TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN CLINICAL AND CLIMATOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, VOL. 126, 2015
MEMORIAL GERARD N. BURROW, MD 1933 – 2013
Gerard Noel Burrow, distinguished endocrinologist and academic leader, died on December 14, 2013, at the age of 80 years. His life was characterized by the wide diversity of his interests, by the quality of his accomplishments, and by the contributions he made as a leader in each of the institutions where he worked. A native of New England, Gerry was born in Providence, Rhode Island, attended Brown for his undergraduate work, and Yale for lxxxii
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medical school, internal medicine residency, and endocrine fellowship. The personal attributes he displayed as a young trainee in the Department of Medicine at Yale were the characteristics that served him well throughout his career: unfailing good cheer, a dry sense of humor, an optimistic outlook, and an unflappable persona that inspired confidence in his junior associates. He was Philip K. Bondy’s first Chief Resident at Yale. While excelling in medicine he also collected rare stones off the beach at Branford, sailed on the Long Island Sound, played a good game of tennis, and joined the Branford Volunteer Fire Department (engine three, if memory serves me correctly!). During his tenure in the US Public Health Service at the atomic bomb casualty commission in Japan, he achieved a black belt in judo along with an abiding interest in radiation-induced thyroid cancer. As a faculty member at Yale, he further developed his lifelong interest in the thyroid gland and the medical complications of pregnancy while simultaneously pursuing his fascination with the history of Yale Medical School and its unique program of medical education. As Chair of the Admissions Committee, he sought to define those characteristics that portended successful careers for Yale medical students: capacity for independent learning, curiosity, and an interest in research. He left Yale (temporarily) in 1976 for the University of Toronto to head the prestigious Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism. In recognition of his leadership skills he was appointed 5 years later as the Sir John and Lady Eaton Professor of Medicine, Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, and Physician-in-Chief at Toronto General Hospital. In 1988, he became the Dean and Vice Chancellor for Health at the University of California, San Diego, Medical School. At UCSD he was instrumental in expanding the full-time clinical practice at the medical school and developing a new hospital (Thornton) where the highly specialized clinical programs of the faculty could thrive. In 1992, after a 16-year hiatus, Gerry Burrow returned to Yale as the 14th dean of the medical school. The challenges were many as academic medical centers needed to adjust to the pressures imposed by managed care, decreasing reimbursement for clinical practice, expanded faculties with increased competition for grant funding, and the need to derive operating costs increasingly from clinical revenue streams. As medical school dean, buttressed by his experience as department chair at Toronto and dean at UCSD, Gerry addressed these problems in his usual thoughtful manner. He recognized the importance of the clinical practice of the faculty, and of the medical school’s relationship with its academic hospital partner and parent university as keys to success in advancing the research and education initiatives of the school. He wrote passion-
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ately about the tensions within academic medical centers. These insights contributed to the evolution at Yale of a strong relationship between the medical school, the Yale New Haven Hospital, and Yale University, relationships that bloomed fully under the current Yale dean, Robert J. Alpern. In 2002, Burrow published “A History of Yale’s School of Medicine: Passing Torches to Others.” This astute, carefully researched book chronicles the development of the medical school over the course of more than 200 years. It was clearly a labor of love. Extremely well written and very informative, it makes interesting reading for anyone curious about the evolution of modern academic medicine. Burrow’s academic work focused on the thyroid gland. He is well known for his work on thyroid disorders related to pregnancy such as hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, and neonatal hypothyroidism. He was one of the founders of the high-risk pregnancy clinic at Yale. He co-edited, with his colleague Dr.Thomas Ferris, a widely respected book “Medical Complications During Pregnancy,” now in its 6th edition. He contributed importantly to the international effort to erase iodine deficiency and its disastrous neonatal effects. He also wrote on a large number of topics related to professionalism in medicine, medical education, housestaff training, and the role of academic medical centers in the new environment created by health care reform. Dr. Burrow was elected to the American Clinical and Climatological Association in 1990. He presented his paper “Thyroid Disease During Pregnancy” in 1991 and it was published in the ACCA Transactions, volume 103, in 1992. When he stepped down from the deanship at Yale, Gerry’s active professional life continued. Returning to his love of the sea, he became CEO of the famous Sea Research Foundation in Mystic, Connecticut, a post that included the Mystic Aquarium and the Institute for Exploration, and, in this capacity, made many adventurous exploratory trips into the deep. He was also appointed Chair of the University of Connecticut Health Center, a post that he held with distinction until August of 2011. Dr. Burrow is survived by his wife, Ann Burrow, of Hamden, Connecticut; his son, Peter Noel Burrow of Guilford, Connecticut, daughter-in-law, Rula, and grandson, Samy; his daughter, Elisabeth Burrow of Fergus, Ontario, son-in-law Mitja Kosir, and granddaughter, Jessica; and his daughter, Sarah Burrow of Oakville, Ontario, son-in-law Richard Marshall, and grandchildren Ryan, Nolan, and Owen. Lewis Landsberg, MD
