3 Change Agent: Bringing a Science Base to Medicine

Dr. Hermann Blumgart's decision to retire as chief of medicine at Beth Israel may not have been a surprise—he had reached the mandatory retirement age for Harvard Medical School professors of sixty-five—but it was a bit of a shock to people throughout the organization. Blumgart had distinguished himself as quite a remarkable clinician, so much so that in the years to come several prestigious awards from medical societies would be granted in his name. A search committee seeking to identify a worthy successor to Dr. Blumgart, quickly settled upon a physician then serving as chairman of the Department of Medicine at Southwestern Medical School. When the offer from Beth Israel was tendered, however, the folks at Southwestern countered with a generous package and the man chose to remain at Southwestern.