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Leo Loeb was born in Mayen, Germany on September 21, 1869 and studied at the Universities of Heidelberg, Berlin, Basle, and Freiburg. He received his medical degree from the University of Zurich in 1897. Upon graduation he moved to Chicago, Illinois at the age of 27 and briefly established a private practice. After only 10 months of working as a private practitioner, he decided to devote more of his time to research, so he joined the Department of Pathology at the University of Illinois. In 1904, Dr. Loeb accepted a position at the University of Pennsylvania as Professor of Experimental Pathology.

Dr. Loeb moved to Saint Louis in 1910 to become the Director of the Department of Pathology at the Barnard Skin and Cancer Hospital. His long association with the Washington University School of Medicine began in 1915, when he became Professor of Comparative Pathology. Following the resignation of Eugene Opie, he became Professor of Pathology and head of the department in 1924.

Dr. Loeb was a charter member of the American Association for Cancer Research and served as president of that association in 1911. Among the many honors he received throughout his career was his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1937. Dr. Loeb retired as emeritus Professor of Pathology that year, but even at the age of 72, he and continued his experimental investigations and focused a majority of his time writing. His book titled The Biological Basis of Individuality was published in 1945, and at the time of his death in 1959, Loeb was working on two additional books. One is on mental processes and titled Psychical Goods or The Imponderables. The other unfinished book is concerned with the causes and nature of cancer.

His autobiography in Ingles' A dozen doctors (1963) gives fascinating details of his life in Germany, Switzerland, and the United States.

Wendell Scott (1905-1972) contributed much to the fields of radiology and cancer research. Born on July 19, 1905, in Boulder, Colorado, Scott earned his BA from the University of Colorado in 1928. In 1932, he attained his MD from Washington University School of Medicine. Scott completed his internship at Barnes Hospital between 1933 and 1934 and then became an instructor at Washington University School of Medicine, advancing to a full professor of clinical radiology in 1956. Throughout his career, Scott was associated with Washington University's Department of Radiology (known as the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology). At the Mallinckrodt Institute, he helped develop radiographic kymography and rapid film changers for diagnostic radiographic use. He constructed a kymograph to determine its practical, clinical value in examining the heart, chest, and abdomen.

Scott also served in the U.S. Naval Reserve, eventually rising to the rank of rear admiral. He joined the Naval Reserve in 1936 and served on active duty between 1941 and 1946. He continued to serve the Naval Reserve as a Consultant in Radiology to the Surgeon General of the Navy and was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in 1959. In 1970, President Nixon commissioned Scott for the National Cancer Advisory Board, whose recommendations spurred the enactment of the National Cancer Act of 1971. Scott was a member of a number of radiological and cancer organizations. He served as president of the American Cancer Society from 1963 to 1964 and also headed the American Roentgen Ray Society from 1958 to 1957.

The author of over 150 scientific articles, Scott also served as editor-in-chief of Your Radiologist and editor of Planning Guide for Radiological Installations, Cancer, and Genetics, Radiobiology, and Radiology. Scott received numerous awards and accolades for his contributions to the medical field, including the Gold Medal of the St. Louis Medical Society, the President’s Medal of the American Roetgen Ray Society, the Gold Medal of the American College of Radiology, the National Award of the American Cancer Society, and distinguished alumni awards from the University of Colorado and Washington University. Scott succumbed to the very disease he devoted his life to studying, dying of kidney cancer on May 4, 1972, in St. Louis.

Carl V. Moore was an internationally respected physician and blood expert. A St. Louis native, Moore was born on August 21, 1908, and earned his BA and MD from Washington University in 1928 and 1932 respectively. After graduation, Moore attained a National Research Council Fellowship in Medicine at Ohio State University. He served as assistant professor of medicine at that institution from 1935 until 1938, before returning to Washington University. Moore remained at the university for the rest of his career, becoming a full professor in 1946. Moore's research involved pioneering studies in iron metabolism and iron nutrition in collaboration with Washington University professors Virginia Minnich and Reubenia Dubach.

In addition to his research and teaching responsibilities, Moore also contributed to the administration of the Washington University School of Medicine. He served as dean of the School of Medicine from 1953 until 1955 and as head of the Department of Medicine from 1955 until his death. In 1964, Moore became the first Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs and first President of the School of Medicine, positions he held for a year. During this year, Moore successfully negotiated with Barnes Hospital and the School of Medicine to renew the affiliation between these two venerable institutions at a difficult time.

