This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Samuel Katz on May 10, 2007 by Jessica Roseberry. The transcription of this interview was funded by a grant from the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation.
Duration: 01:09:44
Katz discusses his preference of the term chair versus chairman of the Department of Pediatrics in order to be inclusive of female department chairs; the nature of the Department of Pediatrics when he first arrived as chair in 1968; former Department of Pediatrics chairs Dr. Jerome Harris and Dr. Wilburt Davison; Dean Wilburt Davison's view of the department; research in the department upon Katz's arrival; the department's relationship to other departments in the medical school; comparisons to Harvard's campus; Dr. Harris's relationship with the Division of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine; pediatric cardiologist Dr. Madison Spach; the less prominent position of the Department of Pediatrics upon his arrival; Department of Immunology chair, Dr. William Joklik; his own efforts to bring the Department of Pediatrics into a place of more prominence; women [one full time and one half time] in the department upon his arrival; Dr. Susan Dees; Dr. Davison's nonpayment of Susan Dees because her husband, Dr. John Dees, received a salary from the medical center; Dr. Shirley Osterhout as being a half-time employee in the Department of Pediatrics and a half-time employee as director of the Poison Control Center; the reputation of Dr. Rebecca Buckley before he arrived; Dr. Rebecca Buckley in the Department of Immunology; the recruitment of Dr. Buckley to the Department of Pediatrics; Dr. Dees's reputation and intellectual prowess; Dr. Susan Dees as a smoker; Dr. Shirley Osterhout as the leader of the Poison Control Center; Dr. Buckley's research on babies with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency; Dr. Buckley's international reputation; the small number of women in departments during the time of his arrival; women in other medical schools; the arrival of Dr. Catherine Wilfert; the four women in the Department of Pediatrics having husbands and children; Dr. Catherine Wilfert's national distinction; his marriage to Dr. Wilfert and their keeping separate names; Dr. Lois Pounds; Dr. Tim Oliver; the marriage of Dr. Pounds and Dr. Oliver; Dr. Pounds in the admissions department; women in the admissions department; pediatricians in the admissions department; Dr. Deborah Kredich in the Division of Rheumatology in the Department of Pediatrics; Dr. Wilfert's interaction with his alma mater, Harvard, about the admission of women to Harvard Medical School; the group of medical students in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology working militantly to equalize the gender gap in the department and in medicine in general; his suggestions of names of female department chairs upon his retirement; women in the Department of Pediatrics who actively promoted women's issues; his own advocacy for women's issues; difficulties for women; Dr. Phyllis Lephert; appointment and tenure decisions; the current Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure committee; pediatrics as seen as more of a women's specialty; Dr. Doris Howell; women and research; women clinicians in the Department of Pediatrics; female doctors married to male doctors in the Medical Center; other considerations pertaining to his and Dr. Wilfert's marriage; Dr. Brenda Armstrong; maternity leave; actively trying to give women a place in the Department of Pediatrics; aspects of a good pediatrician; and his own work, especially vaccines internationally. Includes a master and use CD and a transcript..