Walsh McDermott, MD Papers

Walsh McDermott was born in New Haven, Connecticut on October 24, 1909, the son of Dr. and Mrs. Terence McDermott. Although his father had attended Yale, in 1926 the son decided to leave New Haven and entered Princeton University where he spent four uneventful years, to quote him, graduating in 1930. He then attended Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons on a $1500 fellowship granted by the Leonard Schepp Foundation, receiving his M.D. degree in 1934. His internship at New York Hospital began that fall and he went on to serve as Assistant Resident in Medicine. During his residency Dr. McDermott contracted tuberculosis and, as part of his recovery, became staff physician in a newly created syphilis clinic at the Trudeau Sanatorium in Saranac Lake, New York from April to September 1936. Upon his return to New York City he resumed his duties as Assistant Resident, going on to become Physician to the Outpatient Department of New York Hospital, Clinical Assistant Visiting Physician at Bellevue Hospital, Assistant Attending at New York Hospital, and finally in 1950, Attending Physician.

Meanwhile, in 1937 he had become an instructor at Cornell University Medical College where he rose through the years to the rank of Associate Professor of Medicine. In 1955 he was appointed Livingston Farrand Professor of Public Health. He served in that position and as Chairman of the Department of Public Health until 1972. In July of that year, Dr. McDermott retired from Cornell and was made a senior officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey, a post he retained until his sudden death from a heart attack in November of 1981.

Because of the dearth of information about Dr. Walsh McDermott's early years, we turn to his memo books and appointment calendars dating from 1951 to give us a glimpse of the man away from his medical pursuits. Dr. McDermott was a devotee of the theatre, attending performances of nearly every popular play on Broadway. He had a subscription to the concerts of the New York Philharmonic and rarely missed one of his Thursday nights. In the summer, Tanglewood and the wonderful open air concerts were a favorite diversion for the McDermotts, who often made the trip from their summer home in Pawling, New York. He was a real sports fan and, in particular, a Giants football team rooter and regular subscriber. Mrs. McDermotts' family connection with baseball may have had something to do with it, but he attended many Yankee home games and rarely missed the Cooperstown visit following Old Timer's Day. Mrs. McDermott's father, Larry MacPhail, was a well-known figure in baseball, particularly in the Yankee organization.

In the memo books, the many references to political activities and election and primary days indicate a keen interest on Dr. McDermott's part. Indeed, we were told by Dr. Paul Beeson, a close friend and colleague, that Dr. McDermott was an active and loyal Democrat.

Mrs. Marion McDermott, nee MacPhail, was born in Oak Park, Illinois; received her earlier education in Ohio, and her Master's degree from Columbia University. Her field of specialization was psychology, and her early employment in the field was as a case worker in the Cincinnati, Ohio Juvenile Court. From there she came to New York Hospital, where she worked from 1936-1940, leaving with the title of Clinic Executive. It was at this time that she met her future husband. Mrs. McDermott is best known for the work she did at Time-Life, Inc., starting at Time magazine as a researcher and going on to join the Editorial Department. She switched over to Life magazine's Editorial Department in 1947, was later made Editorial Executive of the magazine, and remained with it until her retirement in 1972.

SELECTED WRITINGS

According to his own bibliography, Dr. McDermotts' writing began in 1941 with a paper on a cure or treatment for syphilis written with Drs. Downs and Webster. These experiments were forerunners of his later work with sulfonamide and its effect on the TB bacillus, and of his famous work in 1952 on isoniazid. Antimicrobial therapy and his theories about it continued to fascinate Dr. McDermott throughout his lifetime. Another subject which continued to interest him was microbial persistence and the resistance of microbes to various drugs, almost as soon as they were discovered. Many papers involved the work that he was doing with penicillin in treating diseases from endocarditis through pneumonia and tertiary syphilis. In 1960 Dr. McDermott, along with Deuschle, Adair, Fulmer and Loughlin wrote about modern medicine in the Navajo community, referring to the work they were doing in the Many Farms-Cornell experiment. In 1967, with Paul B. Beeson, Dr. McDermott edited the "12th Edition of the Cecil Loeb Textbook of Medicine", as well as contributing valuable material to the book in the form of several chapters in 1971.

