Daniel J. Fink, M.D.

 

Introduction

The student papers of Daniel J. Fink, M.D. are unique among the archival collections of the Miner Library. Although there is abundant material on the curriculum and curricular changes in several of our faculty manuscript collections, there is nothing on undergraduate medical education at Rochester from the student perspective – apart from the Fink papers.

Boxes 1-3 contain material pertaining to Dr. Fink’s pre-clinical years, i.e., 1970/71-1971/72. These files are arranged by course, i.e., Biochemistry, Histology, Physiology, etc., and are remarkable in the scope and condition of the material retained. The course files typically include lecture, laboratory and conference schedules; classroom handouts; corrected quizzes and examinations; handwritten notes taken during lectures or notes from his reading, etc. It would be difficult to imagine a collection of material providing a more complete representation of pre-clinical training than what is retained in the Fink papers.

Box 4 contains second year course material; files pertaining to Dr. Fink’s clerkship and electives in 1972/73 and 1973/74; and four folders of correspondence pertaining to his admission to medical school and subsequent medical training. Box 5 contains miscellaneous files from his student years, including participation in the Student Curriculum Committee and Student-Faculty Committee. There are also several folders in this box from Dr. Fink’s residency in Cincinnati. Box 6 contains carefully maintained appointment calendars for the years 1970-1974; and Boxes 7-8 Dr. Fink's medicine bag and the microscope he used as a student. The Student Papers of Daniel J. Fink, M.D. were received in March 2011 and were processed in April of that year. The Fink papers are contained in eight boxes and occupy four linear feet.

The Education Wing had just been completed when Daniel Fink entered the School of Medicine in 1970

 

Biography

Daniel Fink was born and raised in Newark, N.J. in 1949. After graduating from Weequahic High School, alma mater of novelist Philip Roth, he majored in biology at Yale University. He was a member of Yale’s last all-male class when he graduated in 1970. Dr. Fink then entered the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, receiving his M.D. in 1974. He did his internal medicine residency at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center (1974-77) and was then a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, receiving the M.B.A. from the Wharton School in 1979.

After finishing his training in Philadelphia, Dr. Fink moved to Los Angeles, where he now resides. His career encompassed a number of clinical, administrative, and academic positions until he moved to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in 1995, where he is currently a member of the teaching faculty in internal medicine. Dr. Fink is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

The new Strong Memorial Hospital was nearing completion in 1973

Container LIst

Box One

• Folder 1: First & second year schedules
• Folder 2: Biochemistry (Sep-Oct 1970)
• Folder 3: Biochemistry (Oct 1970)
• Folder 4: Biochemistry (Nov-Dec 1970)
• Folder 5: Biochemistry (Jan 1971)
• Folder 6: Histology (Sep-Oct 1970)
• Folder 7: Histology (Nov 1970-Jan 1971)
• Folder 8: Medical care administration (Feb-Mar 1971)
• Folder 9: Medical care administration (Feb-Mar 1971)

Box Two

• Folder 1: Patient, physician & society (1971)
• Folder 2: Physiology (Feb 1971)
• Folder 3: Physiology (Feb-Mar 1971)
• Folder 4: Physiology (Mar-Apr 1971)
• Folder 5: Physiology (Apr-May 1971)
• Folder 6: Community medicine, health care & epidemiology (Sep-Oct 1971)
• Folder 7: Medical microbiology (Sep-Oct 1971)
• Folder 8: Medical microbiology (Nov-Dec 1971)
• Folder 9: Medical microbiology (Jan-Feb 1972)
• Folder 10: Medical microbiology: Laboratory exercises in microbiology

Box Three

• Folder 1: Neural sciences (1971-72)
• Folder 2: Neural sciences (1971-72)
• Folder 3: Neural sciences (1971-72)
• Folder 4: Neural sciences (1971-72)
• Folder 5: Neural sciences (1971-72)
• Folder 6: Pathology (Sep-Oct 1971)
• Folder 7: Pathology (Jan-Feb 1972)
• Folder 8: Pathology (Feb-Mar 1972)

Box Four

• Folder 1: Pharmacology (Feb-Mar 1972)
• Folder 2: Pharmacology (Apr 1972)
• Folder 3: Pharmacology (May 1972)
• Folder 4: Preventive medicine (1971-72)
• Folder 5: Medical clerkship (1972-73)
• Folder 6: Medical clerkship (1972-73)
• Folder 7: Medical clerkship (1973-74)
• Folder 8: Electives (1973-74)
• Folder 9: General correspondence (1970)
• Folder 10: General correspondence (1971)
• Folder 11: General correspondence (1972)
• Folder 12: General correspondence (1973)

Box Five

• Folder 1: Student curriculum committee (1971)
• Folder 2: Student-faculty committee (1970-72)
• Folder 3: Social life
• Folder 4: Miscellanea
• Folder 5: Student directories (1973-74)
• Folder 6: U.S. National Health Service. National health insurance: notes for report (1971)
• Folder 7: National Internship & Residency Program
• Folder 8: National Internship & Residency Program
• Folder 9: Commencement 1974
• Folder 10: UR Medical Center publications
• Folder 11: Cincinnati VA: general information for residents
• Folder 12: University of Cincinnati Medical Center: Medical clinic committee
• Folder 13: University of Cincinnati Medical Center: “Report from the house staff association” (1977)

Box Six

• Appointment calendars, 1970-1974

Box Seven

• Leather doctor's bag given by the Eli Lilly Co. to graduating medical students (1971)

Box Eight

• Student microscope: Ernst Leitz (Wetzlar, Germany) binocular microscope (1960s?) in wooden carrying case