| In Memoriam |
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In Memoriam - Lawrence Z. Feigenbaum M.D. by Jay Luxenberg The California community of providers of high quality care for the elderly lost a giant in the field with the recent passing of Larry Feigenbaum, M.D. As a cardiologist and internist in practice in San Francisco in the early 1970’s, he saw the value of programs being developed in the United Kingdom that allowed frail seniors to remain in their homes. His investigations of the British Day Hospital model led him in 1975 to establishing the first adult day health center in a teaching hospital, and the first west of the Mississippi. He then participated in a lobbying effort that successfully established adult day health as a Medi-Cal benefit. In 1978, Larry went on to obtain a three-year grant from the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation to establish the first geriatric medicine fellowship in the west, at Mount Zion Hospital and Medical Center in San Francisco. That fellowship was expanded in 1979 with an Administration on Aging grant. Eventually he obtained grants to fund and establish fellowships in Geriatric Pharmacy and Nursing at Mount Zion Hospital and the University of California, San Francisco. His vision and leadership led to the establishment and integration of multiple geriatric services. Take a moment and download a copy of this 1981 paper in the Western Journal of Medicine – although not all of those programs have survived, it is simply remarkable to see what he was able to achieve in the areas of innovative services, teaching and research. Larry was able to take his vision of the tripod of geriatrics – service, teaching and research – to the next step when he was instrumental in establishing the Institute on Aging in San Francisco, where he was the Executive Director until his retirement. He continued to publish, and to encourage young people to establish careers in geriatrics and gerontology. In 1979, UCSF appointed Larry as Associate Dean for Inter-Institutional Programs. He was responsible for the integration of geriatric content into many of the teaching programs at UCSF. In 1978, Larry had established one of the earliest clerkships for third -and fourth-year medical students in Geriatric Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. As a medical student I met Larry through that clerkship, and I can truly say that he served as an inspiration and mentor in my choosing and maintaining a career in geriatric medicine. While he was my fellowship director I had the honor of co-writing some papers with him, and he remained an advisor and role model throughout my career. Of course, I am grateful to Larry, but I am writing this so we all see that we should all be grateful that dedicated and visionary pioneers such as Larry Feigenbaum helped show us the path that we continue on – the path to a spectrum of services that allow seniors dignity, choice and participation in person-oriented care. |