David S. Greer, MD

David S. Greer, MD, 89, the second Dean of Medicine at Brown University (1981−1992), died on November 18, 2014, a mere seven weeks following the death of his wife, Marion. They were married for over six decades. David and Marion were devoted members of the American Clinical and Climatological Association since 1984 and attended our meetings regularly.

David was the son the late Jacob and Mary Greenberg. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 12, 1925, and educated in the public schools of New York, attended Brooklyn College, but graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1948 following service in World War II as an aviation cadet. He received his medical degree from the University of Chicago in 1953. He did his medical residency at Yale University where he met Dr Robert Petersdorf who would be a lifelong friend and both, future members of The Climatological.

Dave Greer came to Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1957 and he began to practice medicine at the Truesdale Clinic. He was totally committed to patient care in that city and his accomplishments ranged from the establishment of the Highland Heights Apartments, which was the first hospital-connected public housing facility in the nation for the physically impaired. He was an iconic physician, devoted and dedicated to his patients and their families. He somehow found the time to volunteer for work involving the District Nursing Association, the Family Service Association, and the Fall River Housing Authority. He was a member of several gubernatorial commissions and the Board of Trustees for both Bristol Community College and the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, whose board he chaired from 1973 to 1974 (1).

In 1974 he was recruited by Dr Stanley Aronson, Brown Medical School's founding dean, as an associate dean of a fledgling medical school. At Brown he founded and chaired the Department of Family Medicine and the Department of Community Health, and he established The Gerontology Center. He also began The Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown. Upon his retirement from the dean's office in 1992, he continued to be involved in the Stanley Street Treatment Addiction Resource Family Healthcare Center in Fall River until 1998 (1, 2).

During his tenure as dean, he reformed medical education by establishing a close connection between Brown's undergraduate college and the medical program. He was the founder of the Program in Liberal Medical Education that combined admission to college and medical school with the idea that brilliant students would be selected to become caring physicians who were liberally educated, scientifically oriented, and clinically astute. It was his solid grounding in clinical medicine that allowed him to embrace and lead the academic enterprise without ever forgetting the role and obligation that medicine has in the community (3).

David Greer was a founding director of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which won The Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. The award citation honoring Dr Greer and co-founders stated that this organization “… performed a considerable service to mankind by spreading authoritative information and by creating an awareness of the catastrophic consequences of atomic warfare.” His own career in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and beyond the borders of these states surely exemplified that. His mantra was that medical students had to be science savvy, but socially responsible physicians.

Dr Greer received many other honors including a Mastership of the American College of Physicians. He was a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. He was designated as a Kellogg Foundation Fellow in International Health and other honors including an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Southeastern Massachusetts University; the Cutting Foundation Award for service to religion in society from the Andover Newton Theological Seminary; the Bristol Community College Distinguished Service Award; the University of Chicago Medical Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award; and the Outstanding Citizen Award from the Jewish Veteran's Auxiliary.

In the memorial article in the Rhode Island Medical Journal (1), Dr Vincent Mor, one of his dearest colleagues stated “Dr Greer was a leader offering vision, advice and giving direction. He shaped the direction of Brown Medical School and nudged the University itself. He provided an example of how Brown could offer support and energy to Providence and Rhode Island.” Dr Richard Besdine, the first incumbent of the Greer Professorship in Geriatrics at Brown, when asked about what future physicians might learn from Dr Greer, he stated “Knowing that medicine begins with the patient. The patient is everything. If you stay close to the patient you will never go astray.” He went on to elaborate that “honoring the patient with your career dedication is more than providing clinical care. David Greer's devotion to his patients in Fall River was legendary. He was rounding on Sunday morning, making house calls at 10 p.m., possibly riding in an ambulance with a patient at 2 a.m. That level of dedication carries with it the obligation to advance science. If you are dedicated to your patients, you want to learn more than there's currently known about the best ways to care for them and that is what research is all about. That's what David would say. It's a lifelong commitment.” (1).

Dave Greer was dean of the medical school at Brown when I was recruited in 1983. His warmth, his insight, and his guidance were invaluable to me and so many other young faculty members whose careers were being launched or developed at Brown.

He is survived by his daughter, Linda Greer, his grandchildren, Ross and Carla Tilchin, and his daughter-in-law, Nancy Smith Greer, the wife of his late son, Jeffrey.