May 2, 2015
Donald Wayne
Seldin, MD, a Dallas physician and chair emeritus of internal medicine at The
University of Texas Southwestern Medical School (UT-Southwestern), has been
honored with the 2015 Texas Medical Association (TMA) Distinguished Service Award. He received TMA’s top honor today during TexMed,the association’s annual conference in Austin. TMA’s Board of Councilors ethics body selected him for the award.
“I feel highly honored to receive the Distinguished
Service Award of the Texas Medical Association,” said Dr. Seldin, an internist
and nephrologist. The 62-year member of TMA and the Dallas County Medical
Society added, “I regard this award not only as a tribute to my own
contributions, but also a recognition of the achievements and performance of my
students, house-staff, and fellows. They have distinguished our institution academically
and clinically. The award surely gives due recognition to this achievement.”
Dr. Seldin was born in New York City in 1920, the
child of an immigrant and first-generation American. After his family lost its savings
in the Great Depression, Dr. Seldin worked a variety of jobs to help support
his family, including grocery delivery boy, ballroom dancing instructor, and
theater usher for the New York Paramount.
When he entered Yale Medical School in 1940, World War
II had broken out overseas. “I was in the army while in medical school,” said
Dr. Seldin. “I was in uniform, and we marched. Exactly how this would play out
was a matter of great uncertainty.”
After medical school, he was sent to Munich, Germany,
just as the war was ending. There, he became chief of the medical service, and
even testified as an expert witness against a Nazi physician from the Dachau
concentration camp.
After completing his army service, Dr. Seldin returned
to the United States and began his decades-long career as a medical instructor,
first in the Department of Internal Medicine at Yale, and then as an associate
professor and later chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at UT-Southwestern.
He has been called “the intellectual father of UT-Southwestern.”
“During his 37 years as chairman at UT-Southwestern,
Dr. Seldin built one of the three or four strongest departments of medicine in
the world,” said Dan L. Locker, MD, chair of TMA’s Board of Councilors. “When
Seldin became chairman of the Department of Medicine in 1952, he was its only
full-time member. When he stepped down in 1987, the medical faculty was 125
times larger. At the same time, he was a highly productive researcher and one
of the world’s finest medical statesmen.”
“We’re proud of the medical school; we’re proud of the
institution,” Dr. Seldin said of UT-Southwestern. “We’re proud of the faculty
and students who have emerged here and conferred upon us a great deal of
dignity.”
Dr. Seldin taught thousands of medical students and residents,
many of whom have made exceptional contributions to medicine. One of his past students
is Joseph Goldstein, MD, who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or
Medicine in 1985 jointly with Michael Brown, MD, who refers to Dr. Seldin as
“my hero.”
“Treat all patients with respect and dignity and with
equal value,” Dr. Seldin’s students recall him saying frequently during his
teaching sessions. “Good care is not good enough. It must be great care.”
Dr. Seldin is no stranger to leadership roles, honors,
and awards. He served as president of seven professional associations and has
six honorary doctorates from universities. In addition to TMA’s Distinguished
Service Award, Dr. Seldin has been awarded the Kober Medal from the Association
of American Physicians; the John P. Peters Award from the American Society of
Nephrology; the David M. Hume Award from the National Kidney Foundation; the
Distinguished Teacher Award from the American College of Physicians; the Robert
H. Williams Distinguished Chairman of Medicine Award from the Association of
Professors of Medicine; and the Volhard Medal of the German Society of
Nephrology.
He has three children with his first wife, Muriel
Goldberg, who passed away in 1994. In 1998, he married Ellen Taylor, MD. At 94 years
old, Dr. Seldin remains active in teaching and writing.
TMA is the largest state
medical society in the nation, representing more than 48,000 physician
and medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 110 component
county medical societies around the state. TMA’s key objective since 1853 is to
improve the health of all Texans.
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Contact: Steve Levine (512) 370-1380; Cell: (512) 750-0971; e-mail: steve.levine[at]texmed[dot]org
Brent Annear (512) 370-1381; Cell: (512) 656-7320;
e-mail: brent.annear[at]texmed[dot]org