Class of 1970 Commemorative Biographical Book

S T E V E N A . WA R T M A N

Address: 38 Lawrence Lane, Lexington, MA 02420 Email: swartman@aahcdc.org ● Phone: C: 202-557-8077

Alma mater: Cornell University

Postgraduate Training/Certification: Internal Medicine: Stanford, Yale, Hopkins

Current Employment: Retired; last employment as President/CEO of the Association of Academic Health Centers, Washington, D.C.

Spouse or Partner’s Name: Gina M. Caliri

Name(s) of Children and Grandchildren: Children: Eric, Adam Grandchild: Olivia

Narrative: When I was on the interview circuit for medical schools during my senior year at Cornell, the interview at Hopkins stood apart from other big-name institutions. I was impressed with the personal interest in me along with the deep sense of medical history and tradition. I knew that this was where I wanted to go. Looking back, I see how fortunate I was to have a first-rate medical education, not just in medical knowledge but also in the principles of medicine. As is probably typical of medical students, I regret not having fully appreciated the stellar faculty. My medical school experience also marked the end of one professional journey and the start of another. I began my first year intending to become a neuroscientist. I have been always fascinated with the brain, and, as an undergraduate, carried out experimental work in physiological psychology. In my early years at Hopkins I was greatly influenced by Vernon Mountcastle and other neuroscientists which ultimately led to a summer research experience after our sophomore year at the UCLA Brain Research Institute. I returned to Baltimore to begin my third year thinking of diurnal regulatory pathways and pineal physiology. But something unusual happened: I unexpectedly (an interesting and non-linear story) joined five other classmates to participate in an international experience sponsored by the School of Hygiene and Public Health (the idea was the brain child of Kerr White, and Paul Stolley was my institutional support). Dean David Rogers gave his blessing

to the program so that, despite being out of the country for a substantial part of the third year, participants would be able to graduate on time. I was posted (of all places!) to Belgrade (then the capital of the former Yugoslavia), a country with a complicated history and a dense Slavic language that used the Cyrillic alphabet. Space does not permit me to describe the experience except to say that it was life-changing. I returned to Baltimore with a new interest in social science and healthcare delivery. My advisor, Philip Tumulty, was most helpful at this point in suggesting training in internal medicine prior to getting a Ph.D. in the social sciences. After residencies at Stanford and Yale, I returned to Hopkins as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar with “Bucky” Greenough as the program’s director. My program was interrupted for a year I spent in Indonesia as a Henry Luce Scholar. Eventually, I completed my Ph.D. in sociology under Laura Morlock and became board-certified in internal medicine. I started my academic career in 1978 at Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital, where I founded the Division of General Internal Medicine and its associated residency program (which is still going strong today). I then chaired two departments of internal medicine (in Miami and New York), and subsequently served as dean of the medical school and executive vice president for academic and health

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