Missouri ACP's DoctorCorps Series
DoctorCorps is a series of interviews with distinguished Missouri internists. Interviewees have been selected with an eye towards distinction in medical practice, research, and education, as well as contributions both to the medical community and their communities at large.
The interviews also focus on their perspectives on changes in medical practice and education over the last 60 years, to preserve something of the evolution and ambience that may otherwise be lost with the passing of this generation.
We anticipate interviewing more of our leading physicians on an ongoing annual basis.
The interviews also focus on their perspectives on changes in medical practice and education over the last 60 years, to preserve something of the evolution and ambience that may otherwise be lost with the passing of this generation.
We anticipate interviewing more of our leading physicians on an ongoing annual basis.
Richard Aach, MD, FACP (‘51) has made significant contributions as an educator, scientist and physician during his distinguished medical career. After residency and chief residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital he rose to full professor of medicine, gaining a national reputation as an expert on liver disease and contributing significant new information about viral hepatitis through his research, presentations and publications. After serving as director of the Barnes Hospital residency program, he was recruited in 1980 to be the director of medicine at Sinai Medical Center and professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In 1989, Aach became the vice-chairman of the Department of Medicine of the Case Western University School of Medicine and the director of medicine at its affiliate institution, the Mount Sinai Medical Center. He assumed directorship of the school’s Residency and Career Planning Program in 1998. He retired in 2005. He is the author of more than 70 publications. He also served in an advisory role for a number of national organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, the American Red Cross, the National Board of Medical Examiners and the National Library of Medicine.
Click here to view the interview with Dr. Aach.
Click here to view the interview with Dr. Aach.
William M. Fogarty MACP obtained both his undergraduate and medical degree from Saint Louis University before moving to Minneapolis in 1961 to complete his Internal Medicine residency training. An interest in endocrinology led Dr. Fogarty to steroid biochemistry research and eventually a Postdoctoral Fellowship with the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Fogarty made his way back to St. Louis in 1970 and soon established himself as one of the area’s preeminent physicians. He became affiliated with both academic and community hospitals, serving as clinician, teacher, and administrator.
As Dr. Fogarty moved into retirement he became deeply committed to issues of social justice. He has gone to Guatemala with HELPS International twelve times, where he served as volunteer staff internist on a medical team, for a week. Dr. Fogarty also volunteered in Honduras, where he saw patients and taught Honduran doctors. For seven years, he was a volunteer physician at La Clinica, and he helped organize and served as co-medical director of Casa de Salud, both clinics for immigrants and refugees in St. Louis. Now 85 years of age, Dr. Fogarty continues to volunteer at a charitable clinic through the Community Health-In-Partnership Services (CHIPS). In recognition of his work, the Institute for Family Medicine honored him with their Community Champion Award in 2009. He received the Focus St. Louis “What’s Right with the Region” Award for Improving Racial Equality and Social Justice in 2011. That same year, Dr. Fogarty received the St. Louis University School of Medicine Alumni Association Community Service Award.
Dr. Fogarty has been an active ACP member for many years. During this span he had several roles highlighted by his 20-year leadership of the Missouri Chapter’s Health and Public Policy Committee. Dr. Fogarty became well known for his expertise on both state and national policy, and routinely led groups to Washington D.C. for ACP Leadership Day. He was the Missouri Chapter’s Laureate Award winner in 1996. In 2008 and 2021 he received the Volunteerism Award, Missouri Chapter. He received Mastership in 2021.
Click here to view the interview with Dr. Fogarty.
As Dr. Fogarty moved into retirement he became deeply committed to issues of social justice. He has gone to Guatemala with HELPS International twelve times, where he served as volunteer staff internist on a medical team, for a week. Dr. Fogarty also volunteered in Honduras, where he saw patients and taught Honduran doctors. For seven years, he was a volunteer physician at La Clinica, and he helped organize and served as co-medical director of Casa de Salud, both clinics for immigrants and refugees in St. Louis. Now 85 years of age, Dr. Fogarty continues to volunteer at a charitable clinic through the Community Health-In-Partnership Services (CHIPS). In recognition of his work, the Institute for Family Medicine honored him with their Community Champion Award in 2009. He received the Focus St. Louis “What’s Right with the Region” Award for Improving Racial Equality and Social Justice in 2011. That same year, Dr. Fogarty received the St. Louis University School of Medicine Alumni Association Community Service Award.
