Six professors join ranks of emeritus faculty

Six senior faculty members at the School of Medicine attained emeritus status this year: Jerome M. Eisenstadt, Ph.D., professor of genetics; Howard Levitin, M.D., professor of medicine; Bernard Lytton, M.B.B.S., the Donald Guthrie Professor of Surgery (urology); John C. Marsh, M.D. ’59, professor of medicine and lecturer in pharmacology; Howard A. Pearson, M.D., professor of pediatrics; and Howard M. Spiro, M.D., professor of medicine.

Jerome M. Eisenstadt spent his entire teaching career at Yale, beginning in 1962 as assistant professor of microbiology and advancing to professor of human genetics in 1977. Throughout this time, Eisenstadt was gaining an international reputation through his research studies of the factors involved in mechanisms of protein synthesis, the interaction of cell organelles and the nucleus, and cytoplasmic inheritance in animal cells.

Howard Levitin is well known for his work in kidney disease and fluid balance and also has been recognized for his administrative and organizational skills. He was appointed assistant professor in 1960 and full professor in 1972. In 1966, he became the first associate dean in charge of curriculum at the medical school, a position he held until 1980. He also served as the school’s dean of students, clinic chief of the Department of Medicine Practice Plan, and medical director of the Faculty Practice Plan. He has been medical director of the Yale Corporate Medical Program since 1989.

Bernard Lytton was appointed assistant professor of urology in 1962. He instituted the program of kidney transplantation at Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) in 1967 and brought the idea of Hospice to Connecticut from England. His research includes compensatory renal growth and urologic cancer. Lytton was chief of the section of urology at the School of Medicine, YNHH and the West Haven VA Medical Center from 1967 to 1987. Appointed as a full professor in 1971, he was named the Guthrie Professor in 1988.

Alumnus John C. Marsh returned to Yale in 1967 as assistant professor of medicine and pharmacology and was appointed as a full professor in 1977. He was director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Unit at Yale Cancer Center from 1986 to 1998. The American Cancer Society awarded Marsh its Bronze Medal in 1987. In 1998 a symposium was held in his honor and a scholarship for entering medical students was established in his name.

Howard A. Pearson is an expert on pediatric blood diseases who pioneered a comprehensive program to detect sickle cell disease in newborns. He was appointed professor of pediatrics at Yale and attending physician at Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) in 1968. Pearson chaired the Department of Pediatrics and was chief of YNHH’s pediatric service from 1974 to 1987. He has been medical director of Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang Camp since 1986 and served as its executive director from 1989 to 1991.

Howard M. Spiro joined the faculty in 1955 as instructor of medicine and established the gastrointestinal section, where he was chief until 1982. He became a full professor in 1967. In 1963, he co-founded the Yale Affiliated Gastroenterology Program, which encompassed most hospitals in the state and was the precursor of the Yale Affiliated Hospital Program. In 1983, Spiro helped inaugurate the medical school’s Program for Humanities in Medicine. He was an editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology and a book review editor of Gastroenterology.