Another of his interests reflected in papers was medical education and the interaction of doctor and patient, subjects he found time for in 1977 and 1978. One of his Health-Clark Lectures became "Toward a Medicine that Fits", one of his best known papers in the Seventies. His final efforts were an incomplete manuscript for a book that he had titled "Ramifications" and which seemed to sum up his life work and philosophy. This manuscript was taken over by Dr. David Rogers, President of the Johnson Foundation, who presented it in the form of a short paper, editing most of the material away from Dr. McDermotts' original idea for a book.

AWARDS AND HONORS

Dr. McDermott's early research on tuberculosis and syphilis earned him the Lasker Award in 1955. During his work on TB, Dr. McDermott became interested in and actively concerned with the health problems of the Navajo Indians in Arizona and helped set up the Many Farms experiment there under the sponsorship of Cornell University Medical College. He later served as Chairman of a Presidential Task Force on the American Indian at the request of President Lyndon B. Johnson. This led to his service on a number of national committees concerned with health in underdeveloped countries and with sending biomedical technology to these areas. Among them were: the Development Assistance Panel of the President's Science Advisory Committee; the U.S. delegation to the United Nations conference on the application of science and technology for the benefit of less developed areas, and the Research Advisory Committee of the Agency for International Development.

Dr. McDermott was a member of many prestigious scientific societies, including the National Academy of Sciences. He was Chairman of the Board on Medicine of the Academy, and was one of those instrumental in the evolution of the Board into the Institute of Medicine.

In 1972 when he retired from the Livingston Farrand Chair in Public Health, Dr. McDermott accepted an appointment as Professor of Public Affairs in Medicine at Cornell University Medical College. When he achieved emeritus status in 1975, he became Special Advisor to the President of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Some of the other awards and honorary degrees resented to Dr. McDermott include: the Trudeau Medal (1963), the Bruce Award (1968), the Woodrow Wilson Award (1969), the Cornell University Medical College Alumni Award (1972), honorary degree from Princeton University (1974), the George M. Kober Medal - Public Health (?) (1975), honorary degrees from Dartmouth University and the Medical College of Ohio, Toledo (1976), the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, Leader in American Medicine Award (1978), and the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Award (1979).

APPOINTMENTS

Cornell University Medical College: 1935-1955 Instructor in Medicine, CUMC; Assistant Professor of Medicine, CUMC; Associate Professor of Medicine, CUMC, Division of Infectious Diseases. 1955-1972 Livingston Farrand Professor of Public Health/Chairman of the Department of Public Health, CUMC. 1972-1975 Professor of Public Affairs in Medicine, CUMC. 1955-1972 Member, Executive Faculty, CUMC 1969- Comm. on Program for Disadvantaged Minorities (ad hoc Exec. Faculty) 1969- Comm. on Advisability of Establishing a Dept. of Behavioral Sciences (ad hoc Exec. Faculty) -Search Comm. 1969-1972 Comm. on Review (of promotion to academic positions higher than instructor) 1969-1970 Chairman, subcomm. on Social Issues, Comm. on Academic Programs -Chairman, ad hoc Comm. on Governance 1971- Chairman, Stubenbord Lectureship Comm. 1958 Comm. for the selection of recipient of annual Award of Distinction of the CUMC Alumni Association Social Psychiatry Advisory Board

Cornell University: 1966-1967 1st Steering Comm., Cornell Program on Structural Change and Modernization of Developing Nations, Cornell University Center for International Studies 1954- Director, Cornell-Navajo Tuberculosis Chemotherapy Program (supported by Navajo Tribal Council)

New York Hospital: 1934-1935 Intern in Medicine, N.Y. Hospital 1935 Asst. Resident in Medicine, N.Y. Hospital 1936 Staff Physician, Trudeau Sanatorium (April-September) 1936-1937 Asst. Resident in Medicine, N.Y. Hospital 1937-1942 Physician to Outpatient Dept., N.Y. Hospital 1937-1942 Clinical Asst. Visiting Physician, Medical Service, 2nd Div. Bellevue Hospital 1942-1947 Asst. Attending Physician, N.Y. Hospital 1947-1950 Associate Attending Physician, N.Y. Hospital 1950-1972 Attending Physician, N. Y. Hospital