Winter 1966

Summer 1989

Winter 1966

“The revolution in clinical pathology at Yale is two-fold. On the technical side, new methods of testing and data processing developed in the clinical laboratories are resulting in services of unmatched quality in numbers sufficient to meet the needs of patients. Last year the laboratories performed 750,000 tests in clinical chemistry, clinical microscopy, microbiology, and the blood bank.

“A second and perhaps more fundamental change is the emergence of a new section of clinical pathology, or laboratory medicine, in which the laboratories and their functions have been integrated in the interests of improving teaching, research, and patient care. The section has functioned so successfully that a number of medical schools are using it as a prototype for establishing departments of clinical pathology. …

“Last year the laboratory instituted a data logging system that transfers information from the analytical instruments to a Hollerith card, simultaneously printing and punching the data to render the report both human-readable and machine-readable. Machine reading can be done by a simple card sorter or by a general purpose digital computer which Dr. Seligson hopes to acquire for the laboratories. As a prelude to the computerization of reports, he has just this year initiated a cumulative report format whereby a patient’s record can be updated each time new information is obtained by the laboratory. The physician is now able to study the data easily, in serial fashion, without having to thumb through the patient’s chart.”

Summer 1989

“Approximately 700 of the world’s leading geneticists gathered at the University during the week of June 11 to fit together more pieces in the complex jigsaw puzzle known as the human genome. Using the latest computer technology, leaders of the 10th International Workshop of Human Gene Mapping tabulated extensive new data concerning the position of human genes on chromosomes. Thus far, the positions of about 1,700 of the estimated 100,000 human genes have been verified. The amount of data concerning the genome has doubled every three years in the decade-and-a-half since mapping began.

“The workshop was hosted by Frank H. Ruddle, Ph.D., the Sterling Professor of Biology and Human Genetics, and Kenneth K. Kidd, Ph.D., professor of human genetics, biology and psychiatry. Professor Ruddle organized the first such international workshop at Yale in 1973. Since then, the meetings have been held every other year at different locations around the world.

“The U.S. government has committed $200 million a year for the next 15 years to map the structure of human genes, an effort that already has helped physicians better understand such inherited diseases as Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and some forms of cancer.”