine C.M.E. (Loma Linda University) has an opportunity of making an outstanding contribution to the scientific world."
- Bruce W. Halstead


"Research will be encouraged .. Definite measures will be taken to make worthwhile contributions to some of the lesser known branches of medicine."
- Bruce W. Halstead



The Vision for the

School of Tropical and Preventive Medicine

As Presented by

Bruce W. Halstead

in

"The Medical Evangelist"

April 15, 1947

"We must push back the veil of medical ignorance through the efforts of Loma Linda graduates and faculty members engaged in what the scientific world has termed - research."
- Bruce W. Halstead

Architectural Drawing of the Proposed Building for
The School of Tropical and Preventive Medicine

"The spirit of research is catching. One of the greatest needs … is a powerful stimulus for research."
-Bruce W. Halstead


"The STPM will provide a greater stimulus toward directing the attention of both undergraduate and graduate students to a career in foreign mission work.
"
- Bruce W. Halstead



"The Medical Evangelist" April 15, 1947
Messages from CME President Walter Macpherson
and STPM Director Harold Mozar appear on
the front page. The Halstead message is on
page three with the artist rendering of
Proposed building is in centerfold

"At the present time one of the greatest weaknesses of the College of Medical Evangelists is that there is no direct contact between the teaching staff of the medical school and our outlying medical institutions in the tropics.

We do not have a mutual understanding of each others problems. How can we expect the undergraduate to dedicate his life to mission medicine when the instructor has never seen the fields that he is attempting to interest others in?"
- Bruce W. Halstead

"The Medical Evangelist" April 15, 1947
Page Three with message of Halstead's Vision
for Loma Linda and the STPM


"As a denomination we have one of the most extensive medical mission programs in the world. We are in a position to carry on extensive statistical studies, yet we have never taken advantage of our opportunities."
- Bruce W. Halstead


The Medical Evangelist
Volume XXXIII
LOMA LINDA, CALIFORNIA
APRIL, 15, 1947
Number 20



THE SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE
AS IT RELATES TO THE FUTURE SUCCESS OF THE C.M.E.

By

Bruce W. Halstead


The School of Tropical and Preventive Medicine offers more to the College of Medical Evangelist than just the promise of becoming another denominational training school. The sole purpose of the College of Medical Evangelists is to serve humanity. The very existence and future of the medical school depends upon its ability to achieve this humanitarian goal.

There are only two ways in which a medical school may serve humanity:

(1) it may produce graduates who are willing to dedicate their lives to the purpose of serving areas in need of medical help. The denomination has chosen to designate this as medical missionary work.

(2) It may push back the veil of medical ignorance through the efforts of its graduates and faculty members. The scientific world has termed this research.


The School of Tropical and Preventive Medicine has three distinct offers to make to the College of Medical Evangelists:


(1) It will provide a greater stimulus toward directing the attention of both undergraduate and graduate students to a career in foreign mission work. This channeling of interests will be accomplished by various modalities. The faculty members of this school will be required to spend a portion of their time in tropical mission fields. This, the problems of the tropics become the problems of the faculty members of the school. More determined efforts will be made in interesting individuals in mission medicine because of the very nature of the school., it will be possible to expose the students to the problems of mission medicine in a good coordinated exposure program.

At the present time one of the greatest weaknesses of the College of Medical Evangelists is that there is no direct contact between the teaching staff of the medical school and our outlying medical institutions in the tropics. We do not have a mutual understanding of each others problems. How can we expect the undergraduate to dedicate his life to mission medicine when the instructor has never seen the fields that he is attempting to interest other in?


(2) Research will be encouraged and in most instances the full time faculty will be required to submit a paper on at least one major research project a year. Definite measures will be taken to make worthwhile contributions to some of the lesser known branches of medicine. The spirit of research is catching. One of the greatest needs of our pre-clinical division is a powerful stimulus for research. The School of Tropical and Preventive Medicine will help to supply this need. The scientific standing of a medical school is based upon the amount of high quality research work that is done and not by the number of graduates that it turns out each year. As a denomination we have one of the most extensive medical mission programs in the world. We are in a position to carry on extensive statistical studies, yet we have never taken advantage of our opportunities. It also means that we are in a position to carry on tropical research studies at a minimum of expense. With a school of tropical medicine C.M.E. has an opportunity of making an outstanding contribution to the scientific world.

(3) One of the greatest cries of the administration of the College of Medical Evangelists is that we are short of funds and that we must find ways of obtaining finances. The School of Tropical and Preventive Medicine will make accessible to the medical school funds which would not be available in any other way. Tropical medicine is of international importance and is not limited in its scope by either national or denominational boundaries.

Foundation grants for studies in tropical medicine are available from various organizations. We should take advantage of them. With the expansion of American interests into the tropics, tropical medicine has become of the utmost importance to the military and industrial economy of our nation. With the establishment of The School of Tropical and Preventive Medicine, C.M.E. takes a step in the right direction towards becoming an outstanding educational institution of this nation.


Bruce W. Halstead
April 15, 1947


end

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