UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #499
INHORN, STANLEY L.

INHORN, Stanley L. (1928- )
Director of Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene; Professor of Pathology and Preventative Medicine
At UW: 1957-1998
	
First Interview
Interviewed: 1996	
Interviewer: Rjurik Golubjatnikov
Length: 2 hours, 18 minutes

Undergraduate education; Medical school; Pathology internship at UW; Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene; Cytogenetic research; Lectureship in Department of Pathology; Alfred Evans; Responsibilities as director of State Laboratory; Memorable colleagues; Toxicology; Former Medical School deans; Center for Disease Control; Professional organizations; Important State Laboratory programs; William Stovall’s cancer research; Chairmanship of Department of Pathology; Former chairs of Department of Preventative Medicine; Future of State Laboratory.

Second Interview
Interviewed: 2004			
Interviewer: Ann Peckham
Length: 1 hour, 15 minutes
									
Growing up in Cleveland; family; Western Reserve University; Cancer Research 
Department at Columbia University medical school; residency at UW Hospital; 
Naval service; State Laboratory of Hygiene; cytology research; pap smear 
research; recollections of colleagues; Clinical Laboratory Improvement Acts; 
Pathology Department and curriculum; American Cancer Society; family life in 
Madison.
							
FIRST INTERVIEW

First Interview Session (August 8, 1996): Tapes 1-3

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:35	SI was born in Philadelphia in 1928.  He was interested in science during his early school years.  He attended Western Reserve University and pursued a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.  Afterwards, he decided to go to medical school.

00:02:35	After applying to several medical schools, he chose the program at Columbia University, where he received his degree in 1953.  SI mentions scientists that influenced him.

00:05:30	After medical school, SI accepted a rotating internship in pathology at UW.  When he arrived, the UW Medical School was not yet a widely recognized program.  

00:07:50	SI explains how he got involved with the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene.  

00:12:45	SI discusses the cytogenetic research that led to his appointment as the Director of the State Laboratory in 1966.   

00:20:50	The field of cytogenetics developed during the 1960s, despite the fact that many of the people conducting the research did not have the proper training.  SI explains how he became a lecturer in pathology during the last year of his residency.  At one point, he was the only pathologist in the State Laboratory.

00:29:30	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:29:55	Alfred Evans was an internist who had a special interest in infectious disease and preventative medicine.  He did research in Germany while in the army during WWII.  He developed a virus laboratory at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene.  Evans is perhaps most famous for his research on infectious mononucleosis and for coining the term “the kissing disease.”  He returned to Yale University in 1966, where he managed the World Health Organization’s serum bank.

00:33:30	William Stovall served as Director of the State Laboratory of Hygiene.  Although he was a pathologist, his interests were primarily clinical.  He was often a delegate to the American Medical Association.  At one point, he served as Acting Superintendent of the Wisconsin General Hospital.

00:36:47	When the State Laboratory of Hygiene was in its development stage, Evans had to decide whether doctors should be charged for specimens that came in for analysis.  The fees have increased steadily over the years.  

00:39:55	SI discusses his responsibilities as the Director of the State Laboratory.  Its governing board met rarely.  He mentions some of the UW administrators who served on the board.  After some changes in government policy, the State Laboratory was required to serve the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Natural Resources as well as the University.

00:44:55	SI mentions some of his memorable colleagues and their research in virology, bacteriology, immunology, and clinical chemistry.       

00:54:52	He discusses the development of toxicology at UW.

00:56:00	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 2/Side 1

00:00:25	John Bowers’ Medical School deanship was controversial, and eventually he was forced to resign.  Peter Eichman later became Medical School dean.  SI discusses changes in the Medical School chain of command.

00:05:28	The State Laboratory of Hygiene has close ties with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta.  In 1966, the CDC asked SI to develop quality control standards for Medicare.  

00:11:30	SI worked with the Professional Education Service to develop the three-part competency examination for cytotechnologists.  He also served on the committee that wrote the hematology examination for laboratory directors.  SI has done extensive work with the Association of State and Public Laboratory Directors, the American Public Health Association, and the American Cancer Society.  

00:16:20	SI discusses some of the programs that were instrumental in the State Laboratory’s expansion, such as the multi-phasic screening program, environmental testing, summer short courses, and proficiency testing.  

00:22:34	The State Laboratory is in a unique position, because while it is associated with the University, it is also a public health facility.  As a result, the State Laboratory often found itself low on the list of University priorities.  

00:26:20	Stovall first developed the State Laboratory’s interest in cytotechnology.  

00:28:45	End of side.  

Tape 2/Side 2

00:29:05	SI describes one of Stovall’s cancer control research projects during the 1950s.  

00:34:15	SI served as acting chair of the Department of Pathology for four years during the 1970s and then became permanent chair in 1978.  He resigned after two and a half years and returned to the State Laboratory as its medical director.  

00:40:12	SI mentions some of the former chairpersons of the Department of Preventative Medicine, including Alfred Evans, Gerald Lawton, and John Rankin.

00:46:56	SI discusses the relationship between the Department of Preventative Medicine and the State Laboratory of Hygiene.  He explains Wayne Thompson’s research on the LaCrosse encephalitis virus.  

00:52:38	The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene has always been interested in making the newest technology available to the public.  It has participated in technology transfer— representatives from other hospitals study at the State Laboratory in order to learn about new technology.  The State Laboratory still does specialized cytogenetics testing.      	   

00:58:25	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 3/Side 1

00:58:30	SI speculates about the future of the Wisconsin State Laboratory.  Large commercial laboratories try to offer competitive pricing with public health laboratories.  Economics plays a major role in the changes in public health laboratories.

