Introduction of the Memorial Fund Lecturer Lee B. Lusted, M.D.

Abstract

I am grateful to President Robbins and Dr. Walter W. Wasson for the privilege of introducing the Memorial Fund Lecturer on this occasion—Dr. Lee B. Lusted. Dr. Lusted was born in Mason City, Iowa, on May 22, 1922, the son of a Methodist minister. His early education included exposures in a number of secondary schools before his graduation from the Mason City high school. At Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa, he majored in mathematics and physics, receiving his B.A. degree in 1943. Because of the need of electronic engineers, he then joined the group at the Radio Research Laboratory at Harvard University and worked there for several years (1943–1946). During this period, General Eisenhower requested that some electronic engineers be sent to the European theater of operations to help check the radar countermeasures equipment which would be used in the D-Day landing fleet. As an employee of Harvard University and the Office of Scientific Research and Development, Lee Lusted was one of the group to be sent on this mission, serving for approximately one year with the British Home Fleet and with the 8th Air Force. During his stay at the Radio Research Laboratory, Lee came in contact with two members of the faculty who were applying various electronic technics in the field of biology. His interest in medicine was thus aroused, and he subsequently attended and in 1950 was graduated from the Harvard Medical School. Having decided to go into Radiology, he served his residency with Dr. Robert S. Stone at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco. Lee's main concern is, and always will be, Radiology, but it is quite natural and appropriate that he continue his interest in medical electronics as a hobby. It is not surprising that he is a Fellow of the Institute of Radio Engineers, Editor of the Institute of Radio Engineers Transactions on Medical Electronics, and Chairman of the Committee on the Use of Electronic Computers in Biology and Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council. Lee's curriculum vitae includes a record of honors and a progressive and rapid advancement in academic medicine. At present he is Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. His publications include one book, several chapters in other well known books, and more than thirty original articles. Truly, he has attained the stature of a scholar in his area of interest. We in medicine, and in Radiology in particular, point to his achievements with pride. Mr. President, it has been my good fortune to have known Lee Lusted for a few years and I have watched his pioneering work with interest. It is a heart warming experience to introduce him as the Memorial Fund Lecturer.