Moore's influence extended beyond St. Louis and Washington University. At various times, he headed the American Association of Physicians, American Society of Clinical Investigation, Central Society for Clinical Research, International Institute of Nutrition, and American Institute of Nutrition. He also worked on the editorial boards of the Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, Blood, American Journal of Medicine, and Progress in Hematology. Moore's contributions to the medical field resulted in a number of awards and accolades, including the Abraham Flexner Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Stratton Medal from the International Society of Hematology, and election to the National Academy of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Moore died of a heart attack on August 13, 1972, while vacationing with his family in Michigan.

Valentina Davidovna Suntzeff was born on February 28, 1891 in Kazan, Russia. She began studying medicine in 1911 at the Women's Medical Institute in Petrograd (St. Petersburg). After her second year of medical school, she married Alexander Suntzeff, a mechanical engineering student. Despite taking a year off from school following the birth of her daughter Ludmilla, Suntziff was able to graduate in 1917.

Upon graduation, the Suntzeffs moved to Perm, Russia where she found her first job working in a hospital at an ammunition plant. During World War I, Suntzeff worked as a physician in the Russian Army and she served as the Physician-in-Chief of an isolation hospital for infectious diseases. Suntzeff continued living in Perm until the violent Bolshevik Revolution forced her family to evacuate the city. In August 1920, the Suntzeffs emigrated to Manchuria where she worked as a physician at the Central Hospital in Harbin, China. The Suntzeffs spent three years waiting for the situation in their home country to improve. With little hope of ever being able to return to a normal life in Russia, the Suntzeffs made the decision to move to the United States in 1923. As Suntzeff explains in her autobiography, "If you asked me why we decided to go to the United States, the answer is the pursuit of individual freedom which did not exist in Russia either before or after the Revolution."

In 1923, Suntzeff and her family sailed to Seattle having only $12.00 in their possession. Eventually settling in San Francisco, neither Suntzeff nor her husband could find work in their chosen fields. Instead of continuing her medical career, Suntzeff was forced to work at a sewing factory to make ends meet. After spending four years in San Francisco, Suntzeff's husband was finally able to find a job as a mechanical engineer at a match factory in St. Louis. Suntzeff however continued to struggle with finding work as a physician. In her autobiography, she attributes this problem to her "broken English and being a woman."

Finally in 1930, after being out of the medical field for nearly eight years, Suntzeff accepted a job as a volunteer researcher in the Pathology Department of the Washington University School of Medicine. After only three months working as a volunteer, she joined the staff as a Research Assistant in Pathology. In 1941, Suntzeff transferred to the Department of Anatomy when she became a Research Associate in Cancer Research, and in 1958, a Research Associate Professor. Suntzeff and her colleagues researched cancer of the skin. Her collaboration with biochemist Christopher Carruthers led to their discovery of a fundamental difference between the chemical composition of cancerous and normal tissues.

Suntzeff retired as Research Associate Professor Emeritus and Lecturer in Anatomy in 1960, but she continued to carry on cancer research for another 15 years. During her career, she authored or co-authored over 90 scientific publications.

James L. O'Leary was born on December 8, 1904 in Tomahawk, Wisconsin. At the age of two, his family moved to San Antonio, Texas. He began his undergraduate career at the University of Texas in San Antonio in 1920. After two years, he transferred to the University of Chicago, where he was awarded his B.S. in Biology in 1925. Following his matriculation, he began work on his Ph.D. in Anatomy. During his Ph.D. studies, he worked as an Instructor in Anatomy at the university. After receiving his doctorate in 1928, he accepted the position of Assistant Professor of Anatomy at the Washington University School of Medicine. In addition to his role at Washington University, O'Leary he continued his studies in Chicago, pursuing a medical degree during the summer months. He received his M.D. from the University of Chicago in 1931.

After graduation, O'Leary moved to St. Louis and began to work full time at the university. In 1933, he was promoted to Associate Professor of Anatomy and, in 1941, was jointly appointed to as an Assistant Professor of Neurology in the developing Neurology Division. He held both of these positions until 1946. In 1941, O'Leary joined the United States Medical Corps. He was assigned to the Army School of Military Neuropsychiatry at Mason General Hospital in New York, where he taught neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and electroencephalography. He was honorably discharged in 1946, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Upon his return, O'Leary was appointed as an Associate Professor and head of the Neurology Division. Under his leadership, the division was granted full department status in 1963. During his time with the department, he extensively studied nerve physiology, pain mechanisms, and the clinical and electroencephalographic aspects of epilepsy. He continued to serve as head of the department until his retirement from teaching and administration in 1971. He continued his work with the university in the role of Emeritus Professor of Neurology and Neurological Surgery.

