Departments
Obituary
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Week of 13 November 1998 |
Vol. II, No. 14 |
Obituary
John I. Sandson
BUSM dean emeritus
John I. Sandson, M.D., dean emeritus of BU's School of Medicine and a distinguished medical educator, died October 30 after a brief illness. He was 71.
Sandson came to BUSM as dean in 1974 and served until 1988. In 1996 he retired as a full-time faculty member, but continued as a consultant to both BUSM and the University's Community Technology Fund.
During his tenure as dean, Sandson initiated a wide range of highly successful programs that fostered rapid advances in biomedical research and attracted high-caliber students and faculty. His commitment to the school's mission of training students in basic medical sciences, surgical subspecialties, research, and clinical care gained the respect of students, faculty, and colleagues and helped establish the School of Medicine's national reputation.
Born in Pennsylvania, Sandson received his medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in 1953. He developed a broad background in clinical and research medicine and built an impressive career as a general internist and rheumatologist. He also served in various administrative positions, bridging medical education and clinical practice.
"John Sandson personified all that is excellent in a physician, a teacher, an academic administrator, and a friend," says Chancellor John Silber. "In his years as dean of the School of Medicine, he took the superb institution he received from his predecessors and improved it in a thousand different ways, leaving it a still more superb legacy for his successors."
As dean, Sandson oversaw the creation of the BU School of Public Health in 1976, one of the few public health schools in the country at that time to be part of an established medical school. He also established a successful low-interest student loan revolving fund and developed a minority recruitment program.
Before coming to Boston University, Sandson was associate dean for health services at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and served as medical director of the Hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He also worked in various New York hospitals as a specialist in rheumatology.
Sandson leaves his wife, Hannah, two children, and three grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, November 23, at Marsh Chapel.
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