Medical School Dean to Retire

Daniel C. Tosteson '44, dean of the Medical School and the University's most senior high-ranking official, announced Friday that he will retire at the end of the next academic year.

Tosteson has served as dean since 1977. During that time, he has revolutionized the teaching of medicine at the school, quintupled the Medical School's endowment and almost completely rebuilt the school's campus.

Tosteson's colleagues said he has always been a dedicated, focused and caring administrator who will be sorely missed.

Karla J. Pollick, chief of staff in the Dean's Office at the Medical School, said she will miss Tosteson, but is thankful that he has another year left.

"I find him an interesting and compassionate person to work for," Pollick said. "I feel honored to work for Dean Tosteson and fortunate for the opportunity to see first-hand his vision for and leadership of medical education and bio-medical research."

The major legacy Tosteson leaves the Medical School is an emphasis on teaching as being the most important consideration for the school. This priority is a common theme in the organizational structures he implemented during his tenure, Pollick said.

"To form faculty organizations that focus on teaching and making it the most important thing is what we need to do," Pollick said.

Himself a graduate of the Medical School in 1949, Tosteson has worked in medical education since 1958. During that time he has served in various posts from professor to dean at Washington University, Duke University and the University of Chicago, according to a press release.

During his long career, Tosteson has adapted to and helped cause massive advances in medical science, said Harvey V. Fineberg '67, dean of the School of Public Health.

"He has made a profound impact on medical education at Harvard and in the country," Fineberg said. "He has always been very persistent and consistent in improving programs at the Medical School intellectually and in terms of research and the physical environment."

Tosteson's most famous innovation is the "New Pathway." This new method of teaching medicine de-emphasizes memorization of facts and focuses instead on teaching students problem-solving skills, Fineberg said.

In addition to maintaining the importance of education, Tosteson has vastly strengthened the school's Molecular Research Department and increased cooperation in that area with other institutions like MIT, Fineberg said.

"Throughout the past 20 years, we have been part of the accelerating changes in all aspects of medicine and the other health professions," Tosteson said in a letter to the Medical School faculty and staff. "These changes are by no means over but continuing to accelerate. We have much to learn about how to bring the power and subtlety of the new cellular and molecular medicine to the cost-effective personal benefit of those whom we serve."

"The New Pathway"

According to Fineberg, medicine has been taught essentially the same way since the early part of this century when the emphasis in instruction shifted to learning the corpus of scientific knowledge.

As the amount of knowledge in the sciences has dramatically increased in the last decades, that approach to medicine has proven impractical, Fineberg said. A number of new methods of teaching had been proposed, but none gained wide acceptance.

In 1985, Tosteson introduced The New Pathway to a limited number of HMS first- and second-year students, hoping to lead medical education away from rote memorization and toward analytical problem-solving, the press release said.

In this way, he hoped medical education would become a continuing process for doctors in that they would better be able to research and analyze new problems as they occur, Fineberg said.

Tosteson's concern with education and with students is no surprise. According to R. Bruce Donoff, dean of the Harvard Dental School, Tosteson has always kept the students firmly in mind.

"He has a real love of students," Donoff said. "He has a wonderful sense of where they belong in terms of the organization."

What is remarkable about the success of this new approach is that it came from such a well-established school, Fineberg said.

"If you kook at medical education at places that have succeeded in making changes, it almost always happens at new schools or at places that are in trouble," Fineberg said. "What is incredible about the changes Dean Tosteson made is that they happened at a school already in the vanguard of education.

Rudenstine said in a statement from the Medical School News Office that a nation-wide search for Tosteson's replacement will begin immediately.

According to Carnesale, he, Rudenstine and Tosteson will work together with other members of the HMS community to search for candidates. The three have already discussed possible successors but have not made overtures to any of them.

While Carnesale said there is no deadline for a new dean, he said he hopes the decision could be made relatively early in the academic year to facilitate a smooth transition.

During the next year, Tosteson will work on a number of continuing projects such as bringing together researchers from affiliated hospitals to one location, creating a year-long set of clerkships for medical students emphasizing ambulatory care, increasing the faculty's involvement in curriculum changes and continuing the school's participation in the University's capital campaign

In 1985, Tosteson introduced The New Pathway to a limited number of HMS first- and second-year students, hoping to lead medical education away from rote memorization and toward analytical problem-solving, the press release said.

In this way, he hoped medical education would become a continuing process for doctors in that they would better be able to research and analyze new problems as they occur, Fineberg said.

Tosteson's concern with education and with students is no surprise. According to R. Bruce Donoff, dean of the Harvard Dental School, Tosteson has always kept the students firmly in mind.

"He has a real love of students," Donoff said. "He has a wonderful sense of where they belong in terms of the organization."

What is remarkable about the success of this new approach is that it came from such a well-established school, Fineberg said.

"If you kook at medical education at places that have succeeded in making changes, it almost always happens at new schools or at places that are in trouble," Fineberg said. "What is incredible about the changes Dean Tosteson made is that they happened at a school already in the vanguard of education.

Rudenstine said in a statement from the Medical School News Office that a nation-wide search for Tosteson's replacement will begin immediately.

According to Carnesale, he, Rudenstine and Tosteson will work together with other members of the HMS community to search for candidates. The three have already discussed possible successors but have not made overtures to any of them.

While Carnesale said there is no deadline for a new dean, he said he hopes the decision could be made relatively early in the academic year to facilitate a smooth transition.

During the next year, Tosteson will work on a number of continuing projects such as bringing together researchers from affiliated hospitals to one location, creating a year-long set of clerkships for medical students emphasizing ambulatory care, increasing the faculty's involvement in curriculum changes and continuing the school's participation in the University's capital campaign