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This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Catherine M. Wilfert on August 25, 2006 by Jessica Roseberry as part of the Women in Duke Medicine Oral History Exhibit.
Duration: 1:29:32
Wilfert discusses family support; her decision to become a physician; her medical degree from Harvard; the atmosphere for women at Harvard; the differences between the Harvard and Duke campuses; scientific collaborations on Duke campus; people in Department of Pediatrics; working with Dr. Rebecca Buckley on Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever cases; practicalities of working in the lab; the welcoming nature of the Duke Pediatrics Department towards women; the names of important women in the medical center; her husband, Dr. Samuel Katz; the direction of Department of Pediatrics under Dr. Katz's leadership; institutional support for the Department of Pediatrics; differences between pediatric medicine and internal (adult) medicine; physicians' reactions to first hearing about AIDS in the 1980s; patients' deaths due to AIDS; Duke's involvement in clinical trials to treat AIDS; Dr. Dani Bolognesi; her own involvement in giving AZT to mothers; the dramatic reduction of newborn AIDS patients due to AZT use by infected mothers; publicity of the initial trial; controversies of the Thailand trial; her personal stand about early international trials with AZT; the entities responsible for international AZT trials; differences between treating patients in the United States and in developing countries; the dramatic decrease in newborn AIDS patients in United States; difficulties of treating AIDS patients in developing countries; the necessity of treating AIDS patients in developing countries, even by imperfect means; her personal passion for the cause of treating AIDS patients in developing countries; her work for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation; her retirement from Duke; the foundational support for her work; the need for financial support in the cause of fighting AIDS; countries on which she focuses the most; her travel schedule; working with national governments of developing countries; the status of pediatric AIDS in the United States; specific cases (not identified by name) that stand out to her; others who are in the fight against AIDS; what Westerners should know about the AIDS struggle in the developing world; dissatisfaction with current system of medical care delivery in the United States; her role as chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases; and interactions with Dr. Katz as chief under his chairmanship. The transcription of this interview was made possible by a grant from the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation. Includes 2 master CDs, 2 use CDs, and 1 transcript.

Dr. Hammond discusses the history of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Duke University including faculty, divisions, facilities, research, fellowships and resident education, relocations, his goals as chair of department, National Institutes of Health funding, changes in ease of funding since becoming chair. He also discusses colleague Dr. F. Bayard "Nick" Carter and Dr. Robert Ross; birth of his own children at Duke; family atmosphere of department; rural 'Outrider' program; Lincoln Hospital; Watts Hospital; racial integration of Duke Hospital; Carter Club; Raleigh Community Hospital; feminist movement; changing gender makeup of the department; generational differences in practitioners; patient acceptance of both genders in physicians; humanism in student education; changing technology in the field; personal research experiences; flexible nature of obstetrics and gynecology; pride in Duke Medical Center; and medical liability.

Pugh-Myers' recollections of her days as a member of the first class of practical nurses at Duke Hosptial, 1949; working as an African-American practical nurse at Duke and beyond.

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Courtney M. Townsend Jr on January 20, 2022 by Taylor Patterson as part of the Dr. David Sabiston Oral History Project.

Duration: 00:31:58

During the interview, Townsend discusses his background; his decision to become a surgeon; his education and training; his time in the Navy, becoming the Editor-In-Chief for the "Textbook of Surgery" after Dr. David Sabiston, as well as his experiences in that role; Sabiston's influence on the field of surgery; how Townsend shaped surgical resident education at his institution; the importance of developing a workforce that looks like the population being served; and his memories of Sabiston and his wife Agnes (Aggie) Barden Sabiston. Digital files include transcript (DOCX), interview (M4A), and consent form (PDF).

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Craig L. Slingluff Jr. on April 18, 2021 by Justin Barr as part of the Dr. David Sabiston Oral History Project.

Duration: 01:47:06

During the interview, Slingluff discusses his early life; education; why he decided to join the medical profession; how he came to Duke for his residency; his memories of Sabiston including personal interactions, "Monday Afternoon Conferences", and Sabiston's "tough love"; recollections of the people he worked with at Duke during his residency and research fellowship and the camaraderie that developed between them leading to the creation of the Baron Van Wassenaer Society; his research with Dr. Hilliard Seigler working on melanoma research and patients with his subsequent decision to go into surgical oncology; and how he ended up back at the University of Virginia as a member of their faculty. Digital files include transcript (DOCX), interview (MP3), and consent form (PDF).

