Class of 1970 Commemorative Biographical Book

P E T E R D E N S E N

Continued

a significant part of the medical student experience. Tradition abounded; how can I forget walking through the hospital and hearing Dr. Klinefelter paged just after Dr. McKusick had described Klinefelter’s Syndrome in a genetics lecture? Speaking of paging, has anyone located Dr. Fybigmi yet? And, there was Turtle Derby. Upperclassmen promised second year would be great but, for me, it was not. While classmates seemed to be thriving, I was sinking – both mentally and academically. In the micro course, I completed the lab component under Barry Wood’s tutelage studying the histo-pathogenesis of pneumococcal pneumonia in mice and focusing on PMNs. I BOMBED the final in shocking fashion; he called me in to see what had happened and was very supportive. I felt I had let down a personal hero (Yes Freud, I over compensated by going into Infectious Diseases). I hated pharmacology and was confident I would fail the final. Around me the world was coming apart: nightly news from Viet Nam, LBJ’s decision not to run followed four days later by MLK’s assassination and the start of the Baltimore Riots on Friday evening April 5th. Sunday, the fates smiled … final exams were cancelled. What cognitive dissonance I bear! At the bulleted memory level: receiving a New Year’s Eve telegram notifying me of admission; living in Reed Hall including late-night study breaks with Bob, Rodger, Mertoni, Russ and Barth; learning from classmates how to approach problems from a different perspective; petitioning the hospital and picketing the café to protest the sale of cigarettes; the Madeira Street Gang, the many pranks and lots of laughs – “You’ve been PHEESHED”! Returning to the fox in charge of the chicken coop and pranks…As dean of students, I dealt with behaviors I would have thought incompatible with being a medical student. Looking back, some of our pranks were almost certainly not as funny or as appropriate as we thought at the time – Densen the dean might have dismissed Densen the student. To those of you on the receiving end, especially the women in our class, I apologize and toast your fortitude, commitment and tolerant good nature. You’ve heard about the tip of the iceberg? That’s what you’ve just read. Ellie and I eagerly look forward to catching up and sharing more remembrances with all of you in just a few months.

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