Trouble was Brewing

As a student and particularly of one in clinical years of training in academic years 1971-1972 and 1972-1973, I was unaware of many of the undercurrents threatening UT Health San Antonio, until they erupted in the firing of Dr. Pannell in June 1972. 

Texas healthcare politics were active during these early years.  My class (1969-1973) was the first full class to go through all four years at UTMSSA.  The Founding Faculty members were outstanding clinicians and academicians with strong teaching and research credentials. They also were socially conscience and immediately began to seek ways to expand excellent healthcare into the minority and indigent communities of San Antonio.   The Chairman of the Department of Medicine, Dr. Leon Cander, led many of those efforts and ran afoul of the Texas Medical Association and state healthcare leaders.

My Letter to UT Regents Published in San Antonio Express News

A number of those leaders and local physicians pushed for Dr. Cander’s dismissal.  Dr. Pannill refused.  In June 1972, the Chancellor of the UT System fired Dr. Pannill.  Unfortunately, for the Chancellor he based his action upon the AAMC Accreditation Site visit reports, both of which I had read.  Knowing that the Chancellor had misrepresented the reports, I wrote a letter to each of the University of Texas regents which included Mrs. Lady Bird Johnson.   I sent a copy of the letter to the San Antonio Express News which, rather than publishing it as a Letter-To-The-Editor, published my letter on the front page of the paper above the fold in 40-point type.  The title of the article was, “Senior Medical Student Challenges Chancellor’s Truthfulness.”  (Regrettably, all of this material was lost in a move of my medical office in 1996.  The archives of the Express News do not include this material.)

During this time, Bob Dale, the internationally known editorial cartoonist for the Express News, did four original sketches on this subject.  One day, during the controversy created by the publication of my letter, I was at the Express News’ office.  Walking past Bob Dale’s desk, I saw his original pen and ink sketches, and he gave them to me.  Framed, these sketches hang in my son’s office to this day.

The following are reproductions of all four cartoons.  One shows Drs Pannill and Cander’s names, and depicts them as victims of the Chancellor.  (See:  In The News - The dismissal of School of Medicine Dean, F. C. Pannill, M.D.)

Click Each Image for a Larger View

A more detailed history of my activities with the AAMC is given at the following link:  Addendum Written April 20, 2016 - 45 years later - Dr. Holly Elected OSR’s First Chairman. 

In August 2012, I attended Dr. Pannill’s Memorial Service; on October 10, 2012, I wrote his children and grandchildren and said:

“Today, I am preparing to leave tomorrow for San Antonio.  On Saturday night, I shall receive the 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award.   I shall carry with me to this event, the framed copy of my letter of acceptance to the 1969 entering class, signed by ‘MY’ Dean, Dr. Carter Pannill.   My greatest regret is that your father and grandfather will not be there.  In my professional career, no person has influenced me more than Dr. Pannill - I could no more call him Carter, than I could stop breathing.  He shall always be the epitome of professionalism, leadership, scholarship and the kind of physician I have always wanted to be.

“You know these things but as I stand before the convocation on Saturday evening, I want to know that I have laid this honor at his feet and expressed my gratitude that I knew and loved him and that he respected me.  No honor could be more valued by me.  I am pleased for you to know that in my judgment, Dr. Henrich and your father are men of the same caliber and cut from the same cloth.  I think your father would like that.”

Additional insights to the continuity of UT Health’s care for others can be found in the following documents.  Remember, there are many other evidences of the same, these just happen to be ones in which I was involved.

An Invitation to a Celebration and to a Contribution
By James L. Holly, MD
President, Alumni Association
University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio
Spring, 2007

The 1951 movie, People Will Talk, is concluded with of a School of Medicine student orchestra performing Gaudeamus Igitur, as the students sing the words in Latin:

Gaudeamus igitur
Iuvenes dum sumus;
Post iucundam iuventutem
Post molestam senectutem
Nos habit humus...

The words mean:

Let us live, then, and be glad
While young life’s before us!
‘After youthful pastime had,
After old age hard and sad,
Earth will slumber o’er us...

Brief is life, and
Briefly shall be ended...”

Which of us hearing the melancholy words of Gaudeamus igitur will not call to mind our own experiences as young physicians-in-training?  Which of us do not recall with delight and perhaps even sometimes with dismay experiences and events which helped define who we are today?  Which of us will not remember with pride and pleasure that cap-and-gown evening when we officially became “MDs”?

Whether we revisit those halcyon days “on-line,” with fellow alums in our communities, or at the annual alumni gathering in San Antonio, each such contact allows us to complete that circle of life which brings significance and substance to our past, our presence and even to our future.

The invitation to participate in the alumni activities of the University Of Texas School Of Medicine at San Antonio is an opportunity to celebrate the life and work which we prepared for years ago.  This invitation is the opportunity to celebrate what our School of Medicine has become in the intervening years.  It is an invitation to contribute to the future of the School in the same degree as the School contributed to each of us.

For those of you who have not visited your School of Medicine for some time, you will be surprised what has become of the “cow pastures” which surrounded the school in the early days.  You will be amazed to read the words of the President of the Health Science Center as he announces that 2006 was a “transformative” year with the highest private contributions in the history of the school.  You will be astonished to hear the Dean of the School of Medicine related the value of the research grants awarded to the school.  You will be gratified to see how the School of Medicine has morphed into a leading center of health education, research, innovation and advancement.

Each time that I return to the campus and each time that I participate in the Alumni Board activities, I hear the melody of Gaudeamus igitur echoing in my mind.  I am reminded that life is brief and that which gives definition to my life now is continuity with my life then. 

It is a great honor to serve as your President, but whether in that role, or as a fellow alumnus returning to my roots, I am delighted to join you in mind and in heart to reunite with our School of Medicine.  It is more than a “walk down memory lane” to which we are invited; it is actually to a vision of our future.  I look forward to hearing from you, to seeing you and to sharing with you what OUR School of Medicine is and anticipating with you what it is becoming.