This oral history was conducted with Dr. Dani Bolognesi on May 29, 2019 by Taylor Patterson as part of the Dr. David Sabiston Oral History Project. Transcript is available.
Duration: 00:49:16
During the interview, Bolognesi discusses his early life and education; his studies and work at Duke, where he was a student under Dr. Joseph Beard; professional and personal memories of Dr. David Sabiston, including Sabiston's interest in grants; Sabiston's stoke; Sabiston's Christmas parties; translational research; the Department of Surgery; and Bolognesi's HIV research.
Digital files include transcript (.DOCX), interview (.MP3), consent form (.PDF), keywords and summary (.DOCX), Surgical Sciences Background (.DOCX), and Bagger files (.TXT).

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Daniel Blazer on January 28, 2005 by Jessica Roseberry.

Duration: 00:45:00

During the interview, Blazer discusses his initial interest in psychiatry; coming to Duke; the eclectic nature of the Duke Department of Psychiatry when he came; changes in the field in regards to length of hospital stays; national social psychiatry trends; his interest in social epidemiology; community and family medicine's role in social epidemiology; the Department of Psychiatry's integration into the work of other departments, when he first came to the department; the current isolation of department from the other departments; the economic factors in current-day medical culture; the chairs of the Department of Psychiatry, including himself as an interim chair; the history of the deanship of the medical school; his focus as dean; Dr. Snyderman's vision as chancellor; Dr. Snyderman's style as an administrator; the lack of emphasis on the clinical side; Duke's strength in eclecticism; and challenges for the future. Includes 1 master audiocassette tape, 1 use audiocassette tape, and 1 transcript.

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Daniel (Dan) G. Blazer on March 31, 1995 by Dr. James Gifford. It is included in the Dr. David Sabiston Oral History Project.

Duration: 00:39:00

During the interview, Blazer discusses his background and when he decided he wanted to become a physician; his education; how he came to Duke; the Department of Psychiatry; his experiences as the Dean of Medical Education, his position at the time of this interview; support and insight he received from Dr. David Sabiston; importance of research in medical education; the evolution of the Duke Health System and the Duke Medical Center, and the Department of Surgery. Includes 1 master audiocassette tape and 1 transcript.

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. David L. Simel on March 5, 2021 by Joseph O'Connell as part of the Department of Medicine's Oral History Project.

Duration: 01:07:46

During the interview, Simel discusses his early experiences in and around medicine, his research in clinical exam and diagnostic tools, and his work at the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center and as Vice-Chair for Veterans Affairs in the Department of Medicine. The themes of this interview include veterans' health, medical training, hematology-oncology, and general practice medicine. Digital files include interview metadata and transcript (PDF), interview with stereo (WAV), interview with mono (MP3), image (JPG), consent form (PDF), and TXT files.

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Diana B. McNeill on March 1, 2021 by Joseph O'Connell as part of the Department of Medicine's Oral History Project.

Duration: 00:53:46

During the interview, McNeill discusses the treatment of diabetes and the idea of "Type 3" support people surrounding people with diabetes, McNeill's experiences related to work-life balance for physicians, her leadership of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, and the work of Duke AHEAD to support faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic. The themes of this interview includes diabetes and diabetes in pregnancy, maternity leave policies in medicine, mentorship, and faculty development. Digital files include interview metadata and transcript (PDF), interview with stereo (WAV), interview with mono (MP3), images (PNG), consent form (PDF), and TXT files.

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Don E. Detmer on February 2, 2022 by Dr. Konstantinos Economopoulos as part of the Dr. David Sabiston Oral History Project.

Duration: 01:16:29

During the interview, Detmer discusses his early life, education, his medical training, individuals who shaped him along the way during his career, how he came to Duke for the third year of his surgical residency, memories of Sabiston, Sabiston's rigid belief system, his interest in health policy, how he went into administration and medical informatics, different positions he held over the years, and his work with the Duke Physician Assistant Program. Digital files include transcript (DOCX), interview (MP4 and M4A), and consent form (PDF).

