HEH 25th Photo Album & Journal
POST 25th Evacuation Hospital WW2
HENRY, VIRGINIA, & GURDON HUBBARD HAMILTON
Henry and Virginia and Gurdon Jr. moved back to Iowa City, Iowa (425 Rundell St.)
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Henry’s experience in the tropics converted his specialty to Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa. He became an expert at diagnosing many blood borne diseases by exam and blood smears with his microscope (which he carried with him throughout WII). He became well known throughout the Midwest and further for his experience in tropical medicine. He received many patients from long distances away, with incomplete diagnoses or non-familiar mode of evaluation and treatment. His slide folders still now contain extensive and significant records, educational photos, and blood smears of many patients and many types of illnesses, which he used for teaching and lectures and patient care. He wrote the chapter on amebiasis in the widely used reference book: Mosby, Infectious Diseases, in addition to his many research studies.
As subspecialties were founded, he gravitated to hematology/oncology. His monthly duties would rotate and when he went to be the inpatient chief, I was invited along for patient rounds. The team of students, interns, residents and fellows made rounds into the open wards filled with up with cancer patients with a wide variety of cancers. It was a curing and learning operation. This hem/onc blend eventually split and he subspecialized in hematology as well as tropical medicine. He took care of a fellow with pernicious anemia for years, which generated extensive detailed research on the cascade of changes which vitamin B12 generates in the bone marrow production system. He was voted best teacher of the year 4 times by med students, and served as secretary of Medical staff for 2 decades. He was front and center with Dr. Ray Sheets in the staff generated 1960’s total revision of the operations of the University of Iowa College of Medicine, with introduction of staff input and oversight of the college.
Patti and I feel supremely indebted and thankful to “The Greatest Generation”, those at home as well as in service, for putting maximum life effort collectively against the high threat of wholesale destruction of the free world.
By Raymond M. Hamilton