Loma Linda University School of Medicine News
March 23, 2000
- School of Medicine names Alumnus of the Year and four Honored Alumni
- 68th Annual Postgraduate Convention held March 1 through 10
School of Medicine names Alumnus of the Year and four Honored Alumni
Louis L. Smith, MD, recently retired professor of surgery at Loma Linda University School of Medicine, was named Alumnus of the Year by the School of Medicine Alumni Association for the year 2000 at their annual homecoming banquet held Tuesday, March 7.
|
|
 |
| Louis L. Smith, MD |
Dr. Smith, who joined the School of Medicine department of surgery in 1959, attained the rank of full professor in 1968. During his distinguished tenure, he established the vascular surgery residency program at Loma Linda University Medical Center.
Born in College Place, Washington, Dr. Smith took his undergraduate education at Pacific Union College, Angwin, and Walla Walla College, College Place, Washington.
He entered Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 1945, and graduated in 1949. Following a two-year internship, he completed a five-year surgery residency at Los Angeles County General Hospital.
During a two-year military leave beginning in 1952, he was chief of surgery at the United States Air Force Base Hospital in Japan.
In 1957, the National Institutes of Health awarded him two years of study at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. His surgery boards were completed in 1959. In 1984, he earned board certification in general vascular surgery.
Dr. Smith has distinguished himself as an author. During his medical career, he has authored more than 100 scientific articles and 15 book chapters.
He holds membership in the American Surgical Society, American College of Surgeons, American Medical Association, and in the Western Vascular Society--of which he is a charter member.
Among his numerous and varied leadership roles at the School of Medicine, Dr. Smith was the director of the surgical research laboratory from 1958 to 1984; chief of the vascular service from 1971 to 1990, and co-founder of the Walter E. Macpherson Society, of which he served as president from 1964 to 1967.
Dr. Smith also served as president of the Southern California College of Surgeons from 1979 to 1980, governor of the American College of Surgeons from 1982 to 1988, and as president of the School of Medicine Alumni Association from 1986 to 1987.
In addition, Dr. Smith is a member of the Alumni Association's executive committee, and the Association's board of directors.
He has been chair of the School of Medicine Alumni Association alumni fund council since 1995, and is a member of the Loma Linda University Councilors.
Honored alumni
|
|
 |
|
James G. Haughton, MD |
Recognized as honored alumni during the School of Medicine banquet were James G. Haughton, MD, a 1950 graduate; Carl Jansen, MD, a 1963 graduate; Earl C. Mercill, MD, a 1950 graduate, and Robert D. Mitchell, MD, a 1947 graduate.
Dr. Haughton was born in Panama City, Panama. He graduated from Pacific Union College, Angwin, prior to entering LLU School of Medicine.
Following his graduation, he interned at Unity Hospital, Brooklyn, New York, and served as a child health clinician in the New York City health department from 1958 to 1960.
Dr. Haughton earned a master's degree in public health from Columbia University, New York City, in 1962. He then served as deputy commissioner of the New York City department of health and hospitals from 1966 to 1970.
He has served in a wide variety of positions including professor of family medicine at Drew University of Medicine and Science in New Jersey, 1987; medical director and chief-of-staff of the King/Drew Medical Center of Los Angeles County from 1987 to 1993; and senior health services policy advisor to the Los Angeles County department of health services from 1993 to 1996.
 |
|
|
Carl Jansen, MD |
After graduating in 1958 from Southern Missionary College [now Southern University of Seventh-day Adventists], Collegedale, Tennessee, he was awarded the Atomic Energy Commission radiological physics fellowship. He completed the one-year fellowship program before entering Loma Linda University.
After an internship at Memorial Mission Hospital, Asheville, North Carolina, Dr. Jansen completed a radiology residency program at the University of Missouri Medical Center, Columbia. In 1968, he was named the James Picker Advanced Fellow in academic radiology nuclear medicine. He earned board certifications in 1968 and 1972.
Dr. Jansen has served in a variety of positions including chair of radiology at San Bernardino County Medical Center from 1975 to the present; and since 1997, as associate medical director of the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in San Bernardino.
In April, 2000, Dr. Jansen will receive the Computerworld Smithsonian Award, which will be on a year-long display in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Mercill, a native of Seattle, Washington, attended Walla Walla College, College Place, Washington, before entering the School of Medicine.
|
|
 |
| Earl C. Mercill, MD |
After graduating in 1950, Dr. Mercill interned at Glendale Adventist Hospital. He practiced medicine in Compton until 1954.
During the Korean conflict, Dr. Mercill entered the United States Air Force and was stationed in Mineral Wells, Texas, from 1954 to 1956. From 1956 to 1966, he practiced medicine in Bakersfield.
A pharmacist friend introduced him to the community of Hayfork, where he moved his family and practice in 1966. For the next 29 years, he worked as the lone physician in the small community. To thank him for his dedicated service, Hayfork residents engraved his name on a 13-foot clock, which was placed in the Hayfork town square during a special recognition ceremony.
Dr. Mitchell, who was born in Bellingham, Washington, in 1923, received his undergraduate education at La Sierra College [now La Sierra University], Riverside.
After graduating from the School of Medicine in 1947, Dr. Mitchell interned at LLUMC and completed his residency at the Veterans Administration hospitals in Van Nuys and Long Beach.
 |
|
|
Robert D. Mitchell, MD |
Dr. Mitchell has held academic appointments in the School of Medicine since 1956, and became professor of medicine in 1981. He served as chief of the gastroenterology section from 1977 to 1985, and as director of the gastroenterology laboratory form 1971 to 1984, and again from 1987 to 1988.
He is board certified in internal medicine and in the subspecialty of gastroenterology. Dr. Mitchell has published numerous journal articles and book chapters.
Society memberships include the American Medical Association, American Gastroenterology Association, American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the San Bernardino County Medical Society.
He is a platinum perpetual member of the School of Medicine Alumni Association and has been a member of the Alumni Association board of directors.
Dr. Mitchell is also a member of the Loma Linda University Councilors.
All contents copyright © 2001 Loma Linda
University. All rights reserved.
Revised
Tuesday, January 30, 2001 10:55 AM
Send comments and questions to webmaster@univ.llu.edu
URL: /