MEMORIAL GERARD N. BURROW, MD 1933 – 2013
Gerard Noel Burrow, distinguished endocrinologist and academic leader, died on December 14, 2013, at the age of 80 years. His life was characterized by the wide diversity of his interests, by the quality of his accomplishments, and by the contributions he made as a leader in each of the institutions where he worked. A native of New England, Gerry was born in Providence, Rhode Island, attended Brown for his undergraduate work, and Yale for lxxxii
MEMORIAL
lxxxiii
medical school, internal medicine residency, and endocrine fellowship. The personal attributes he displayed as a young trainee in the Department of Medicine at Yale were the characteristics that served him well throughout his career: unfailing good cheer, a dry sense of humor, an optimistic outlook, and an unflappable persona that inspired confidence in his junior associates. He was Philip K. Bondy’s first Chief Resident at Yale. While excelling in medicine he also collected rare stones off the beach at Branford, sailed on the Long Island Sound, played a good game of tennis, and joined the Branford Volunteer Fire Department (engine three, if memory serves me correctly!). During his tenure in the US Public Health Service at the atomic bomb casualty commission in Japan, he achieved a black belt in judo along with an abiding interest in radiation-induced thyroid cancer. As a faculty member at Yale, he further developed his lifelong interest in the thyroid gland and the medical complications of pregnancy while simultaneously pursuing his fascination with the history of Yale Medical School and its unique program of medical education. As Chair of the Admissions Committee, he sought to define those characteristics that portended successful careers for Yale medical students: capacity for independent learning, curiosity, and an interest in research. He left Yale (temporarily) in 1976 for the University of Toronto to head the prestigious Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism. In recognition of his leadership skills he was appointed 5 years later as the Sir John and Lady Eaton Professor of Medicine, Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, and Physician-in-Chief at Toronto General Hospital. In 1988, he became the Dean and Vice Chancellor for Health at the University of California, San Diego, Medical School. At UCSD he was instrumental in expanding the full-time clinical practice at the medical school and developing a new hospital (Thornton) where the highly specialized clinical programs of the faculty could thrive. In 1992, after a 16-year hiatus, Gerry Burrow returned to Yale as the 14th dean of the medical school. The challenges were many as academic medical centers needed to adjust to the pressures imposed by managed care, decreasing reimbursement for clinical practice, expanded faculties with increased competition for grant funding, and the need to derive operating costs increasingly from clinical revenue streams. As medical school dean, buttressed by his experience as department chair at Toronto and dean at UCSD, Gerry addressed these problems in his usual thoughtful manner. He recognized the importance of the clinical practice of the faculty, and of the medical school’s relationship with its academic hospital partner and parent university as keys to success in advancing the research and education initiatives of the school. He wrote passion-
lxxxiv
MEMORIAL
ately about the tensions within academic medical centers. These insights contributed to the evolution at Yale of a strong relationship between the medical school, the Yale New Haven Hospital, and Yale University, relationships that bloomed fully under the current Yale dean, Robert J. Alpern. In 2002, Burrow published “A History of Yale’s School of Medicine: Passing Torches to Others.” This astute, carefully researched book chronicles the development of the medical school over the course of more than 200 years. It was clearly a labor of love. Extremely well written and very informative, it makes interesting reading for anyone curious about the evolution of modern academic medicine. Burrow’s academic work focused on the thyroid gland. He is well known for his work on thyroid disorders related to pregnancy such as hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, and neonatal hypothyroidism. He was one of the founders of the high-risk pregnancy clinic at Yale. He co-edited, with his colleague Dr.Thomas Ferris, a widely respected book “Medical Complications During Pregnancy,” now in its 6th edition. He contributed importantly to the international effort to erase iodine deficiency and its disastrous neonatal effects. He also wrote on a large number of topics related to professionalism in medicine, medical education, housestaff training, and the role of academic medical centers in the new environment created by health care reform. Dr. Burrow was elected to the American Clinical and Climatological Association in 1990. He presented his paper “Thyroid Disease During Pregnancy” in 1991 and it was published in the ACCA Transactions, volume 103, in 1992. When he stepped down from the deanship at Yale, Gerry’s active professional life continued. Returning to his love of the sea, he became CEO of the famous Sea Research Foundation in Mystic, Connecticut, a post that included the Mystic Aquarium and the Institute for Exploration, and, in this capacity, made many adventurous exploratory trips into the deep. He was also appointed Chair of the University of Connecticut Health Center, a post that he held with distinction until August of 2011. Dr. Burrow is survived by his wife, Ann Burrow, of Hamden, Connecticut; his son, Peter Noel Burrow of Guilford, Connecticut, daughter-in-law, Rula, and grandson, Samy; his daughter, Elisabeth Burrow of Fergus, Ontario, son-in-law Mitja Kosir, and granddaughter, Jessica; and his daughter, Sarah Burrow of Oakville, Ontario, son-in-law Richard Marshall, and grandchildren Ryan, Nolan, and Owen. Lewis Landsberg, MD
