Lawrence Lilienfield, former professor and chairman of the university’s department of physiology and biophysics for almost 30 years until his 1992 retirement, died Sept. 21 at Georgetown University Hospital.
According to an article in The Washington Post, Lilienfield helped make great strides within the medical community by contributing the first electronic textbooks in human physiology. He also created a medical school elective that enabled students to travel overseas to help care for refugees that suffered from political turmoil and natural disasters.
On the Hilltop, Lilienfield leaves behind another legacy, a program called the Special Master’s Program. The SMP, created by Lilienfield in 1975, leads to a Master of Science degree in Physiology, which helps college graduates strengthen their credentials for medical school applications. The premier and longest lived program of its sort, the SMP has a high success rate for graduates matriculating into medical school, with at least half of the students in the program gaining admission to medical school during their year of enrollment in the SMP.
Professor Susan Mulroney, the current director of the SMP, met Lilienfield at Georgetown in 1985 when she began pursuing her Ph.D. in the department. She became a faculty member in 1991, the year he retired. She recalls him being a good researcher, a strong chair and someone who was critically important in the expanding research in this department during the 1980s.
ulroney commented specifically on his contributions to the SMP. “This unique program was designed to enhance the academic records of students who wanted to go to medical school by making them take half of the first-year medical curriculum,” she said. “it was a brilliant gem of a program that has served to help several thousand students matriculate into medical schools over the past 35 years.”
ulroney added that Lilienfield was invested in faculty unity. “Dr Lilienfield always wanted the faculty to exchange ideas and communicate, and so they had lunch every day in the physiology library – something that kept him in touch and the faculty aware of what everyone else was doing,” she said, “I believe it was actually done so they could share jokes.”
Lilienfield is survived by his wife of 60 years, three daughters, a brother, six grandchildren and a great grandson.
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