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Oral Surgery
Start Date: 1963
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
My earliest memories of the Hospital Center go back to 1956, before it was even built. I was in high school at the time and remember my father - an oral surgeon with the old Episcopal Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital - sitting at the kitchen table, poring over blueprints and plans with others, as they worked to design the new Department of Oral Surgery.
When it opened, it was much bigger and more modern than anything any of them had ever seen. Of course, since then, it's been remodeled at least two to three times to accommodate newer equipment.
My father was the first oral surgery resident at Episcopal, and I followed in his footsteps, becoming an oral surgery resident at the Hospital Center in 1963. That was quite a year. In August, Martin Luther King Jr. led the March on Washington, and a crowd of 250,000 gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to hear him. The hospital didn't really know what to expect, but decided to prepare for any emergency. All leave for residents was cancelled - we were all ordered to be on duty in case we were needed. Fortunately, we weren't.
As a resident, I worked under my father's tutelage; I then joined his practice and we worked side-by-side for the next 25 years.
It's been an amazing experience to witness the growth of the Oral Surgery Department and be part of the many changes and advances that have made the department what it is today. I know my father would be extremely proud of this history, and I'm proud to be a member of the department and the legacy he helped create.
