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Our New President: Nicholas Carr Hightower
NICHOLAS CARR HIGHTOWER,
M.D.
GASTROENTEROLOGY Official Publication of the American Gastroenterological Association ' COPYIUGIIT 1971 Ttl£ WILLIAMS
VoLUME
61
&
Wn.KI:--'S
Co.
July 1971
NuMBER
1
OUR NEW PRESIDENT: NICHOLAS CARR HIGHTOWER It seems almost inappropriate to describe to the membership of the American Gastroenterological Association the formal mileposts in the professional career of Dr. Hightower, for such is not the nature of this man. For those of us who have been fortunate to have known "Nick" for some 25 years, one's first reactions are personal and subjective. Such words as humanity, generosity, wit, and gemr.itlicheit, set against a background of stellar intellectual qualities, physical drive, and perseverance come to mind. Nick's life had been sharpened and refined by a chronic orthopedic illness as a child, and stimulated, perhaps even inspired, by an ambition to do something worthwhile for his native state and people-Texas and Texans. Although born in Tennessee on September 26, 1918, Nick returned promptly to his native State of Texas where family and forebears had long lived in Texarkana. Tradition compels me to include the following facts. Nick was educated in the public schools of Texarkana; he received his B.S. degree in chemistry from North Texas State University in 1941, and his M .D. degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1944. His internship was served at the Philadelphia General Hospital. His first professional love was obstetrics and gynecology, and during his internship he obtained a fellowship in this specialty at the Mayo Clinic. Because of a flare-up of an old hip ailment, he switched to internal medicine, completed the program, and obtained an M.S. in Medicine in 1949. In his early days at the Mayo Clinic, he came under the influence of Walter C. Alvarez, Frank C. Mann, Jesse L. Bollman, and J. Arnold Bargen. As a result of the influence of these men, about two-
thirds of his medical residency was spent on the various gastroenterology services and in the physiology laboratories. During the latter part of his medical residency, Nick was influenced and encouraged by a young clinical gastroenterologist, Carl Morlock, and a young physiologist, Charlie Code, to become a physiologist. Four years later, including 1 year spent in Dr. Maurice Visscher's Department of Physiology, Nick obtained his Ph.D. in 1952. At this point, loyalty to his home state overcame other and perhaps better opportunities to go elsewhere and he chose to come to the Scott and White Clinic in Temple. Scott and White, at that time, was a relatively small, although regionally well known, clinic and hospital where Nick had spent an externship during his senior year in medical school. He must have seen something in the stars that suggested a promising future for this Texas medical center. In this setting, Nick, with the aid of a 2-year American Cancer Society grant of $1800 annually, and 1 part-time technician, set up a research laboratory to continue his studies of the electrical potential of the human gastric mucosa. The building was of wooden construction and had served originally as an "isolation cottage," where patients with typhoid, smallpox, and other dread diseases could be cared for. Later, the building, which was hardly larger than a modern house trailer, was used as a storehouse. In these unpromising surroundings, with limited funds but ample pioneering spirit, Nick Hightower pushed at frontiers that were to gain him international recognition. Nick's first national recognition was not in the field of gastroenterology but in the field of hypertension, owing to his interest in pheochromocytoma. In 1952, he was co3
4
N.C . HIGHTOWER: NEW PRESIDENT
recipient with some of his colleagues from the Mayo Clinic of the American Medical Association's Billings Gold Medal for a scientific exhibit on pheochromocytoma. His interest in scientific exhibits continued, and in 1957 and 1959, he received first prize awards from the Texas and Southern Medical Associations for exhibits on chronic ulcerative colitis and small bowel tumors. All the while he was upgrading his laboratory, designing and constructing much of the equipment himself, and producing original papers, especially in the field of esophageal and gastrointestinal motility. In 1960, the Seale Harris Award of the Southern Medical Association for research accomplishments in the field of internal medicine was won, and, in 1964, the Outstanding Achievement Award of the University of Minnesota and Mayo Foundation became his. In 1965, he was the first recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award at North Texas State University. Parallel to these honors, our President was assuming such additional responsibilities as the Chairmanship of the Gastrointestinal Section of the American Physiological Society, the Chairmanship of the Gastroenterology Research Group, the Chairmanship of the Section of Digestive Diseases of the Texas Medical Association, Chairmanship of the Section of Gastroenterology of the Southern Medical Association, and Chairmanship of the Section of Pathology and Physiology of the American Medical Association. Nick has served also on the Editorial Boards of the American Journal of Digestive Diseases, Clinical Medicine, and Internal Medicine Digest. In addition to his various committee assignments in the American Gastroenterological Association, he has been active in the American Association of Medical Clinics and the Mayo Alumni Association. . Somehow, he has found time to publish over 100 scientific articles, including chapters for textbooks and, more recently, the Section on Digestion in Best and Taylor's Textbook of Physiology. Under Nick's aegis, there has continued