Donna Allen Harris speaks about her background, primarily in Elizabeth City, North Carolina; the impetus for integrating the local high school being unknown to her; her being a part of the group that was going to integrate the local schools at various levels; the group dwindling to a small number, many of whom were in her family; her family's emphasis on education; her parents' insistence that she be part of the group to integrate the local high school as a sophomore; her desire to be with her friends instead; the difficulty of her three years at the high school; her memory of the first day walking into the school; the difficulty of the first few months and the first year; some of the actions of fellow students; the expectation from her community that she would do well academically; her loss of connection with her group of childhood friends because of the lack of contact; her sister integrating the junior high school; her being the only African-American student in her class; her desire to be alone sometimes as an adult as a result of that isolating experience; her being steered into nursing as one of the few options available to her; her satisfaction with nursing as a career; her feeling that the Duke University School of Nursing was training its graduates to go into nursing administration; her desire to be a hands-on nurse rather than to go into nursing administration; the ability of the Watts School of Nursing graduates to outfunction Duke University School of Nursing graduates in patient care; graduating in the same class as the Duke University School of Nursing dean, Dr. Catherine Gillis; sometimes feeling guilty about not going into nursing administration; her application to Fisk University and to the Duke University School of Nursing; her desire to go to Fisk to be with people more like her; her receiving a full scholarship to go to Duke; her choosing Duke for financial reasons, even though she knew she would once again be the first African-American; her sense of isolation at Duke; the other African-American students (university undergraduates) living on the other side of campus; her friendship with fellow nursing students in her class; those friendships being her solace; an incident in which she felt disappointed in a faculty member, after which she decided not to look to faculty members for support; receiving a wedding present from a faculty member; dating her future husband while being a nursing student; letting the friendship ties fall after graduation; going back to work at Duke; her previous declaration that she would not go back to Duke; her connection with friends but distrust of Duke as an institution; her nonparticipation in the 1969 student takeover of the Allen Building; her being a "middle-of-the-roader" as far as activism; her lack of memory about her sorority; not necessarily feeling community support at the time, but now not discounting that there might have been those who supported her; her first job after graduation from Duke and also being the only African-American RN there; how prepared she felt after her education at Duke; other jobs after graduation; her ultimate choice to go into public health nursing and it being a good fit for her; there not being much recognition of her being the first African-American nursing student to graduate from Duke; her blocking a lot of memories from nursing school; the 2007 Tea with Trailblazers being the first time she was really recognized for being the first African-American nursing student to graduate from Duke; now feeling a sense of accomplishment playing that role; and remembering those who have gone before her.

This oral history interview was conducted with Doris Howell on November 12, 2007 by Jessica Roseberry.
Duration: 01:01:00
Dr. Doris Howell discusses her early background; medical school at McGill University; positive treatment in medical school; her initial desire to go into the field of psychiatry; her choice to go into pediatrics; the characterization of pediatric work; her internship at Children's Memorial Hospital in Montreal, Canada; her residency at Duke; the difference between styles of training in Canada and the United States; her more rigid style due to Canadian training; Dr. Bill DeMaria convincing her to change her style; her fellowship at Harvard with Dr. Lou Diamond; her field of pediatric hematology; the large numbers of leukemia patients in her work at Duke; growing the division to take care of these patients; being the only trained pediatric hematologist between Washington, New Orleans, and Miami; the immense patient load; training residents and fellows; many fellows being Middle Eastern; becoming the chair of Pediatrics at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania; being concerned about all-women's medical college; Dr. Susan Dees as a role model; pediatrics as a field easier for women to enter during her time; her positive treatment at Duke; awards; convincing the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania to become coeducational; being only female chair of pediatrics nationally; working briefly at the Association of American Medical Colleges; becoming the temporary chair of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego; the difficulty of being a chair in a field you have not trained in; her return to the field of pediatrics; the development of San Diego Hospice; San Diego Hospice as being an all-purpose hospice for all ages; staying involved; building a research fund for women's health; the difference between women's health issues and men's health issues; her working philosophy; not having biological children but caring for her patients; being engaged several times but being a female physician as complicating the relationships; her decision to stay single and commit her time to pediatric care; her advice to young female medical students; and her contentment with the life she has led. The transcription of this interview was made possible by a grant from the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation.

Dr. Brundage's career; Duke University School of Nursing; deanship

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Douglas S. Tyler on June 10, 2019 by Emily Stewart as part of the Dr. David Sabiston Oral History Project.

Duration: 00:49:10

During the interview, Tyler discusses his early life; education; decision to become a physician; meeting Sabiston for the first time for his interview for residency; experiences with Sabiston as a resident in general surgery and as the Chief Resident in Surgery; changes in the Department of Surgery that Sabiston was slow to enact such as the residents' call schedule and surgical specialization, Sabiston's fear based training methods that created a competitive culture that is not acceptable by today's standards; the lack of racial and gender diversity in the Department of Surgery, especially the lack of women in all surgical training programs; his experiences working in a research lab at Duke on HIV research that Sabiston selected for him over his preferred area of research in breast cancer; his fellowship in surgical oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, which Sabiston did not support; coming back to Duke to start his academic career, other memories of Sabiston and his wife, Aggie; and his reasons for leaving Duke. Digital files include transcript (.DOCX), interview (.MP3), and consent form (.PDF).

