A “phantom” in the Class of ’72

I was pleased to read in Yale Medicine that Donald Berwick, M.D., was the Commencement speaker last year. The article reminded me that Don was considered a phantom member of our Class of 1972. Apparently he enrolled at Yale but belatedly decided to attend Harvard Medical School. For whatever reason, this news apparently did not prevent him from having a place at a cadaver or from having a designated place and materials in every laboratory and small-group session. To my recollection, this practice continued well into our second year. The joke was that with the Yale system as it was, he could earn an M.D. from both Yale and Harvard. It is fitting that Don finally did make it down to the Yale medical campus.

Philip L. Cohen, M.D. ’72
Philadelphia, Pa.