Throughout his career, Dr. O'Leary was involved with a number of professional organizations. He served as president of the American Neurological Society, American Electroencephalographic Society, and the American Epilepsy Society. In 1971, he received the American Neurological Association's Jacoby Award, the highest honor awarded by the association. James L. O'Leary died on May 25, 1975 at the age of 70 years.

A native of Cherson (Kherson), Ukraine, Jacques Jacob Bronfenbrenner studied at the Imperial University of Odessa (1902-1906). While a student, he was a member of the Social Revolutionary Party and may have been a follower of Leon Trotsky. Marked for arrest by the tsarist regime, Bronfenbrenner fled the Russian Empire and found a haven as a student at the Institut Pasteur in Paris (1907-1909). While in Paris, he worked in the laboratories of Elie Metchnikoff (Ilya Ilich Mechnikov, 1845-1916), who won the Nobel Prize in 1908 for discovery of phagocytosis and with other Russian emigre scientists, notably Alexandre Besredka. Much of Bronfenbrenner's early laboratory research was based on Besredka's fundamental discoveries in antiviral therapies.

Bronfenbrenner's mentors at the Institut Pasteur made possible his collaboration with Hideyo Noguchi (1876-1928), a Japanese microbiologist working at the Rockefeller Institute in New York. Simon Flexner, director of laboratories at Rockefeller, sponsored Bronfenbrenner's moving to New York in 1909 and hired him as a research fellow. There he investigated techniques for serum diagnosis of infectious diseases. To further his formal academic training, Bronfenbrenner also enrolled at Columbia University. He received his Ph.D. in 1912 from Columbia under William J. Gies, but his primary teachers remained Besredka and Noguchi.

Bronfenbrenner became a U.S. citizen in 1913. That same year he married Martha Ornstein, a historian of science. The couple moved to Pittsburgh, where Bronfenbrenner became head of the research and diagnostic laboratories of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital. His research at this time focused on the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis using biological methods rather than on other chemical or surgical remedies. A son, Martin, was born in 1915. Martha Ornstein died in an automobile accident that same year, which may have prompted Bronfenbrenner to return to the east coast of the United States.

In 1917 Bronfenbrenner became an assistant professor of preventive medicine and hygiene at Harvard, a position which allowed him to work toward an advanced degree in public health. In research he concentrated on means of diagnosing bacterial infections (he was particularly interested in botulism) and elucidating other causes of food poisoning. He received a Doctor of Public Health degree from Harvard in 1919. About this same time he married a second time, to Alice Bronfenbrenner, a chemist. In 1923, Bronfenbrenner returned to Rockefeller, this time to assume the position of "associate member," which granted him his own laboratory. He began what became his major career focus, namely, research on bacteriophages. Work with these so-called "bacteria eaters" (a term chosen by the principal discoverer, the Canadian Felix d'Herelle) inspired popular conjecture in terms of potential therapies for infectious diseases-they may have been a source of the fictional discovery celebrated in Sinclair Lewis's Arrowsmith (1925). Bronfenbrenner directed his investigations toward explaining the physical properties of bacteriophages and how to control and interpret lysis.

In 1928 Bronfenbrenner accepted the chair of the Department of Bacteriology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine (as one of two Rockefeller associates to join the Medical School that year-the other being E. V. Cowdry). In St. Louis he continued his research on purification and quantification of bacteriophages. His laboratories were in what is now known as the West Building and he recruited several brilliant junior faculty members. In time the most famous was Alfred Hershey, who in 1969 would receive the Nobel Prize for identifying the DNA of bacteriophages.

Bronfenbrenner may have been drawn to St. Louis in hopes of establishing a full-fledged school of public health, but was clear when the Great Depression assaulted the resources of Washington University and all comparable institutions that this dream could not be realized. It was difficult enough to maintain the functions of the 1914-designed laboratories inherited from the Pathology Department. Bronfenbrenner did however play a major role in the response to a particular public health threat that is now linked by name to his adopted city: St. Louis encephalitis.

