UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #664
SMITH, NATHAN J.

SMITH, Nathan J. (1921- )
Undergraduate student; Medical student; Professor of Pediatrics
At UW: 1939-1945; 1957-1964

Interviewed: 2004	
Interviewer: Charles C. Lobeck
Length: 1 hour, 13 minutes

UW tent colony; Undergraduate education at UW; UW Medical School; Pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital; Employment at UW Medical School; Department of Surgery controversy; Retirement; E.B. Fred; Medical School's service to the state of Wisconsin.

Interview Session (February 24, 2004): Tape 1

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:52	Nathan J. Smith talks about his father’s education at UW.  His family spent summers living in the tent colony on campus.

00:07:52	He talks about his undergraduate education at UW.  The experiences of his freshman year inspired him to pursue a medical degree.

00:09:28	NS joined the medical school class of 1945.  When WWII broke out, many medical school students were rejected as recruits and instructed to continue their medical training.  After they received some medical training, many students were put into the army reserves and later the army.

00:14:33	NS briefly discusses the medical school curriculum. 

00:16:02	He describes the medical school preceptorship program.

00:18:42	He graduated from the UW Medical School in 1945, and after completing an internship in pediatrics at the University of Minnesota, he served his two years of active duty in a veterans’ hospital in Kansas.  

00:20:27	NS talks about his work in pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital.

00:22:59	He recalls advice from his advisor at the University of Minnesota.

00:24:08	NS describes the ways in which medical research was funded.

00:25:40	After he studied in Paris using a Fulbright grant, NS worked at St. Christopher’s Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia.

00:29:38	In 1957, NS was invited to develop a pediatric department at UW.  He mentions several people on the staff.

00:33:02	He explains why there was no pediatrics department prior to his arrival.  There was a pre-existing bias against pediatrics at the UW medical school, as many thought that children could be treated within the other medical disciplines.

00:35:58	NS talks about his wife, Marcie.

00:39:17	A conflict arose in 1962 with the appointment of the new chair of the department of surgery.

00:44:02	He discusses the shifts in his research interests from hematology to nutrition to sports medicine.  

00:47:11	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:47:29	NS describes the attitudes of the faculty during the chair of surgery controversy.  

00:50:40	John Bowers left UW, then became director of the Macy Foundation.

00:52:48	NS’s research activity increased dramatically when he entered the field of sports medicine, which he found particularly rewarding.

00:53:53 	He briefly mentions the honors and awards he has received during his career.

00:54:46	NS discusses David W. Smith, characterizing him as an excellent teacher and physician. 

00:59:51	He talks about Arthur Siebens.

01:01:24	NS discusses the funding of medical research.

01:02:27	He describes the circumstances of his retirement.

01:05:27	NS relates an anecdote about E.B. Fred.

01:10:16	He discusses the UW Medical School in terms of its service to the state of Wisconsin.

01:13:22	End of side.  End of tape.  End of interview. 

END