Carl Hopkins Statistical Methods Colloquium papers

The Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (PHPM) was officially founded in 1941; however, its story and mission to promote optimum health and avoid disease and injury begins before that time and continues today. The University of Oregon Medical School was established in 1887 through a merger with Willamette University and it moved to Marquam Hill between 1913-1919. Infectious disease was taught in a single lecture. In 1919 when Dr. Harry J. Sears, Professor of Bacteriology, arrived, he began teaching a course in bacteriology and infectious disease. He was fascinated by the causes of and treatments for influenza, typhoid, and diphtheria. Adolph Weinzirl attended the medical school between 1922-25 and then went on to obtain a CPH from Johns Hopkins Medical School. He was hired as Portland City Health Officer in 1937. At 6’ tall he cut an imposing figure. Dr. Sears enlisted the aid of his former student as a volunteer faculty member to help teach his class and also recruited Frederick D. Stricker, M.D., the state health officer to participate. When the state health officer retired, Weinzirl assumed responsibility for teaching the entire class. Weinzirl was also tireless in his efforts as Portland Health Officer and during the 1938 smallpox epidemic he organized educational talks in the area and the vaccination of 6,000 school children. He also served as medical director for a hospital for children with serious communicable diseases who were refused treatment at local hospitals.

In 1939 a local ophthalmologist, E.C. Brown, passed away and since he had no heirs, left his money and land holdings (including city blocks in downtown Portland near the current Multnomah County Library) in a trust to focus on social hygiene (later known as public health), family life, and sex education, especially prevention of venereal disease. An advisory board was appointed for the trust and Weinzirl was named as Foundation Director, although he referred to himself as an interim director. Weinzirl resigned from his position as Portland Health Officer and was appointed as a full-time faculty member at OHSU. He established the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine when he accepted the position in 1941 and housed the E.C. Brown Foundation within the department, located in the Baird Hall basement. Weinzirl kept very active with the American Public Health Association, the Western Branch of APHA, and as a founding member of the Oregon Public Health Association in 1944. In 1945 he worked with state legislators to pass a law making health and physical education required subjects for all 12 grades of public school. The subjects were to include the structure and function of the human body, communicable diseases, mental health, personal hygiene, community health and sanitation, and nutrition. Oregon became widely known as the first state to require sex education in its schools. Weinzirl was officially appointed as Chair of the department in 1947.

In 1949 the department was able to receive enough state funding to pay for Weinzirl’s salary, a secretary, and to hire Carl Hopkins to teach biostatistics (Weinzirl had been teaching it part time). Two more courses were added.

Carl E. Hopkins, Ph.D., M.P.H. (1912-2002) Took a B.A. at Dartmouth (1933); an A.M. at Harvard (1935); Ph.D., Harvard (1948) and later an M.P.H. at Johns Hopkins (1957). During WWII he worked duing statistical work for Kaiser Shipyards in Portland (1941-46). After WWII he worked with the U.N. Relief and Rehabilitation Agency in Shanghai, China (1946-49). It was during this period he was originally recruited by UOMS, and began to work in Public Health and Preventive Medicine under Dr. Weinzirl (1949). While at UOMS he authored about 20 articles.In 1960 he left UOMS for Southern California, where he began working for UCLA, ultimately joining their School of Public Health (1964). While there he wrote 80 articles. Known as a keyboardist on organ and piano; he was also known at UOMS for being part of a play-reading group with Dr. Howard S. Mason and Dr. Charles M. Grossman.