Interview with Albert Miller

Partial Transcript: Okay, today is February 10, 2016...

Segment Synopsis: Chose UW because it was a means of going to college other than Brooklyn or City College, which were commuter colleges. Growing up in Brooklyn with a limited income but still expected to go to college.

Keywords: Brooklyn; UW

Segment Synopsis: Question: Learning about the Ford Scholars Program. Answer: High school advisor.

Segment Synopsis: High school performance at neighborhood high school. Helpful guidance counselor. Knew nothing about Wisconsin when he applied. Public schools in NY at time were segregated by student performance. AM did high-caliber coursework.

Keywords: Ford Scholars application; high school grades; special progress classes

Segment Synopsis: First time traveling to Madison/train ride alone. No housing for male students. Finding a room for rent on Monroe street in family home occupied another renting Ford Student.

Keywords: Chicago; Monroe Street; train travel; university housing shortage

Segment Synopsis: Registration process. Long lines and chaos. Taking chemistry and eventually becoming pre-med.

Keywords: ILS; Integrated Liberal Studies; Pre-Med

Segment Synopsis: ILS defined. Meeting Herbert Howe. First meeting the cohort.

Keywords: Bascom Hall; Chadbourne Ave; Herbert Howe; ILS

Segment Synopsis: Closest friends in cohort. Second year room mate in student rooming house, Phil Schaeffer. Lists other Ford Scholars with whom he is still close.

Segment Synopsis: Socializing on campus. ILS as a group experience. Socializing at Student Union, Cineclub, the Terrace, and outdoor activities.

Keywords: ILS; student life; student union

Segment Synopsis: Memorable classes in and out of ILS. Two formative classes for pre-med were organic-chemistry and embryology.

Keywords: Classics; Greek and Roman history; embryology; organic chemistry

Segment Synopsis: Partying was not a big part of undergraduate life. Studying at the library and the benefits of air-conditioning.

Keywords: Bascom Hall; Jewish Student Hillel Foundation; Lakeshore Path; Memorial Library; Picnic Point; student life; union terrace

Segment Synopsis: Student organizations. Phil Beta Kappa. Not involved in school politics, but students were aware of and antithetical to McCarthyism.

Keywords: Joseph McCarthy

Segment Synopsis: Obligatory and graded ROTC for two times a week for two years.

Segment Synopsis: Med school at UW and affordability. Ford Foundation paid for first year of medical school.

Segment Synopsis: Overall influence of Ford Scholar program. Liberating and important, owed in part to work of the Howes. Also attributes much to influence of ILS. Social benefits of group. Recalls college as good time in US cultural history.

Keywords: Herbert Howe

Partial Transcript: Okay, so today is February 15, 2016...

Segment Synopsis: Interview's Introduction & Sound Check

Segment Synopsis: Preparation for entry into medical school. Summer job at scientific supply firm.

Segment Synopsis: First year med school schedule. Basic sciences. Relatively set schedule.

Keywords: anatomy; basic sciences; biochemistry; neuroanatomy

Segment Synopsis: Undergraduate courses and med school preparation. Importance of organic chemistry and physics. Embryology.

Segment Synopsis: Applying to med school and state residency requirements. Ford Foundation finances first year of medical school.

Segment Synopsis: Learning about medical school opportunities through Ford scholarship.

Segment Synopsis: Memorable first year med school cohort members. Recalling early dropouts.

Segment Synopsis: Other friendships in medical school. Limited interaction between more senior and junior students. Discusses classroom buildings, including the infamous science hall. Talks about study spots.

Keywords: Science hall

Segment Synopsis: Never applied to other medical schools. Many students get their bachelor degree after first year of med school. Graduation. Getting in state tuition.

Keywords: application process

Segment Synopsis: Being young in med school has led to having a long career.

Segment Synopsis: AM discusses memorable medical school faculty.

Segment Synopsis: Outstanding faculty during clinical years. Professor of medicine Ovid Meyer. Founder of Uracil 5FU. AM highly influenced by preceptor, P.T. Bland.

Segment Synopsis: Experience of clinical years. Lecture and class loads. Time at Wisconsin General Hospital. Complicated and unique cases from around the state. Significance of preceptorship and unique UW med school experience. Drawing rare cases from rural areas around the state.

Segment Synopsis: Class relationships during and after clinical years. Minimal internal competition for internships and residencies.

Segment Synopsis: Deciding on internal medicine. Internship/residency at Mt. Sinai in NYC. Experience at Mt. Sinai. Other UW alums at Mt. Sinai. Medical fraternities and socialization.

Segment Synopsis: Teaching methods in medical education. Variation in clinical years including lecture classes. Bedside teaching in hospitals, clinics, and offices.

Keywords: medical education

Segment Synopsis: AM's teaching experience. Working with students rotating into pulminary group. Describes process of teaching in hospitals.

Segment Synopsis: Process after residency. Board certification and specialization processes. Entering private practice. Differences then and now.

Segment Synopsis: Career overview. Faculty of Mt. Sinai school of medicine since 1965. Time on hospital faculties. Work in occupational lung disease. Experience working with those exposed to asbestos. Dual appointment in pulminary and occupational medicine. Publishing on the effects and exposure risks of asbestos.

Segment Synopsis: Reflecting on quality of training at UW med school. Restates the importance of preceptorship.