Frank R. Bradley was born in LaClede, Illinois. He received his medical degree from Washington University in 1928 and served as head of Barnes Hospital for 22 years, from 1939 to 1962. He is widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of hospital administration. During his tenure as director of Barnes, the institution grew from 400 beds to 959 beds. The David P. Wohl Jr. Memorial Clinics building, Wohl Hospital building, and the Barnard Free Skin and Cancer Hospital building were all erected during this time and came under his administration. McMillan Hospital and St. Louis Maternity Hospital also became a part of the Barnes complex during Dr. Bradley's years as director.

Dr. Bradley brought about many "firsts" at Barnes Hospital:

1. Barnes was one of the first general hospitals to accept patients with communicable diseases. During a poliomyelitis epidemic in 1943, Dr. Bradley observed that with proper infection control, persons suffering with the disease could be cared for in a general hospital. This principal later was accepted by other St. Louis hospitals and allowed the city to close an institution which previously served only this type of patient.

2. Barnes was one of the first general hospitals to accept psychiatric patients.

3. Dr. Bradley guided Barnes when it became one of the first university-affiliated hospitals to organize and operate diagnostic laboratories along centralized lines of control.

4. In conjunction with key physicians at the Washington University School of Medicine, Dr. Bradley established one of the first hospital blood banks gathering and typing blood routinely, rather than on a "crisis" basis.

5. Dr. Bradley recognized the potential for the use of computers in data processing and Barnes was one of the first hospitals in the country to use computers in its business operations.

After retiring from his position at Barnes Hospital in 1962, Dr. Bradley continued to develop Washington University's graduate program in Hospital Administration. He served as Professor of Hospital Administration at Washington University School of Medicine from 1946 to 1968. A former president of the American College of Hospital Administrators (1946-1947), Dr. Bradley was president of the American Hospital Association from 1954-1955. He served as vice chairman of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals in 1960, and that same year was president of the American Protestant Hospital Association and the National Society of Medical Administrators.

A former president of the St. Louis Hospital Council, Dr. Bradley was active in the St. Louis Medical Society and the St. Louis Chapter of the American Red Cross. He was chairman of the Blue Cross Hospital Advisory Committee from 1957 to 1960. National activities included his appointment as the first chairman of the Citizen's Consultant committee of the National Joint Commission for Improvement of Patient Care, a consultant for the Atomic Energy Commission at Los Alamos, a member of the Hoover Committee Task Force in 1948-1949 (Medical Services Committee of Commission on Organization of Executive Branch of the Government), and Consultant to both the offices of Surgeon General of the Army and Surgeon General of the Navy.

Dr. Bradley was chairman of both the Missouri Conference for Improvement of Patient Care and the Missouri State Health and Hospital Survey Committee. He was chairman of a subcommittee of the Health and Hospital Advisory Committee to the Mayor and Director of Public Welfare of St. Louis in 1950. Other community activities included the Community Health League of St. Louis, the Community Chest of Greater St. Louis, the Tuberculosis and Health Society of St. Louis, the Commission on Religion and Health of the Metropolitan Church Federation, the Rotary Club of St. Louis, and the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce.

The author of many papers and publications, Dr. Bradley also was a historian with a particular interest in the history of Barnes Hospital. His unfinished manuscript titled "History of Barnes Hospital" is included in his collection of papers.

Richard V. Bradley, son of Rachel Ida Mayo Bradley and Frank R. Bradley, earned his M.D. in the Washington University School of Medicine class of 1952. Dick Bradley interned at Barnes Hospital and completed his residency in general surgery at Barnes Hospital. Later he was fellow in surgery and chief resident at Veterans Hospital in St. Louis (1958) .

He then practiced in St. Louis as a general surgeon until he retired in 1990. He served on the staffs of Barnes (1957-) and Children's Hospital. He joined the academic staff of the School of Medicine in 1968 as an instructor in surgery and became assistant professor of clinical surgery in 1974, He participated in Missouri state medical associations serving as president of Barnes Hospital Society, the Missouri State Medical Association (1974-1975) and the St. Louis Medical Society (1974). He was elected in 1982-1983 a member of the Executive Faculty of Washington University School of Medicine. He was elected by the school's part-time faculty to serve on the council, the schools governing body at that time. Dr. Richard Bradley helped found MOMEDCO or Missouri Medical Insurance Co., a physician owned professional liability insurance company. Dr. Bradley, as its president, weighed in on the rising cost of medical insurance for gynecologists, obstetricians and other surgical specialties in the St. Louis print media n 1987-1988.