Dr. Fogarty has been an active ACP member for many years. During this span he had several roles highlighted by his 20-year leadership of the Missouri Chapter’s Health and Public Policy Committee. Dr. Fogarty became well known for his expertise on both state and national policy, and routinely led groups to Washington D.C. for ACP Leadership Day. He was the Missouri Chapter’s Laureate Award winner in 1996. In 2008 and 2021 he received the Volunteerism Award, Missouri Chapter. He received Mastership in 2021.
Click here to view the interview with Dr. Fogarty.
Warren Lovinger, MACP has had a remarkable career as the quintessential small-town internist.
After growing up in Warrensburg, Missouri, he was accepted to Johns Hopkins Medical School, sight unseen. He returned to Missouri to train at Barnes Hospital, where he met his wife. They made a conscious decision to seek a small town where they could make an impact in medical and community life. After evaluating 26 opportunities, they picked Nevada, Missouri, a town of roughly 8,000 halfway between Kansas City and Joplin.
He served as the de facto town cardiologist, all while delivering a wide range of primary care, serving as school teams’ physician, delivering geriatric care in the local nursing home, and serving as the primary medical consultant to the local psychiatric hospital. He held all the local medical leadership positions, sometimes more than once, and was an inveterate fund-raiser for the community and his hospital. When 2-D echo became available, he convinced a reluctant hospital administrator to purchase one, mastered the technology, and made the resource available to his community. Like most small Missouri towns, there is not much wealth, and significant poverty. Dr. Lovinger spent his career providing care to all those in his community and beyond, without respect to ability to pay.
He has been an omnipresent leader in his community, serving as an elder in his church and holding presidencies of the YMCA, Rotary Club, United Way, swim team, and school board. In his terms on the school board, he led public campaigns to support elections for taxes and bonds. One patient wrote to say that the establishment of the Osage Prairie YMCA in Nevada was largely due to Dr. Lovinger’s indefatigable leadership.
He has been an untiring leader in medicine as well. When the Nevada Regional Medical Center was in dire financial straits, Dr. Lovinger spearheaded the campaign to raise a city sales tax to support the hospital until the current bonds are paid off. As his patient, a local community leader, wrote, it was his initiative that allowed the Medical Center to remain solvent and independent. In addition to the presidency of the Missouri Society of Internal Medicine (MSIM) and transitional governorship of Missouri ACP, he held multiple leadership positions in the Missouri State Medical Association, culminating in service as President in 2017-18.
He provided vital service as a member of the national task force for the ACP-ASIM and was a founding committee member of the ACP-ASIM Foundation. He became a Fellow of the College in 1989, and was recognized as a Master, deservedly, in 2011. In recognition of his achievements, he received the College’s Ralph Claypoole award in 2022 "...in recognition of distinguished achievements in the clinical practice of internal medicine."
Click here to view the interview with Dr. Lovinger.
After growing up in Warrensburg, Missouri, he was accepted to Johns Hopkins Medical School, sight unseen. He returned to Missouri to train at Barnes Hospital, where he met his wife. They made a conscious decision to seek a small town where they could make an impact in medical and community life. After evaluating 26 opportunities, they picked Nevada, Missouri, a town of roughly 8,000 halfway between Kansas City and Joplin.
He served as the de facto town cardiologist, all while delivering a wide range of primary care, serving as school teams’ physician, delivering geriatric care in the local nursing home, and serving as the primary medical consultant to the local psychiatric hospital. He held all the local medical leadership positions, sometimes more than once, and was an inveterate fund-raiser for the community and his hospital. When 2-D echo became available, he convinced a reluctant hospital administrator to purchase one, mastered the technology, and made the resource available to his community. Like most small Missouri towns, there is not much wealth, and significant poverty. Dr. Lovinger spent his career providing care to all those in his community and beyond, without respect to ability to pay.