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Eddie L. Hoover on June 25, 2019 by Emily Stewart as part of the Dr. David Sabiston Oral History Project.

Duration: 00:45:34

During the interview, Hoover discusses his early life; education; how he joined the medical profession; what it was like to be Black at the time Duke was starting to integrate its schools and facilities; the need for and starting the Society of Black Academic Surgeons; and his memories of Sabiston including his flawless memory, his meticulous nature, his love of the history of surgery, his dress code, his focus on research, and his desire to train academic surgeons who were going to teach the next generation of surgeons. Digital files include transcript (DOCX), interview (MP3), consent form (PDF), and TXT files.

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Edward Halperin on May 29, 2007 by Jessica Roseberry.
Duration: 00:47:51
Dr. Halperin discusses Duke Medicine's beginnings as a coeducational institution; Duke as influenced by the Abraham Flexner Report on medicine; Flexner as supportive of women's medical education; Duke's initial faculty as being from the coeducational institution, Johns Hopkins; Sir William Osler (an important influence on Wilburt Davison, the first dean of Duke Medical School) as favoring medical education for women; Dr. Davison's thoughts on this matter as being unknown to Dr. Halperin; Bessie Baker as the first dean of the Duke School of Nursing; stratifications of nursing by race; the building of Lincoln Community Hospital; Dr. Susan Dees; women's roles in medicine in the 1950s; Dorothy Beard assisting her husband Dr. Joseph Beard in his laboratory; Dr. Halperin as a one-time physician to Dorothy Beard in her later years; Bess Cebe, administrative assistant to former Department of Medicine chair, Dr. Eugene Stead; women physicians typically being only in certain specialties in earlier times; Dr. Grace Kerby; specialties women were more involved in; Susan Lowenthal, an early resident in psychiatry; culture for women medical students; pornographic images of women used in an anatomy text produced by three Duke professors in the late 1960s and early 1970s; the national boycott of the book; changes in medical culture for women over time; policies at Duke to change the culture for women in medicine; his own role in setting up an adoption leave policy; his establishment of the Butler-Harris chair in the Division of Radiation-Oncology, which can only be held by a woman or minority; Dr. Sara Dent, anesthesiologist; Zelda Fitzgerald as a patient at Duke-owned Highland Hospital; and Mary Semans. Includes a master and use CD and an analog and electronic transcript. The transcription of this interview was made possible by a grant from the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation.

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Edward Halperin on October 10, 2006 by Jessica Roseberry.
Duration: 00:46:44
Dr. Halperin discusses his family history, early life, medical education, the development of the field of radiation oncology, his career at Duke (including his work as vice dean of Duke University Medical School), Duke curricula reform, the creation of the medical master's in library science program, medical student suicides, his experiences with Dr. Snyderman, and research into the history of medicine. Includes a master and use CD and a digital transcript.

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. E. Harvey Estes Jr. on April 28, 2004 by Jessica Roseberry.

Duration: 01:20:00

Estes discusses the history of the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Duke. He also discusses the department's relationship with Watts Hospital, Durham Regional Hospital (now Duke Regional Hospital), and the Duke University Physician Assistant Program. Includes 2 master audiocassette tapes, 2 use audiocassette tapes, and a transcript.

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. E. Harvey Estes Jr. on June 25, 2007 by Jessica Roseberry. The transcription of this interview was made possible by a grant from the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation.

Duration: 01:52:34

Estes discusses Dr. Grace Kerby, who he knew when he was on the faculty in the Department of Medicine, including her driven nature, her duty of organizing the house staff schedules in the Department of Medicine, Dr. Kerby as the only chief resident who did not participate in the chair of the Department of Medicine Dr. Eugene Stead's required psychological sessions with psychiatrist Dr. Bingham Dai, her social life, his respect for Dr. Kerby, and his perception of Dr. Kerby's compulsiveness and rigidity. He discusses Bess Cebe, Dr. Stead's administrative assistant; the few other women in the Department of Medicine during the 1960s; Dr. Eva Salber in the Department of Community and Family Medicine; South African protestors of Apartheid at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Dr. Eva Salber and husband, Harry, leaving South Africa and going to Boston; the Salber's arrival to Chapel Hill; the discussions about Dr. Eva Salber potentially taking over Lincoln Community Health Center; Dr. Evelyn Schmidt taking this position instead; Dr. Salber in the Department of Community and Family Medicine; Dr. Salber conducting a needs assessment of the surrounding community; Dr. Salber setting up a system of community leaders as healthcare givers; Dr. Salber's deep involvement with rural elders; Dr. Salber's equal treatment of African-Americans; and Dr. Salber's interest in medical students. He discusses Connie Service, Becky Heron, Kathy Andolsek, Susan Yaggy, and Dr. Evelyn Schmidt. He discusses the loss of the Division of Community Medicine when Dr. Salber retired, before Susan Yaggy took over the division; women at the time as being more interested in becoming family doctors than men; culture differences in having mostly women in divisions of the department; maternity policies; tenure being not as important in Community and Family Medicine as in other departments; Dorothy Naumann being in charge of student health; residents in the department going into the community as opposed to joining the faculty; Joyce Nichols, the first African-American female physician assistant; physician assistants as currently a more female-dominated group; funding as an issue in the Department of Community and Family Medicine; the Duke Diet and Fitness Center; Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans; healthcare for Mrs. Semans; healthcare received by his wife; the Nearly New Shoppe; the wives of Duke faculty being involved in creating the used clothing store; and the current state of Nearly New Shoppe. Includes 2 master CDs, a 2 use CDs and a transcript.