Vol. 61 , No . 1
to grow within the Scott and White institutions burgeoning research efforts which now consist of some dozen professional and approximately 100 paramedical personnel. Within the Scott and White institutions, he served as Chairman of the Department of Clinical Physiology for 15 years. For the past 3 years, he has been the Director of the Division of Research and Education. In addition to many institutional committee assignments, he served as Chairman of the Building Committee for over 10 years. In the last several years, Nick has found time to serve as Lecturer in Physiology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, and Adjunct Professor at Baylor University. He has acted as Consultant to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service and to the Bureau of Medicine of the Food and Drug Administration. Currently, he is serving as Chairman of the Regional Advisory Group of the Regional Medical Program of Texas, and also is President-elect of the Alumni Association of the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. The unflagging humanity and earthiness of the man remain. Although best known for his work in gastroenterology, Nick is reknowned for his stentorious snoring, his dancing with a fused hip until dawn, and a myriad other activities. He manages to help guide his Presbyterian church as an Elder and to shoot a few geese each fall in the rice paddies of coastal Texas; he watches over four children and three grandchildren, tinkers with a 1918 Chandler car, and maintains an almost continuous open house to one and all with his charming and gracious wife, Don Ann. Above the door to the old pest house that Nick made into a first class laboratory at Scott and White, there was this sign: "A problem is not solved in a laboratory. It is solved in some fellow's head ... "-Kettering. Nicholas Carr Hightower, gastroenterology's Man of the Year, epitomizes this dictum. A. COMPTON BRODERS, JR., M.D.
M.D.
GASTROENTEROLOGY Official Publication of the American Gastroenterological Association ' COPYIUGIIT 1971 Ttl£ WILLIAMS
VoLUME
61
&
Wn.KI:--'S
Co.
July 1971
NuMBER
1
OUR NEW PRESIDENT: NICHOLAS CARR HIGHTOWER It seems almost inappropriate to describe to the membership of the American Gastroenterological Association the formal mileposts in the professional career of Dr. Hightower, for such is not the nature of this man. For those of us who have been fortunate to have known "Nick" for some 25 years, one's first reactions are personal and subjective. Such words as humanity, generosity, wit, and gemr.itlicheit, set against a background of stellar intellectual qualities, physical drive, and perseverance come to mind. Nick's life had been sharpened and refined by a chronic orthopedic illness as a child, and stimulated, perhaps even inspired, by an ambition to do something worthwhile for his native state and people-Texas and Texans. Although born in Tennessee on September 26, 1918, Nick returned promptly to his native State of Texas where family and forebears had long lived in Texarkana. Tradition compels me to include the following facts. Nick was educated in the public schools of Texarkana; he received his B.S. degree in chemistry from North Texas State University in 1941, and his M .D. degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1944. His internship was served at the Philadelphia General Hospital. His first professional love was obstetrics and gynecology, and during his internship he obtained a fellowship in this specialty at the Mayo Clinic. Because of a flare-up of an old hip ailment, he switched to internal medicine, completed the program, and obtained an M.S. in Medicine in 1949. In his early days at the Mayo Clinic, he came under the influence of Walter C. Alvarez, Frank C. Mann, Jesse L. Bollman, and J. Arnold Bargen. As a result of the influence of these men, about two-