He has been an omnipresent leader in his community, serving as an elder in his church and holding presidencies of the YMCA, Rotary Club, United Way, swim team, and school board. In his terms on the school board, he led public campaigns to support elections for taxes and bonds. One patient wrote to say that the establishment of the Osage Prairie YMCA in Nevada was largely due to Dr. Lovinger’s indefatigable leadership.
He has been an untiring leader in medicine as well. When the Nevada Regional Medical Center was in dire financial straits, Dr. Lovinger spearheaded the campaign to raise a city sales tax to support the hospital until the current bonds are paid off. As his patient, a local community leader, wrote, it was his initiative that allowed the Medical Center to remain solvent and independent. In addition to the presidency of the Missouri Society of Internal Medicine (MSIM) and transitional governorship of Missouri ACP, he held multiple leadership positions in the Missouri State Medical Association, culminating in service as President in 2017-18.
He provided vital service as a member of the national task force for the ACP-ASIM and was a founding committee member of the ACP-ASIM Foundation. He became a Fellow of the College in 1989, and was recognized as a Master, deservedly, in 2011. In recognition of his achievements, he received the College’s Ralph Claypoole award in 2022 "...in recognition of distinguished achievements in the clinical practice of internal medicine."
Click here to view the interview with Dr. Lovinger.
Aubrey Morrison, MACP, has had a distinguished career as an academic nephrologist, recently retiring to become professor emeritus at Washington University. A native of Guyana and a graduate of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, he trained in internal medicine and nephrology at Washington University. His career has focused on renovascular disease, hypertension, and genetic disorders of electrolyte handling. His scholarship has centered around cyclooxygenase genetics and function, with more than 140 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. His achievements have been recognized by election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the Association of American Physicians, and Fellowship in the Royal Colleges of Physicians of Ireland and Canada. A Master of the American College of Physicians, he received the ACP Award (now the Harriet Dustan Award) in 2012 for "...distinguished contributions in science as related to medicine."
He has had the often-uncomfortable position of being a pioneer in the struggle for racial equity in the patchy history of progress in St. Louis. He served as the first Black chief resident at Barnes Hospital and was the first Black member elected to the national honorary organization, ASCI. His discussion and insights as well as his published writings on the subject are recommended to all.
He has had the often-uncomfortable position of being a pioneer in the struggle for racial equity in the patchy history of progress in St. Louis. He served as the first Black chief resident at Barnes Hospital and was the first Black member elected to the national honorary organization, ASCI. His discussion and insights as well as his published writings on the subject are recommended to all.
Sara E. Walker, MACP grew up in Hempstead, Texas, where her father practiced medicine for decades. After graduating from the University of Texas with honors, she studied medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, where her father had received his MD in 1929. Graduating in 1964, she trained in internal medicine at the Philadelphia General Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine Affiliated Hospitals in Houston.
She competed a rheumatology fellowship at the University of Michigan and remained on faculty, rising through the ranks to become associate professor of internal medicine.
In 1980, she was recruited to the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she was professor of internal medicine with joint appointments in laboratory animal medicine and the graduate school. She was an active and respected clinician and conducted research on autoimmune diseases, in particular systemic lupus erythematosus. Dr. Walker conducted groundbreaking studies of the influences of hormones on lupus, finding a relationship between prolactin, the hormone that stimulates lactation in childbearing women, and the production of harmful antibodies that target healthy cells and tissues. She has published more than 100 research and clinical articles in peer-reviewed journals, as well as many reviews, book chapters, and abstracts.
In 1973 she became a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. She served as the organization's governor for Missouri from 1991 to 1995, when she was honored with the ACP Laureate Award. In recognition of her contributions as a teacher, researcher, and mentor, she was elected Master (MACP) in 1996. After election as a Regent since 1996, she was elected president of the organization in 2002. She received the College’s Alfred Stengel Memorial Award in 2009 for “outstanding service to the College in an official capacity." Now Professor Emeritus and retired in New Mexico, she remains engaged in medical and other current events.
She competed a rheumatology fellowship at the University of Michigan and remained on faculty, rising through the ranks to become associate professor of internal medicine.