Vilray Papin Blair is most known for his pioneering work in plastic surgery. A native of St. Louis, Blair graduated from Christian Brothers College in 1890 and subsequently enrolled in the St. Louis Medical College. There he was greatly influenced by Elisha Hall Gregory, a professor of surgery. He graduated in 1893 and began an internship at Mullanphy Hospital under distinguished surgeon Paul Yoer Tupper.

In 1894 Blair was appointed instructor with the Anatomy Department of St. Louis Medical College (which had joined Washington University in 1891). In 1896 he took a leave from medicine to join the crew of a merchant vessel bound for Europe, a decision that led to him becoming a ship surgeon for a journey to Brazil and then a military surgeon for British troops sailing to West Africa.

Upon his return to St. Louis in 1900, Blair established a private surgical practice and resumed teaching at the School of Medicine. He was named to the visiting staff of St. Louis City Hospital in 1910. In 1917 Blair joined the U.S. Army Corps entering World War I and was named chief of oral and plastic surgery. On his return to St. Louis he was active in the Medical Reserve Corps and served as attending specialist in plastic surgery at the Jefferson Barracks Veterans Hospital.

Blair served as assistant professor of clinical surgery at the School of Medicine in 1922 and was named professor in 1927. He also served as professor of oral surgery at the Washington University School of Dentistry. He became an emeritus professor of both schools in 1941. Throughout his career, Blair published many influential books and articles in the areas of plastic and oral surgery. Another foremost achievement was his leadership in creating the American Board of Plastic Surgery, which helped seal his place as a pioneer in establishing plastic surgery as a unique branch of medicine.

Vilray P. Blair, Jr., the son of Vilray Papin Blair, earned his Bachelor's degree at the University of Virginia. M.D. as part of the Washington University School of Medicine class of 1939. He interned in surgery at Barnes Hospital in the academic year of 1939-1940. He stayed on as assistant in Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, in the academic years, 1940-1942. After serving in the U.S, Army in World War II, he practiced in St. Louis from 1948-1978. He was on staff at St, Luke's Missouri Baptist and Barnes hospitals, joining the Barnes Hospital medical staff in 1951. Upon retiring from practice in 1978 he became associate clinical emeritus professor of othopedic surgery at the Washington University, School of Medicine. Vilray P. Blair III is his son and Barbara B. Drey and Kathryn C. Blair and Mary G. Blair are his daughters. Vilray P. Blair III, his son, is also an orthopedic surgeon.

Laurens P. White, the son of Marie Bain and Park J. White, M.D., was born in 1925 He earned his M.D. at Washington University in the Class of 1949.. His early career was with the US Public Health Service and the National Instiute of Health.

Thomas H. Burford received his M.D. degree from Yale University in 1936. After serving his internship at Barnes Hospital under Evarts A. Graham, Burford entered the U.S. Army Medical Corps. During World War II, he headed the 2nd Auxiliary Surgical Group in North Africa. After the war, he joined Washington University's Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, and succeeded Graham as division head in 1951. He was well known as an innovator in open-heart surgery. In the 1960s, Burford was widely quoted for his public statements on behalf of tobacco firms disputing findings that indicated connections between smoking and lung cancer.

Dr. John Green (1835-1913) was a prominent ophthalmologist in St. Louis. Born in Worcester, MA, Green attended Harvard College and completed his Medical Degree in 1858. Upon completing his medical studies, however, he refused to accept his M.D. degree from Harvard because he did not believe the requirements for graduation were up to his standards. He was privately examined by the Massachusetts Medical Society and was admitted and given privilege to practice medicine. By 1862, Green decided to accept his degree from Harvard after learning that there had been a reform movement at the Medical School.

