ONE OF THE INNOVATORS OF THE SCHOOL ’ S lasting approach to education was its first dean , Joseph Stokes III , MD , who set the foundation before the first class even entered . Stokes was a leader in preventive medicine , infectious and cardiovascular disease , and even the burgeoning field of genetics . And perhaps due to his varied , interdisciplinary research interests , Stokes and other founding faculty wanted to build a school where medical students didn ’ t just memorize disease symptoms and treatments from a textbook . They wanted to provide a medical education rooted in the basic sciences and the underlying causes of disease .
From the beginning , Stokes believed the basic science of a medical school curriculum didn ’ t need to be taught in isolation in the School of Medicine . There was much to gain from the resources of the campus at large , and he drew heavily upon departments like biology and chemistry to give students a firm scientific foundation . The approach exemplified the words of David Bonner , PhD , founding chair of the Department of Biology : “ There is no such thing as basic versus applied science ; there is only good or bad science .” That philosophy led to the Bonner Plan . Eventually , UC San Diego medical students would take graduatelevel classes in biochemistry , physiology and pharmacology alongside the graduate students devoted to those fields . Second-year medical students took their anatomy and pathology courses with clinical faculty , but could also work in labs and take electives in general campus graduate departments .
For one of Stokes ’ first faculty recruits , Eugene Braunwald , MD , founding chair of the Department of Medicine , there is one School of Medicine milestone that most clearly demonstrates the desire to interweave science and medicine : the school ’ s very first lecture , held at the Hillcrest hospital on a Saturday in September 1968 .
“ That was the start of a series in which Linus Pauling , two-time Nobel Prize laureate , discussed the basic science of a disease and I covered the clinical side , in order to show the relationship between the two ,” Braunwald says . “ We started with sickle cell anemia , for which Pauling had worked out the genetics . For me , a young person working side by side with this great scientist , it was a thrill .”
While the Bonner Plan set the stage for the intermingling of basic sciences in a medical school , Clifford Grobstein , PhD , the school ’ s dean when the first class entered in 1968 , continued that tradition .
“ One of the problems in American medical education at that time was that the medical schools were divided — two years in the classroom , two years in the clinics ,” Braunwald says . “ These two had little to do with each other , and yet they are intellectually intertwined . We saw that as an opportunity for making a change in medical education .”
So Stokes , Grobstein , Braunwald and other founding faculty integrated both worlds . They introduced students to patients the first week they arrived .
22 TRITON | WINTER 2018