In 1980, she was recruited to the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she was professor of internal medicine with joint appointments in laboratory animal medicine and the graduate school. She was an active and respected clinician and conducted research on autoimmune diseases, in particular systemic lupus erythematosus. Dr. Walker conducted groundbreaking studies of the influences of hormones on lupus, finding a relationship between prolactin, the hormone that stimulates lactation in childbearing women, and the production of harmful antibodies that target healthy cells and tissues. She has published more than 100 research and clinical articles in peer-reviewed journals, as well as many reviews, book chapters, and abstracts.
In 1973 she became a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. She served as the organization's governor for Missouri from 1991 to 1995, when she was honored with the ACP Laureate Award. In recognition of her contributions as a teacher, researcher, and mentor, she was elected Master (MACP) in 1996. After election as a Regent since 1996, she was elected president of the organization in 2002. She received the College’s Alfred Stengel Memorial Award in 2009 for “outstanding service to the College in an official capacity." Now Professor Emeritus and retired in New Mexico, she remains engaged in medical and other current events.
David A. Fleming, MD, MACP
Dr. Fleming is the son of a small-town physician in north-central Missouri. Following his internal medicine residency, he joined his father’s practice in Moberly in 1980. Daniel Winship, M.D., ultimately vice-chancellor for health affairs the University of Missouri, identified and encouraged an interest in medical ethics that had been nascent since medical school, and facilitated a connection with Edmund Pellegrino, who became director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University during the second 2 year of Dr. Flemings private practice. This led to his undertaking an intensive residential course in bioethics in 1985. Ultimately, he was selected for a federally-funded two year fellowship in clinical bioethics at Georgetown, from 1999-2001, two decades following his residency training. Upon completion, he was recruited back to Missouri to create and direct the MU Center for Health Ethics. On return, in addition to his role in the ethic center, he had increasing roles in leadership in his department, culminating in his appointment as Chair of Medicine in 2009, a position held for seven years until his retirement in 2016. He is now Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar at the Center for Health Ethics
He served the Missouri Society of Internal Medicine as President (equivalent to Governor in the College), and was active in the American Society of Internal Medicine (ASIM), including service on its board of trustees. He served as Governor of the Missouri chapter of the College and served as chair of the Board of Governors in 2011, on the Board of Regents from 2010-2015, and as President in 2014-2015. Throughout his association with the College, he has contributed multiple articles to the peer-reviewed literature on medical ethics and professionalism, and one book, Care of the Dying Patient. He continues to serve as assistant editor for bioethics for the Southern Medical Journal. He has given countless presentations and interviews locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally on a wide variety of health-related issues, including bioethics and professionalism. He has served as a member of the board of regents of the National Library of Medicine. His work has been honored by receipt of the Missouri Chapter’s Laureate Award, Mastership, and Fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians.
He served the Missouri Society of Internal Medicine as President (equivalent to Governor in the College), and was active in the American Society of Internal Medicine (ASIM), including service on its board of trustees. He served as Governor of the Missouri chapter of the College and served as chair of the Board of Governors in 2011, on the Board of Regents from 2010-2015, and as President in 2014-2015. Throughout his association with the College, he has contributed multiple articles to the peer-reviewed literature on medical ethics and professionalism, and one book, Care of the Dying Patient. He continues to serve as assistant editor for bioethics for the Southern Medical Journal. He has given countless presentations and interviews locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally on a wide variety of health-related issues, including bioethics and professionalism. He has served as a member of the board of regents of the National Library of Medicine. His work has been honored by receipt of the Missouri Chapter’s Laureate Award, Mastership, and Fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians.
Kenneth Ludmerer, MD, MACP
Dr. Ludmerer is Mabel Dorn Reader Distinguished Professor in the History of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. Following graduation from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and residency and chief residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital, he joined the faculty in medicine and history at Washington University where he has spent his entire career, practicing and teaching until recently as a general internist, recognized by several teaching awards. Although he published his first book, on eugenics, while in medical school, he is best known for his three books on the history of medical education, Learning to Heal: The Development of American Medical Education (1985), Time to Heal: American Medical Education from the Turn of the Century to the Era of Managed Care (1999), and Let Me Heal: The Opportunity to Preserve Excellence in American Medicine (2015). His latter book was influential in residency duty-hours regulations, and his contributions to the ACGME’s Common Program Requirements led in part to his receipt of the 2022 John C. Gienapp Distinguished Service Award. He has been active in and honored by the American College of Physicians, receiving the Nicholas E. Davies Memorial Award in 1997. He was awarded Mastership in 2005 Other recognition has included the Distinguished Alumnus Award of Johns Hopkins University in 2000 and the Daniel Tosteson Award for Leadership and Medical Education from Harvard Medical School in 2001. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002, and was selected by the Association of American Medical Colleges to receive the Abraham Flexner Award for distinguished service to medical education in 2003. He was named a fellow of the Hastings Center in 2021.
