An influential "family tree"
One of the 118 "students" in the year 2000 Short Course in
Medical and Experimental Mammalian Genetics last summer was a
last-year medical student from the University of Iceland, Hans
Thomas Bjornsson. The Johns Hopkins Magazine was
indirectly responsible for his being there in Bar Harbor. He
found on the Internet the account by Elise Hancock in the
November 1996 issue titled "The Short Course That's Long on
Influence." He concluded that this course is exactly what he
needed to launch a career in medical genetics
Hancock's article may also have had something to do with the
unusually cosmopolitan "student" body. Icelandic was only one of
21 native tongues represented by the student body. Eighty-eight
of the 118 students were academics (including some full
professors and department chairs); seven came from biotechnology
or pharmaceutical industry; 23 were trainees, mostly post-docs,
with selected pre-docs.
The Short Course, which has been two weeks throughout, began in
1960 with 45 students; this year's crop brought the total number
up to 4,056. A considerable number of these students are
represented also among the 459 faculty members [who have taught
over the years].
Victor A. McKusick, MD
University Professor of Medical Genetics
RETURN TO
NOVEMBER 2000 TABLE OF CONTENTS.