Medical Humanism

C Everett Koop '37 retired from his two terms as Surgeon General of the United States, but he is far from retired as the nation's health-care evangelist. In his very own institute established at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in 1992, Koop is continuing to shape the way medicine is practiced. Institute initiatives include placing first-year medical students in community healthcare, reminding all physiciansin-training that the humanist side of medicine must be foremost in their concerns, and encouraging medical students to become sorely needed primary-care physicians.

Although koop never had trouble being heard, the Institute offers him a new bully pulpit. Medical students are listening and so are healthcare reformers throughout the nation, including the Clintons.