Raymond Slavin, MD, MACP
After graduation from and obtained his M.D. degree from and internal medicine residency at Saint Louis University, Dr. Slavin was an NIH fellow in allergy and immunology at Northwestern University Medical School where he received an M.S. in Internal Medicine in 1965. He returned to Saint Louis University as director of the division of allergy and immunology in the department of internal medicine and became professor of internal medicine and microbiology in 1973. He directed the internal medicine residency from 1967-75 and was for many years the director of the allergy 2 fellowship. He was the recipient of multiple teaching awards and was a leader in early efforts to increase diversity as a proponent and member of the minority admissions committee in the school of medicine. His research interests included the immune response in uremia, the pathogenesis of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, relationships between the upper and lower airway (particularly sinusitis and asthma), inner-city asthma and asthma in the elderly. His research has been supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the National Institute Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. His scholarship produced 263 peer-reviewed publications and 84 book chapters, including those in his books, Asthma and Atlas of Allergies. He became Professor Emeritus in 2012 but continues to be actively involved with his school and its allergy division. Dr. Slavin is a towering figure in American allergy and immunology. He has served as chairman of the undergraduate and graduate education committee, historian, and president of the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology (AAAAI). He also served as executive vice president and chairman of the board of a related but separate organization, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. He was a member of the residency review committee for Allergy and Immunology. He was member of the American Board of Allergy and 3 Immunology, which he served as treasurer. He served on the editorial boards of multiple journals in his field. In recognition of these many contributions, he received the AAAAI’s Distinguished Service Award in 1995 and its Gold Headed Cane Award in 2010. Dr. Slavin is a long-time member of the College. He was active in the Missouri chapter, and he made a major national contribution with his 2002 editorship Asthma, a book in the Key Diseases Series of the ACP. He was elected to Mastership in the same year.
Betty Drees, MD, F.A.C.P.
Dr. Drees is James B. and Annabel Nutter/Harry S. Jonas Endowed Professor and Dean Emerita of the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine. She served thirteen years in that role, from 2001 to 2014. She currently serves as President of the Graduate School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City. She continues to practice as an endocrinologist in the Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics at UMKC. She remains active in scholarship, serving as the site PI for the Enhanced Lifestyles for Metabolic Syndrome (ELM) study, which is a $9 million, six-year, multisite trial for evaluation of lifestyle intervention for sustained reversal of metabolic syndrome. She has been recognized by Kansas City’s 435 Magazine (2014) and the Kansas City Business Journal (2013) on their Best Doctors lists, by Ingram’s Magazine as one of Kansas City’s Most Accomplished and Successful Women (2008), and in Kansas City’s Influential Women: Inspiration and mentorship from the women who make Kansas City great (2010). She was the founding Program Director for the Fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, a role in which she continued until very recently. Dr. Drees was one of the earliest women to assume the decanal position in a U.S. medical school. She was named to the Steering Committee of the Council of Deans of the AAMC, where she was named liaison to the Women in Medicine program. In the words of a colleague, “(S)he worked with the group to expand programming for women physicians, begin services specific to women MD/PhDs and scientists, and address issues faced by women medical students and residents. Most importantly, she was instrumental in the several-years-long effort that led to recognition of Women in Medicine & Science (WISM) as a formal Group within the AAMC structure. This systemic change had important implications for the subsequent status, funding, and activities supporting women in medicine; hundreds of women have benefitted.” She was elected to Fellowship in the College in 1994 and serves on the Missouri Chapter’s Awards Committee. She is the 2021 recipient of the College’s Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell Award for Outstanding Contributions to Advancing the Careers of Women in Medicine.