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Elizabeth Bullitt on October 18, 2005 by Jessica Roseberry.
Duration: 01:15:00
Bullitt discusses her background; her fascination with the brain and neurosurgery; residency at University of Colorado; internal problems in program at University of Colorado; coming to Duke under Dr. Robert Wilkins; military feel of Duke program; rules in Duke program; Dr. Guy Odom; Dr. David Sabiston; hierarchy in Department of Surgery; male presence in neurosurgery, particularly at the time; husband as present chief of Neurosurgery at Duke; being the first female neurosurgeon on staff at both Mayfield Neurological Institute and University of North Carolina; feeling need to survive as opposed to feeling like a pioneer at Duke; treatment as a female neurosurgeon at Duke; her sensitivity to her treatment and dedication to her field; evaluation of her treatment versus current regulations against such treatment; facilities for female neurosurgeons; being overlooked at Duke because female; feeling uncomfortable returning to Duke; uniforms in Duke Department of Surgery; Dr. Robert Wilkins; others in the department who influenced her, including Dr. Blaine Nashold; meeting husband [Dr. Allan Friedman] at this time; time commitment as resident at that time versus the current time commitment; technology at Duke at the time; Carol Ludolph; conservative nature of Duke Surgery Department in terms of operating, flexibility; treatment received from patients; history of career at University of North Carolina; balancing home life and work life; current work with brain imaging at University of North Carolina. The transcription of this interview was made possible by a grant from the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation. Includes 2 master audio cassette tapes, 2 use audio cassette tapes, and a transcript.

Elizabeth "Chi" Pulley speaks about how her parents, Dr. Susan and Dr. John E. Dees, first met; her parents living with Dr. Barnes Woodhall; the difference in payment for Dr. John E. Dees and Dr. Susan Dees; other women on the Duke faculty; the distinction between Dr. Susan Dees at work and Mrs. Susan Dees at home; patient loyalty to Dr. Susan Dees; Pulley's perceptions of her mother; other mothers not working; going with her mother to Duke Hospital; Pulley playing in the hospital; the maid at home; the maid giving Pulley her nickname, "Chi"; Pulley's perception of Dr. Susan Dees's treatment at Duke; Dr. Susan Dees beginning a school for children in the hospital; Dr. Rebecca Buckley; Dr. Susan Dees's multiple retirements; Dr. Bailey Webb; Dr. Susan Dees's training residents; Dr. Susan Dees as an individual; Dr. John Dees; and Dr. Susan Dees's enthusiasm.

This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Elizabeth R. DeLong on October 21, 2010 by Jessica Roseberry.
Duration: 00:45:39
Dr. DeLong discusses similarities and differences between working at a clinical research organization (Quintiles) and an academic research organization (Duke Medical Center); some collaborative projects between the Department of Biostatistics and other Duke departments; the importance of biostatistics to medical practice and medical research; the extent to which people in an academic institution are aware of the importance of statistics in their own work; the importance of having training in doing statistical work; master's versus PhD statisticians; the Duke Clinical Research Institute's emphasis on collaboration between medical investigators and statisticians; working with partners to make sure they set up their studies correctly; outcomes research versus clinical trials; equipoise; the importance of equipoise; personalized medicine; the accuracy of predictions in personalized medicine; bioinformatics; the importance of the department being accepted by other outside departments and groups; growth of the department; being a female in the sciences; her own background; mentors; Dean Nancy Andrews; whether she brings something different to the table as a female department chair; and the future of the department. Includes a master CD, a use CD, and a transcript.