Pathways to Health in the 21st Century: Medicine at Yale
November 11-13, 2010

We are pleased to invite you to Assembly LXX, "Pathways to Health in the 21st Century: Medicine at Yale," which will be held November 11-13, 2010.

The Assembly dovetails with the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Yale School of Medicine, known originally as the Medical Institution of Yale College, in 1810. Yale and the Medical School are hosting a series of Bicentennial events during the 2010-2011 academic year. The AYA Board of Governors and staff are pleased to engage alumni in this celebration and dialogue about the past, present, and future of medicine at Yale.

Medical instruction at Yale was envisioned in the 18th century by the Reverend and later Yale President Ezra Stiles, at a time when there was only one medical school in the United States, at the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). He wrote: "There may be 200 Physicians in the State of Connecticutt. Their profession is very important to the public; these being entrusted with the Health of the Bodies of the People at large, as the 200 Ministers are by their profession called to attend to their spiritual State." The vision came to fruition under President Timothy Dwight. The Medical Institution of Yale College was chartered in 1810 and opened in 1813 at the intersection of Grove and Prospect Streets, as a joint project of Yale and the Connecticut Medical Society. Early faculty included Nathan Smith, Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic and Surgery, and Benjamin Silliman, Professor of Chemistry.

The Reverend Stiles foresaw the significance of formal medical training to public as well as private health, but he could not have imagined the explosions of knowledge and need that transformed medical practice, medical training, and medical research during the last two centuries. As the 21st century begins and the Yale School of Medicine enters its third century, this Assembly will examine Yale's leadership in medical education and research and the changing roles of medical education within the University itself.

Yale School of Medicine Dean Robert J. Alpern, M.D., will lead a plenary session for Assembly participants on Thursday morning. The plenary will be followed by panels and breakout sessions with faculty and staff discussing both teaching and research in medicine at Yale.

Friday will again feature updates about the progress of the AYA's Strategic Plan, the growing range of AYA-supported initiatives, and the work of alumni volunteers and leaders. Friday will also include a program of leadership development training and opportunities for alumni leaders to share best practices and learn from AYA staff and each other. The AYA is pleased to continue the practice of holding Assembly at the same time as the Yale Alumni Fund Convocation. AYA and YAF volunteers will come together for lunch on Friday to hear a University update by President Levin. There will also be the usual events of good fellowship: the Yale Medal Dinner, and the festivities around the Yale-Princeton football game as well as the opportunity to visit some of Yale's cultural institutions.

The annual AYA Assembly is a vital component of Yale's efforts to nurture relationships between the university and its alumni and to inspire alumni to express in their lives the values and traditions that they learned at Yale. It is an opportunity, moreover, to share again in the intellectual excitement and fellowship that is central to membership in the Yale community. And as always, it is a chance for attendees to learn about Yale, and about one another.

Please register soon and join us in New Haven on November 11-12, 2010.

Michael Madison '83, Chair, AYA Board of Governors