Dr. Lyman T. Meiks became the first full-time pediatric faculty member in 1931. Two decades later, in 1951 with five residents in the Department, Dr. Meiks was named the first full-time Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics. On occasion, Dr. Meiks was known to say when residents complained about their pay – “by gosh they have nothing to complain about, I had to pay for my residency.”1 He served as Chairman of the Department until October 30, 1967.
During Dr. Meiks’ tenure, the number of full-time faculty grew to 7 and pediatric residents to 12. Additional faculty included Dr. Morris Green who would become chairman in 1967.
Other faculty included Dr. Doris Merritt who later would become the Special Assistant to the Director of the National Institutes of Health where she helped develop the National Institute of Nursing. She returned to the Indiana University School of Medicine as an Associate Dean.
Dr. Malcolm Holiday, a well-known expert in fluids and electrolytes, joined the staff in 1951. Dr. William Segar, a former resident, also joined the faculty and later became the Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Jack Spevak was hired to be the first Director of the new section on Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.2
Upon his retirement in 1971, Dr. Meiks received many letters of tribute from past students and colleagues, including one from Dr. Morris Green.3
Toward the close of his tenure as Chairman, Perry W. Lesh, President of the Riley Memorial Association (today, the Riley Children’s Foundation), recognized Dr. Meiks and said that he has earned the “everlasting appreciation and gratitude” of the Association board, Dr. Meiks’ students, associates, and patients at Riley Hospital. Lesh pointed out that under Dr. Meiks’ chairmanship (1951-1967) that more than 50,000 children had been treated at Riley.
Lyman Thompson Meiks was born in Shelbyville, Indiana, in 1902. After graduating high school, he earned his A.B. degree from DePauw University. In 1927, he received his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He served his internship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and completed a residency in Pediatrics at the Yale University Hospital. Dr. Meiks was widely known as an authority on infantile paralysis (polio) and served as chair of the Indiana State Medical Association’s Committee on Infantile Paralysis. During Meiks’ tenure (1931-1967), Dr. Margaret Bassett, a member of the 1942-43 resident staff, who no doubt benefitted from Dr. Meiks’ expertise, was recognized in 1943 for her singular efforts to successfully manage a polio quarantine for 300 soldiers on the Indiana University-Bloomington campus for specialized training.
Dr. Meiks died on January 25, 1972, at Methodist Hospital. He was 69 years old.4
At this passing, the Indianapolis Star’s tribute to Dr. Meiks in an editorial stated:
Associates are fervent in declaring that Dr. Meiks’ contribution to the eminence of Riley as a children’s hospital was more than that of any other single person. While carrying the great responsibility of the top medical administrator, he never ceased to be also a practicing physician, personally overseeing the care of thousands of children.
Yet perhaps his most distinguished work was as a teacher of pediatrics for 36 years in the Indiana University Medical School. The mark of a great teacher is found in the accomplishments of his students, and in Indiana and scattered over the country there are literally hundreds of skilled, dedicated pediatricians who were Dr. Meiks’ students.
Footnotes
1. History of Department of Pediatrics prepared by Mary Ann Underwood, Dr. Morris Green’s Assistant, in mid to late 1980s and revised in 1993, pp. 2-3. Also see: The Daily Banner, (Greencastle), October 13, 1931, p. 2, available at Hoosier State Chronicles at: https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=TDB19311013-01.1.2&srpos=3&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-Lyman+Meiks------.
Also see: Journal of the Indiana State Medical Association, September 1958, p. 868, available at: https://archive.org/stream/journalofindiana4411indi#page/868/mode/2up/search/Meiks.
2. History of Department of Pediatrics prepared by Mary Ann Underwood, Dr. Morris Green’s Assistant in mid to late 1980s and revised in 1993, pp. 4-5 and pp. 8-9.
3. Dr. Morris Green’s letter to Dr. Lyman T. Meiks was provided by Dr. Green’s assistant, Mary Ann Underwood and is shown below:
April 28, 1971
Dear Doctor Meiks:
I am writing with a somewhat different perspective than your other correspondents since I have the great distinction and honor of serving as your successor. Both you and the Riley Hospital have names which are both revered and trusted throughout this nation. I only hope, that at the end of my tenure, I shall have done half as well.
