A man of exceptional talents and humanitarian concerns, surgeon EDGAR BERMAN (1915-1987) performed the first plastic esophagus implant on a human in 1950 and, in 1957, the first successful heart transplant on a dog. A pioneer in international family planning and rural health programs in the 1960s under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Dr. Berman was deeply moved by the many diseased and afflicted children he saw in his travels. As the head of MEDICO, he went, with his wife, to serve with Albert Schweitzer in French Equatorial Africa. (Their arrival is pictured.) Dr. Berman was also physician and confidant to the late Vice President Hubert Humphrey.
PHOEBE BERMAN was a staunch supporter of programs furthering international public health issues and brought an informed, impassioned voice to the international arena. Following her death in 1999, her estate provided a substantial endowment for the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.
NEW CHAIRHOLDER TO BE NAMED.