Gene Stollerman

A School of Medicine professor emeritus of medicine and a School of Public Health professor emeritus of health policy and management, on August 1, 2014, at 93.

Stollerman, who grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and specialized in geriatrics and preventive care, aspired to be “the whole person’s doctor,” as he wrote in his 2012 memoir, Medicine: A Love Story (Outskirts Press, 2012).

Stollerman graduated from Dartmouth College in 1941, earned an MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1944, and went on to serve as director of New York University’s Irvington House for Children with Heart Disease. While at NYU, he was nationally recognized for his research on using penicillin to prevent rheumatic fever. His research resulted in an endowed professorship at Northwestern University, which he accepted in 1955.

In 1964, Stollerman became chair of the department of medicine at the University of Tennessee, where he expanded the biomedical research programs over the next 16 years; his students and colleagues endowed the Stollerman Clinical Branch Library and the Gene H. Stollerman Professor of Medicine Chair in his honor.

He joined the MED faculty in 1981, focusing on research and clinical training in geriatrics, preventive medicine, health services research, and primary care, according to the Boston Globe. As chief of general internal medicine at Boston’s Jewish Memorial Hospital, “he imparted to all of us the joy of caring for aging patients and the fascinating science of medicine,” says former fellow Douglas Kiel (SPH’86). “Dr. Stollerman pushed all his trainees to aspire to excellence in patient care and research. He was nothing short of the most inspiring mentor I have ever had.”

In 1986, Stollerman was appointed distinguished physician of the US Department of Veterans Affairs and established the Center for the Health Maintenance of the Aging Veteran in Bedford, Mass., which, according to codirector Dan Berlowitz (SPH’87), now employs more than 120 medical professionals. Stollerman retired in 1995.

Berlowitz, a BU School of Public Health professor of health policy and management, describes his friend and colleague as “a master clinician whose groundbreaking research and superb teaching skills led to many successful academic programs.”

Stollerman was the author of more than 200 research publications and was editor of the American Journal of Geriatrics for 6 years, and Advances in Internal Medicine and Hospital Practice magazine for 25 years. He was president of the Association of Professors of Medicine and the Central Society for Clinical and Translational Research; master, regent, and vice president of the American College of Physicians; and master of the American College of Rheumatology. He served on national and international health councils and committees for the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the World Health Organization.

Stollerman was a founder of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He received numerous awards, including the Bicentennial Medal in Internal Medicine from Columbia University, the Bruce Medal for Preventive Medicine from the American College of Physicians, the Thulis Award from the American Geriatrics Society, the Jacobi Distinguished Alumnus Medallion from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the Maimonides Award from the State of Israel.

“He was always interested in people in general as they were, not labeling them in any way, just understanding them and trying to learn and trying to relate to people,” Stollerman’s daughter, Anne DiZio, told the Globe.

Stollerman published his memoir at 91, according to the Globe. “All these stories I remember him telling me at different times, and he put it all together,” his son, John, told the paper.

“In addition to his many achievements, I will always remember Gene’s skillful bedside manner,” Berlowitz says. “His legacy will live on through those he called his ‘academic grandchildren,’ the mentees of his mentees who are continuing his research. He followed their careers closely and took great pride in their accomplishments.”