Class of 1970 Commemorative Biographical Book

D I A N N E S T R O B E L - E L F E N B E I N

Continued

would be a good bench researcher so I decided to practice in general pediatrics. After our move to Gainesville, Florida, I was in general academic pediatrics at UF. One day, the chairman came back from the legislature with the news that he had gotten line items in the Florida budget to start adolescent medicine programs at each of the medical schools in the state. I wanted some freedom from my supervisor and volunteered to start a program there (and did). A few years later Jerry and I moved to Tampa and I was incorporated into the pediatrics program at USF, though this time also into adolescent medicine. An infectious disease colleague persuaded me to join her in treating patients with HIV so I returned to infectious disease part of the time. When we left Tampa, though, for Worcester, MA, there were few patients with HIV and when I joined the faculty at UMass in adolescent medicine, I ran the “Teen Tot Program,” a federally funded program to decrease repeat pregnancies in teen moms. I retired from this program. Our last move came after I found I was very restless in retirement. I “unretired” and we moved from Massachusetts to Saint Louis to be closer to our grandchildren. I accepted a position as chief of adolescent medicine at SLU. Aside from general adolescent medicine practice, we were quite skillful at the in-hospital management of patients with eating disorders.

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