01:02:15	End of side.  End of tape.
						
SECOND INTERVIEW

Interview Session (March 15, 2004): Tapes 4-5

Tape 4/Side 1

00:00:35	Stanley Inhorn relates his early years in Philadelphia and Cleveland.  He talks about his sister and her career.

00:02:25	SI discusses his decision to attend Western Reserve University and his choice of chemistry as his major.  He talks about his social life in a fraternity, orchestra, and wrestling.

00:04:18	SI talks about his parents and their careers.

00:05:10	He discusses his search for a medical school and his decision to attend Columbia University and specialize in pathology.  He volunteered and did research in Columbia’s Cancer Research Department under Eric Hirschberg, who encouraged SI to do his residency at UW.  He talks further about his decision to come to Madison.

00:08:12	SI commenced rotating internships in medicine, surgery, neuropscyhiatry, ob-gyn, and pediatrics.  He began his residency in July 1954.

00:09:23	He relates meeting and marrying Shirley Sherbourne in 1954.  SI was called up into the Navy in October 1954 and assigned to landing craft destined for Seattle and the West Coast.  He also mentions the birth of his first child.

00:12:00	SI resumed his pathology residency in 1956 at the State Laboratory of Hygiene under Dr. Stovall.  He discusses at length the history of the State Laboratory of Hygiene.  He discusses Harry Russell (a lecturer in bacteriology in the Department of Agriculture) and Cornelius Harper, who together founded the Laboratory in 1903.  SI also details the responsibilities, resources, and facilities of the Laboratory.

00:18:46	SI discusses the Anatomic Pathology Department and its chair, D. Murray Angevine.  He discusses the centrality of teaching to residents’ learning process.  He goes on to relate his rotations in the State Laboratory and the surgical pathology division at the hospital.

00:23:20	SI speaks of his interest in cytology and microbiology and his grant to study effects of viruses on cells.  He recounts his collaboration with Dave Smith, Klaus Patau, and Eva Thurman on research on congenital abnormalities and 13 Trisomy Syndrome.

00:28:25	SI discusses the conclusion of his residency and his decision to become assistant to Frank Larson, Director of the Hospital Clinical Labs.

00:29:50	End of side.

Tape 4/Side 2

00:30:05	Stanley Inhorn continues to discuss his career after the conclusion of his residency, including his assistantship to Dr. Alfred Evans (a virologist and Director of the State Lab).  He discusses the history of a study of the Pap smear in Wisconsin from 1956-59, which influenced the founding of the school of cyto-technology to train students to administer pap smears.

00:33:35	SI discusses his relationship with Alfred Evans and Evans’ impact on students’ training and curriculum.

00:35:20	SI talks about his position as Assistant Professor and his continuing research with Dave Smith and John M. Opitz.  He discusses a cytogenetic survey of the Central Colony population of people with mental retardation, as well as different research methods.  SI talks about the application of cytogenetics to the study of the Philadelphia chromosome and leukemia.

00:41:00	He talks further about Dr. Alfred Evans and his work in epidemiology in the 1960s.  In 1966, SI was appointed Director of the State Laboratory of Hygiene after Evans left UW.  He goes on to discuss his research and his teaching responsibilities.

00:44:39	SI talks about his tenure as Director at the State Lab and the impact of Medicare and federal regulations of clinical laboratories through the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLEA) of 1967.  SI was involved in creating standards and regulations for hospital laboratories.  SI describes his involvement in updating CLEA in 1988.  

00:48:45	SI narrates the advent of a “panel testing” procedure that made laboratory testing cheaper to perform.  Mobile panel testing vans made clinical tests more widely accessible.

00:51:38	He assesses the impact on the State Lab of recent developments in pathology, such as trends in obesity, and Tommy Thompson’s emphasis on prevention.

00:52:28	SI talks about infectious disease scares during his tenure as director of the State Lab, including Legionnaire’s disease, swine flu, and AIDS.  He talks about workshops and extension teaching.

00:53:02	SI discusses the history of the Pathology Department and his acting chairmanship.  He mentions poor facilities, poor staffing, and poor funding as problems in recruiting faculty.  SI edited a book on laboratory quality assurance during this time as well.

00:56:35	He discusses his second term as chair of the Pathology Department and his resignation as director of the State Laboratory of Hygiene.  He then became the Medical Director of the State Lab.

00:57:55	SI mentions his attempts to revitalize the Pathology Department and his success in bringing all clinical laboratories into the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in 1978.

00:58:48	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 5/Side 1

00:58:55	Stanley Inhorn continues to discuss his chairmanship of the Pathology Department.  Changes in the curriculum for medical students sought to integrate the basic sciences with the clinical sciences.  He notes that laboratory experience has been eliminated and most course work is carried out in lectures.

01:02:53	SI explains his interest in researching male and female reproductive tracts as resulting from his earlier work with pap smears.  He developed a course with Dee Buchler on the female reproductive tract.  

01:04:30	He describes the administrative and financial problems that led to his resignation as chair of the Pathology Department.

01:06:30	SI talks about his involvement in professional pathology societies, such as the American Society of Cytology, in which he served as president.  He volunteered for the American Cancer Society and chaired a committee in 1987 to increase the utilization of mammography.  He also works on a state cancer control plan.  

01:10:50	SI discusses his volunteer activity as a violin player with the Madison Symphony.

01:12:58	He explains his retirement in 1998 and discusses family vacations “on the cheap.”  He talks about his children.

01:15:57	End of side.  End of tape.  End of interview.

END