Reviewed by:

• Donald Seldin: The Maestro of Medicine by Raymond S. Greenberg
• Megan Seaholm

Donald Seldin, M.D., was a polymath well-versed in literature, art and art history, gourmet food, and fine clothing. He was also a physician who served on the faculty of Yale Medical School when, at age thirty-one, he was asked to chair the Department of Medicine at Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas. He arrived there in 1951 to find a small collection of plywood shacks, some of which were falling apart. Initially reluctant, "he stayed on … through the bleak days of the early fifties, not because he was blind to the ruin around him, but because in that great emptiness he saw possibilities" (57).

Author Raymond S. Greenberg, a physician himself, has written a splendid biography of a man who became highly influential in medical education. As Greenberg recounts Seldin's life, he also describes the remarkable development of Southwestern Medical School, which would become recognized nationally for its support of medical research and the implementation of medical research in teaching and patient care. Greenberg emphasizes Seldin's remarkable teaching and his relationship to his students: Seldin supported his best students as they pursued their careers, and medical school administrators came to recruit and revere students who had studied with him.

Beginning in the 1950s, Seldin, members of the school's faculty, and prominent citizens of Dallas would assure observers that a new city-county [End Page 497] hospital building replaced the aging Parkland Hospital and that new and modern buildings were built next to the hospital. Improvement and modernization continued throughout the late twentieth century. Seldin was aware of early twentieth-century changes in medical education that William Osler, widely respected as the father of modern medicine, had initiated at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. These changes and a 1910 Carnegie Foundation report about medical education by Abraham Flexner had revolutionized medical education in the United States. Convinced that Southwestern students could become better physicians, Seldin updated education at the school by redesigning the medicine rotation system for seniors and residents, creating a student laboratory on the internal medicine ward of the hospital, and integrating science and patient care in his lectures, seminar groups, and on rounds, insisting that students understand what "science" meant, for example, by quizzing them about the meaning of certain laboratory test results. He also wanted faculty to be "clinical scholars," teachers who recognized the interconnections of science, teaching, and clinical care.

Seldin was a demanding taskmaster. During rounds or Friday clinical discussions, he would bark out questions. Some students felt intimidated, but one student spoke for many when she said, "I really liked his ability to ask tough questions and not make it personal. It wasn't about you as a person. It was about the patient" (79).

Seldin held his position as chair of medicine for thirty-six years. In that time, he taught thousands of students, maintaining relationships with many and offering advice and counsel. He saw many excel with their research, and six were awarded Nobel Prizes.

Raymond Greenberg's biography of Donald Seldin provides much evidence that the term "maestro" in the book's subtitle is well-deserved.

审核人：

• 唐纳德·塞尔丁（Donald Seldin）：雷蒙德·格林伯格（Raymond S. Greenberg）的医学大师
• 梅根·西霍尔姆（Megan Seaholm）

马里兰州的唐纳德·塞尔丁（Donald Seldin）是在文学，艺术和艺术史，美食和精美服装方面精通的综合体。他还是耶鲁医学院教师的医生，当时他31岁时被要求担任得克萨斯州达拉斯市西南医学院医学系主任。他于1951年到达那里，发现了少量的胶合板棚屋，其中一些已经瓦解了。最初不情愿的是，“他继续……经历了五十年代初的惨淡日子，不是因为他对周围的废墟视而不见，而是因为他在那种空虚中看到了可能性”（57）。

作者雷蒙德·格林伯格（Raymond S. Greenberg）本人是医生，他写了一部出色的传记，描写了一位在医学教育领域极具影响力的人。格林伯格（Greenberg）讲述塞尔丁（Seldin）的一生时，他还描述了西南医学院（Southwestern Medical School）的显着发展，该校因其对医学研究的支持以及医学研究在教学和患者护理中的实施而闻名全国。格林伯格（Greenberg）强调了塞尔丁（Seldin）出色的教学及其与学生的关系：塞尔丁（Seldin）在追求职业生涯的过程中为他最好的学生提供了支持，医学院的管理人员来招募和崇拜与他一起学习的学生。

从1950年代开始，学校教职员工Seldin和达拉斯的杰出公民将向观察者保证，新的城市县[End Page 497]医院大楼取代了老化的帕克兰医院，并且在医院旁边建造了新的和现代化的建筑物。在整个20世纪后期，改进和现代化继续进行。Seldin意识到二十世纪初医学教育的变化，威廉·奥斯勒（William Osler）在约翰·霍普金斯大学医学院发起了这一举世闻名的现代医学之父。这些变化和亚伯拉罕·弗莱克斯纳（Abraham Flexner）于1910年在卡内基基金会发表的有关医学教育的报告彻底改变了美国的医学教育。Seldin坚信西南地区的学生可以成为更好的医师，因此通过重新设计面向老年人和居民的药品轮换系统，并在医院的内科病房上建立了一个学生实验室，对学校的教育进行了更新，并坚持在讲课，研讨会组以及其他各轮中将科学和患者护理相结合，坚持要求学生了解“科学”的含义，例如，通过向他们询问某些实验室测试结果的含义，来理解“科学”的含义。他还希望教师成为“临床学者”，是认识科学，教学和临床护理之间相互联系的老师。

塞尔丁是一个要求很高的任务负责人。在回合或星期五的临床讨论中，他会提出一些问题。一些学生感到被吓到了，但是一个学生说很多话时说：“我真的很喜欢他问一些棘手的问题而不是让自己变得个性化的能力。这不是关于您个人的问题，而是关于患者的问题”（79） 。

塞尔丁担任医学主席已有36年。在那段时间里，他教了成千上万的学生，与许多人保持联系并提供建议和咨询。他在研究上看到了许多卓越的表现，其中有六人获得了诺贝尔奖。

雷蒙德·格林伯格（Raymond Greenberg）的唐纳德·塞尔丁（Donald Seldin）传记提供了很多证据，证明该书副标题中的“大师”一词是当之无愧的。