In 1857, Dr. Green participated in a scientific expedition to Suriname as a curator of comparative anatomy for the Boston Society of Natural History, an experience which contributed to his participation in societies like the St. Louis Academy of Science and the Archaeological Society, for which he was a founding member. He also was appointed as a Trustee for the Missouri Botanical Gardens later in life. During the Civil War, Green served as acting assistant surgeon in the Army of the Tennessee for the Union. He studied twice in Europe, between 1859-1860 and again in 1865. During his 1865 trip to London, Paris, and Utrecht he specialized his studies in ophthalmology, and upon his return to the United States he established a practice in St. Louis. Green became a Lecturer in Ophthalmology at the St. Louis Medical College in 1871 and a full professor in 1886. In 1888, Dr. Green purchased the first dozen microscopes used at the institution with his own funds. When the St. Louis Medical College affiliated with Washington University School of Medicine in 1899, Green's title became Special Professor of Ophthalmology. He earned Emeritus status in 1911.

John Green, Jr., the son of Harriet L. (Jones) Green and Dr. John Green, Sr., 1835-1913, was born in Templeton, Mass in August 2, 1873. He earned his A. B. from Harvard College in 1894 and his M.D. from the Medical Department of Washington University in 1898, receiving the Gill Prize in Pediatrics. He interned from June to December 1898 at St. Louis City Hospital and was active in its alumni association. In November 1899, he began practice of ophthalmology in the City of St, Louis, Mo. He died in 1949 at DePaul Hospital in St. Louis.

Justin J. Cordonnier (M.D., WUSM, 1928) was associated with the surgical staff of Barnes Hospital for over fifty years. He was professor and head of the Division of Urology, WUSM Department of Surgery, from 1953 until his retirement in 1970. In 1978, he received the Raymond Guiteras Award from the American Urological Association, the nation's highest award in the field.

George Homan (1846-1928) graduated from Missouri Medical College in 1873. From 1886 to 1893, he was Professor of Hygiene and Forensic Medicine at St. Louis Medical College. Afterwards he became the Chief Sanitary Officer for St. Louis Health Department from 1893 to 1915. During his tenure, his position was upgraded to that of City Health Commissioner. He was a member of the St. Louis Medical Society, and its President in 1906.

George H. Bishop received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1919 and joined the faculty of Washington University School of Medicine in 1921. He held a variety of appointments, among them research associate and associate professor in the Department of Physiology (1921-1930), professor of applied physiology in the Department of Ophthalmology (1930-1932), professor of biophysics in the Neurophysiology Laboratory (1932-1947) and professor of neurophysiology in the Department of Neuropsychiatry (1947-1954). Dr. Bishop is remembered for his collaboration with Joseph Erlanger and Herbert S. Gasser in research on the properties of nerve fibers, for which the latter two received the 1944 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Dr. Bishop is also well-known for his work in the development of electroencephalography as a diagnostic tool in the understanding of epilepsy.

Ethel or Ethyl Ronzoni was born in California to Silvio Ronzoni and Mary Espy in 1890. She was a chemist at the time of her marriage to George H. Bishop in 1922. She earned her BS from Mills College in 1913, her masters from Columbia University in 1914, and her Ph.D. in Physiology from Wisconsin in 1923. She was one of the first women to join the faculty of Washington University Medical School as Assistant Professor in 1923. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 1943. Her research was in muscle chemistry and steroid hormone. She retired in 1959.

Robert E. Shank (1914-2000) was a graduate of Washington University School of Medicine, Class of 1939, and a resident at Barnes Hospital (1939-1940) and at St. Louis Isolation Hospital (1941). In late 1941 he became an assistant in research and resident physician at the hospital of the Rockefeller Institute in New York. While retaining these positions, Shank entered the U.S. Navy in 1942 and was assigned to the hospital's Naval Research Unit. Returning to civilian life in 1946, he became an associate of the New York Public Health Research Institute. In 1948 Shank was called to his alma mater in 1948 to become Danforth Professor of Medicine and head of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health.

As head of Preventive Medicine, Shank brought a new research emphasis to his department, that being nutrition studies. He contributed to many projects in this specialty of national and international importance. He was particularly associated with the formation of standards for minimum dietary allowances by the National Research Council Food and Nutrition Board. He served as a consultant to the U.S. Public Health Service, the Interdepartmental Committee on Nutrition for National Defense, the Pan American Health Organization, and several food industry associations. Under his leadership, the scope of the department broadened to include work in rehabilitation, health maintenance organizations, biostatistics, applied physiology, and lipid research.

Shank became professor emeritus in 1981. He proved to be the last regular head of the department: after five years under interim leadership, Preventive Medicine and Public Health was discontinued in January 1987 and its faculty and programs assigned to other departments, notably Internal Medicine.