Author: Philip Skroska

Contact me about:
  1. Permission to publish images from the Becker Archives
  2. Requesting photographs of former School of Medicine faculty and students
  3. The Washington University School of Medicine Oral History Project
  4. General questions about the archival collections at Becker Library
Archives and Rare Books

Santa Claus in the Operating Room

By — December 19, 2016

In 1930, Vilray P. Blair, MD, the founder of the plastic surgery program at Washington University School of Medicine, was planning his new operating room in the surgical wing of Barnes Hospital. Blair was world-renowned for his work on the most difficult cases, and still did a considerable amount of surgeries on children under local anesthetic. Many of the children brought into the operating room awake were terrified. He hoped to find a way to comfort them and help them relax during the operations.

Archives and Rare Books

Medical School Militarized

By — November 11, 2016

On Veterans Day the United States honors those who served in the United States Armed Forces. Washington University School of Medicine has educated many military men and women over the years, including one particularly interesting group.

During the Second World War it was possible to be an active serviceman or servicewoman and still attend medical school – or nursing or dental school – by participating in the US Army’s Specialist Training Program (ASTP), the Navy’s V-12 Program, or the Cadet Nurse Corps.

Archives and Rare Books

Teresa J. Vietti, MD: Pioneer Pediatric Oncologist

By — October 5, 2016

“At a time when care for children with cancer was only compassion, Teresa Vietti almost single-handedly developed the approach of laboratory-based studies, translational research and clinical trials. She was truly the mother of multimodality cancer treatment."

Teresa J. Vietti, MD

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