thirds of his medical residency was spent on the various gastroenterology services and in the physiology laboratories. During the latter part of his medical residency, Nick was influenced and encouraged by a young clinical gastroenterologist, Carl Morlock, and a young physiologist, Charlie Code, to become a physiologist. Four years later, including 1 year spent in Dr. Maurice Visscher's Department of Physiology, Nick obtained his Ph.D. in 1952. At this point, loyalty to his home state overcame other and perhaps better opportunities to go elsewhere and he chose to come to the Scott and White Clinic in Temple. Scott and White, at that time, was a relatively small, although regionally well known, clinic and hospital where Nick had spent an externship during his senior year in medical school. He must have seen something in the stars that suggested a promising future for this Texas medical center. In this setting, Nick, with the aid of a 2-year American Cancer Society grant of $1800 annually, and 1 part-time technician, set up a research laboratory to continue his studies of the electrical potential of the human gastric mucosa. The building was of wooden construction and had served originally as an "isolation cottage," where patients with typhoid, smallpox, and other dread diseases could be cared for. Later, the building, which was hardly larger than a modern house trailer, was used as a storehouse. In these unpromising surroundings, with limited funds but ample pioneering spirit, Nick Hightower pushed at frontiers that were to gain him international recognition. Nick's first national recognition was not in the field of gastroenterology but in the field of hypertension, owing to his interest in pheochromocytoma. In 1952, he was co3
4
N.C . HIGHTOWER: NEW PRESIDENT
recipient with some of his colleagues from the Mayo Clinic of the American Medical Association's Billings Gold Medal for a scientific exhibit on pheochromocytoma. His interest in scientific exhibits continued, and in 1957 and 1959, he received first prize awards from the Texas and Southern Medical Associations for exhibits on chronic ulcerative colitis and small bowel tumors. All the while he was upgrading his laboratory, designing and constructing much of the equipment himself, and producing original papers, especially in the field of esophageal and gastrointestinal motility. In 1960, the Seale Harris Award of the Southern Medical Association for research accomplishments in the field of internal medicine was won, and, in 1964, the Outstanding Achievement Award of the University of Minnesota and Mayo Foundation became his. In 1965, he was the first recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award at North Texas State University. Parallel to these honors, our President was assuming such additional responsibilities as the Chairmanship of the Gastrointestinal Section of the American Physiological Society, the Chairmanship of the Gastroenterology Research Group, the Chairmanship of the Section of Digestive Diseases of the Texas Medical Association, Chairmanship of the Section of Gastroenterology of the Southern Medical Association, and Chairmanship of the Section of Pathology and Physiology of the American Medical Association. Nick has served also on the Editorial Boards of the American Journal of Digestive Diseases, Clinical Medicine, and Internal Medicine Digest. In addition to his various committee assignments in the American Gastroenterological Association, he has been active in the American Association of Medical Clinics and the Mayo Alumni Association. . Somehow, he has found time to publish over 100 scientific articles, including chapters for textbooks and, more recently, the Section on Digestion in Best and Taylor's Textbook of Physiology. Under Nick's aegis, there has continued
Vol. 61 , No . 1
to grow within the Scott and White institutions burgeoning research efforts which now consist of some dozen professional and approximately 100 paramedical personnel. Within the Scott and White institutions, he served as Chairman of the Department of Clinical Physiology for 15 years. For the past 3 years, he has been the Director of the Division of Research and Education. In addition to many institutional committee assignments, he served as Chairman of the Building Committee for over 10 years. In the last several years, Nick has found time to serve as Lecturer in Physiology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, and Adjunct Professor at Baylor University. He has acted as Consultant to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service and to the Bureau of Medicine of the Food and Drug Administration. Currently, he is serving as Chairman of the Regional Advisory Group of the Regional Medical Program of Texas, and also is President-elect of the Alumni Association of the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. The unflagging humanity and earthiness of the man remain. Although best known for his work in gastroenterology, Nick is reknowned for his stentorious snoring, his dancing with a fused hip until dawn, and a myriad other activities. He manages to help guide his Presbyterian church as an Elder and to shoot a few geese each fall in the rice paddies of coastal Texas; he watches over four children and three grandchildren, tinkers with a 1918 Chandler car, and maintains an almost continuous open house to one and all with his charming and gracious wife, Don Ann. Above the door to the old pest house that Nick made into a first class laboratory at Scott and White, there was this sign: "A problem is not solved in a laboratory. It is solved in some fellow's head ... "-Kettering. Nicholas Carr Hightower, gastroenterology's Man of the Year, epitomizes this dictum. A. COMPTON BRODERS, JR., M.D.