The Riley and the Meiks traditions are inseparably intertwined. They include, on a professional level, excellence in teaching with the old-fashioned idea that medical schools exist for teaching; service to physicians in the state; and support for research. On a personal level, they include personal integrity, sound judgement, unerring fairness and action based on what is right rather than what is merely popular at the moment or expedient.
With these clear precedents to follow, my job has been very simple. All I have to do is to think what Lyman Meiks would do – and do that! That’s my executive decision-maker, and it works beautifully.
For that, and for many, many other reasons and kindnesses, I am deeply appreciative. I shall forever treasure the opportunity to know you as a model teacher, inspiring leader, great clinician, and more important than all, a superb human being.
Sincerely,
Morris Green, M.D.
Professor and Chairman
Also see: Morris Green, M.D., Oral History Project, Pediatrics History Center, American Academy of Pediatrics, (October 5, 1998), pp. 4-5, available at: https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/Pediatric-History-Center/Documents/Green.pdf. Dr. Green recalled his clinical years as part of his medical school training at the Indiana University School of Medicine:
“We didn’t have many full-time clinical faculty at that time, but I think the ones we had were, as I look back now, superb; particularly the Chairman of Pediatrics, Dr. (Lyman T.) Meiks, who trained at (Johns) Hopkins (University). He was a consummate clinician, one of the best I’ve ever seen, particularly in physical diagnosis. He had very high expectations and he made personal rounds six days a week. You were expected to really know your patients. He gave excellent clinical lectures that I found very fascinating. So in terms of models, I think he was excellent.”
4. Journal of the Indiana State Medical Association, “Deaths,” March 1972, p. 269, available at: https://archive.org/stream/journalofindiana651unse#page/268/mode/2up/search/Meiks.
Also see: Leo G. McCarthy, M.D. and Clyde G. Culbertson, M.D., “Blood Transfusion at the Indiana University Medical Center,” Indiana Medicine: the Journal of the Indiana State Medical Association, March/April 1994, p. 112, available at: https://archive.org/stream/indianamedicinej8719indi#page/112/mode/2up.
Also see: Journal of the Indiana State Medical Association, Indiana State Medical Association Committees, 1950-1951 (Committee on Infantile Paralysis), January 1951, available at: https://archive.org/stream/journalofindiana4411indi#page/10/mode/2up and Albert B. Sabin ad Robert Ward, The Natural History of Human Poliomyelitis: II. Elimination of the Virus, The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol. 73, No. 6 (May 31, 1941), pp. 771-793. Dr. Sabin thanks Dr. Lyman T. Meiks and others for their cooperation with this study which collected material in 1940 from patients in Jackson, Michigan; Indianapolis; and Cincinnati: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2135158/
Harold M. Trusler, M.D. and L.T. Meiks, M.D., Experiments and Results in the Clinical Use of Oxygen Chambers, Anesthesia and Analgesia (July-August 1934), pp. 155-163.
Other References:
Dr. Lyman T. Meiks, Indianapolis Star, January 27, 1972, p. 30, accessed through Indianapolis Public Library.
Tribute paid to Dr. Meiks, Indianapolis Star, July 27, 1967, p. 41, accessed through Indianapolis Public Library.
Dr. L.T. Meiks, Pediatrician, Dies, Indianapolis Star, January 27, 1972, p. 52, accessed through Indianapolis Public Library.
Richard L. Schreiner, M.D., IUSM Resident in Charge of Indiana University Bloomington Polio Quarantine of August 1943, Indiana University School of Medicine Blog (July 23, 2018): https://medicine.iu.edu/blogs/alumni/iusm-resident-in-charge-of-indiana-university-bloomington-polio-quarantine-of-august-1943
Also, see: “Young M.D. Wins Acclaim in Campus Crisis,” Indiana Alumni Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 2, October 1943, p. 25: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015086633529;view=1up;seq=27 (page 25 – see article about work of Dr. Margaret Ann Bassett -- who would have been a medical student during Dr. Meiks’ tenure and guidance -- with quarantine of ASTP students on campus)