History of Gamma AOA Chapter

 

History of the Texas Gamma AOA Chapter at UTSW

                 Although the charter of the Texas Gamma Chapter of AOA was presented to UT Southwestern Medical School in 1950, the actual history of the school's honorary scholastic society starts some twenty years prior to that. Harry M. Spence, MD, former Chair of Urology at UT Southwestern and AOA member himself, addressed the UTSW AOA chapter at its 1988 annual banquet, giving an account of this history entitled "Recollections of the Early Days of Medical Honor Societies at Baylor Medical College and Southwestern Medical School." On this occasion, he presented a collection of induction banquet programs and memorabilia to the UTSW AOA chapter. Below are his words, which were later published in the April 1993 issue of the Dallas Medical Journal:
                

                 "In 1902, at the College of Medicine of the University of Illinois, Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) the organization destined to become the national medical honor fraternity, was born. Shortly thereafter, a chapter was formed at Harvard Medical School. I was initiated into that organization in 1929. Then, as now, election of the best and the brightest was based primarily on scholarship. In 1936, upon joining the clinical faculty at the Baylor Medical College then located in Dallas, I learned that Baylor had no AOA chapter, although a local honorary scholastic medical fraternity had been established in 1929, with Cecil O. Patterson and Edwin L. Rippy, then both junior students, the leaders of the venture.

                 Dr. Patterson later gave me the following background of the society which preceded our current AOA chapter on the Dallas medical scene:

                 In the late 1920s, unaware of the existence of the AOA national organization, the nine top-ranking members of the class approached George T. Caldwell, MD, professor of pathology, with the idea of establishing a society of medical undergraduates chosen for scholastic achievement. The students were surprised to learn from Caldwell, an alumnus of the AOA chapter at the University of Chicago, that such an organization, national in scope, already existed. Nevertheless, Patterson and the group of nine decided to form a local scholastic honor medical society to be called Alpha Pi Alpha (APA), with Professor Caldwell as the faculty sponsor, a position he occupied for many years. The intention of the charter members was to petition the national AOA to absorb them after a brief interval. Yet, 20 years were to elapse before the dream of the founders materialized, with the presentation of a charter of the Texas Gamma Chapter of AOA to the Southwestern Medical School of the University of Texas in 1950.

                 Problems encountered in the interval included an unfavorable early review for AOA acceptance by a representative of the Rockefeller Foundation, who found that even the existence of Baylor Medical College was in doubt, as it was supported largely by tuition fees from students. Next came the move of Baylor to Houston in 1943, the creation de novo of the free-standing Southwestern College of Medicine, and its eventual incorporation into the University of Texas system in 1949.

                 That APA survived this turmoil attests to the virtue of recognizing high scholarship and to the quality of its members, undergraduate and alumni alike. Indeed, AOA alumni from other schools were always considered de facto members of APA as they entered the Dallas medical milieu.

                 Among those who served as faculty sponsors, I held the post for several years in the late 1940s. I look back with more than a modicum of pride upon the accomplishments of those times. For example, the full-time concept in clinical sciences was flowering with Tinsley Harrison, Carl Moyer, Arthur Grollman, and others of comparable stature at hand. I initiated informal evening meetings between such individuals and student members of APA, where any subject might be discussed. These early "rap sessions" produced both knowledge and wholesome camaraderie. An APA lectureship open to all physicians was established. Alfred Blalock, Michael DeBakey, and others of similar caliber were speakers. I had a hand in seeing that the annual banquet honoring initiates, while retaining its dignity, became less stodgy than the former black-tie, sans-alcohol affairs.

                 Although APA had functioned well, by 1949, the growth of Southwestern Medical School in prestige and stature evidenced that the time was ripe for the local society to be supplanted by an AOA chapter.

                 The long-awaited installation banquet was held November 10, 1950. At this gala occasion, Theophilus S. Painter, chancellor of the University of Texas, presided. W.L. Bierring, national president of AOA, conferred the charter; and Carl Moyer, dean of Southwestern, accepted it. Dean Emeritus William Lee Hart responded on behalf of the medical school. Edward H. Cary, leader in all things medical in Dallas and president of the Southwestern Foundation, responded on its behalf. Chauncey D. Leake, from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, gave a scholarly and stirring address.

                 The AOA chapter at Southwestern was then accomplished in fact. Its subsequent history is known to many. It was my privilege to preside at the 1959 annual banquet. Although records - particularly of the earlier meetings - are sparse, an assortment of programs, often autographed, from the banquets honoring the initiates may help to identify the individuals involved. They have been presented to the UT Southwestern chapter of AOA for its archives."

 

 

Please send questions, comments, or corrections to: utswaoa@gmail.com

Spence, HM. Recollections of the Early Days of Medical Honor Societies at Baylor Medical College and Southwestern Medical School. Dallas Medical Journal. 1993; 79(4):173.