Happy Thanksgiving!

 The staff at MedChi, along with Marcia Noyes, 
wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. 

We all know that Marcia is a "sturdy girl" and here she is, leading her Thanksgiving dinner right to the table. And afterwards, she'll make a pumpkin pie from her carriage!

Marcia's Anniversary Updated

In my last post, I mentioned that we will be meeting at Baltimore's historic Green Mount Cemetery to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the death of Marcia C. Noyes. 

In anticipation of this, I made a reconnaissance mission to the Cemetery this morning, so I could be sure where her grave is located. 

To enter the cemetery, you must either call them (the number is conveniently located on the front gate) or buzz them. The gates will open and you can drive in. The gates are not as narrow as they look!

The easiest thing is for everyone to meet just inside the cemetery a little before 11:00, and then we can all drive over together. Her grave is located in the north-east quadrant of the property. 

If you come in after we've left to drive over to the grave-site, the staff will give you directions to her grave. Once you get close, you should see cars parked near-by. 

The instructions I got were to drive up the drive about 100+ feet, take a left and then follow the stone wall around until you come to a long stretch of the wall along your left. It's just beyond that. There is a tall angel and two huge yew (or similar) bushes. 

Marcia's family's graves are to the left of the big bushes. Once you find it once, it's easy to find again. But having cars parked close by will be a big clue.

I will be leaving my office at about 10:45, so email me before then if you have any questions. 

We will look forward to seeing you at 11:00 on November 24 to celebrate the life of Marcia Noyes!

Marcia's Anniversary

I recently realized that the 75th Anniversary of the death of our beloved Marcia Crocker Noyes is fast approaching. She died on Sunday, November 24, 1946 at Eudowood Sanatorium in Towson.

She had been ill for several months, and the 50th anniversary party the members wanted to throw for her had to be moved from November to April. 

On Wednesday, November 24, 2021, weather permitting, we will be gathering at her grave at Baltimore's Greenmount Cemetery at 11:00 a.m. to leave flowers on her grave and pay our respects to her. Much of what MedChi is today is as a result of Marcia's work over 50 years, from 1896 to 1946. 

If you would like to join us for this commemoration and celebration, please email me here for more specific details. 

After all of these years, Marcia is still a part of MedChi!

A Brief Tour

On October 31, MedChi participated in the annual Doors Open Baltimore as the final event. If you think for a second, there was a reason for that... it was Halloween and we have a ghost!

Most of the events for this year's Doors Open were virtual, with only a very few being live, with the caveats of a limited audience and vaccine cards being presented at the venue. Sixteen people snatched up the limited spaces and met at the headquarters of MedChi in Mount Vernon. 

As I gave the tour, I talked about the history of the organization, our buildings and how we acquired them,  key players in medicine, the portraits, and much more. 

But since it was Halloween, I also talked about our ghost, Marcia Crocker Noyes, an accomplished woman who worked at the Faculty for 50 years, from 1896 to her death in 1946. 

Most of the stories are told with a hint of laughter and the feeling that this can't possibly be real, but after hearing story after story over the 75 years since Marcia's death, we can't help but think that her ghost does indeed inhabit our building.

All of the stories are benign, none are malicious, and mostly, they are of glimpses of a person, who on second glance, is not there, or of things being moved, or of footsteps on the stairs up to the apartment where Marcia lived from 1909 when the building was constructed until her death in 1946. 

According to an article in the Brickbuilder Magazine, circa 1912, the apartment had a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a bath, and a servant's room and bath. The apartment was also home to Marcia's two chow-chow dogs, including this one called LiLi. 

Several months before her death in November of 1946, a reception was held in Marcia's honor at the Faculty's building on Cathedral Street. 

As Dr. Albert Chatard said at Marcia's retirement about the building they'd created, "Miss Noyes created a reality of the hopes and dreams Dr. Osler formulated while he was at Hopkins… On this foundation, she worked constantly, before and after he left Baltimore, as his understudy to create an atmosphere both effective and genial, so that people would like to come to the building… and would feel that interesting and important things were going on under its roof."

But she was very important and interesting in her own right. For more on the many accomplishments of Marcia Noyes, please click here. 

Happy Halloween!

Marcia and the Staff at MedChi wish everyone a 

Happy Halloween!

Call for Nominations: Margret Zassenhaus Award

H. Margret Zassenhaus was was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1916.  She moved to Baltimore in 1952. She is best known for her work against the Nazis prior to and during World War II.  Her first act of defiance was as a schoolgirl when she refused to salute Hitler as ordered.   

During the years that followed the war, she earned a degree in Scandinavian languages while taking medical classes at the same time. After completing her studies, she was hired by the German Department of Justice to censor mail written by Jews in Polish ghettos to friends and relatives in Scandinavia.  She used this opportunity to pursue her work against the Nazis. Instead of deleting passages from the letters, she wrote messages in the margins asking for help and offering hope.

In 1952, Dr. Zassenhaus immigrated to Baltimore, where she served her internship and residency at City Hospital. She opened a medical office in 1954, practicing for many years before retiring.

She received the A. H. Robins Award for outstanding community service in 1986 from the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, and honorary degrees from Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College), Goucher College, the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Washington College, Towson State University (now Towson University) and the University of Maryland, College Park.*

There is a plaque in her honor at the historic Zion Lutheran Church just across from City Hall in downtown Baltimore. 

On the occasion of Dr. Zassenhaus's death in 2004, MedChi and many of her friends created the Margret Zassenhaus Profile in Courage Award. MedChi is now soliciting nominations for this award, and the criteria are as follows:

1. To recognize actions related to exemplary conduct and improvement in health care delivery.
2. To recognize actions involving some risk to the physician’s professional or personal status for the good of patient care.
3. To recognize actions of social significance in keeping with the MedChi and AMA Principles of Medical Ethics.
4. The award should be given to a Maryland physician.

The nomination should meet the following requirements:

1. The nomination be made by a MedChi member.
2. The nomination should be accompanied by a letter of nomination stating how the actions of the nominee meet the criteria.
3. There be at least one additional letter of support from a Maryland physician stating how the nominee exemplifies the intent of the award.

In evaluating nominees, preference will be given to nominees who are MedChi members, nominees who were not compensated for the recognized activities, and for actions done in the state of Maryland. 

We ask that you keep in mind, especially at this time when people in medicine have been so heroic taking care of COVID patients, anyone who you would think would be worthy of the Zassenhaus Award. Please send nominations here.

*Maryland Women's Hall of Fame Biography

Annual Ethics Lecture at House of Delegates Meeting

Just when we thought it was safe to have in-person meetings again, the Delta variant raised its ugly head and put a stop to all of that. So, the 434th House of Delegates meeting has moved from being in-person to a Zoom meeting. 

As part of the House meeting, the Ethics and Judicial Affairs Committee is presenting the Annual Ethics Lecture, To Mandate or Not to Mandate: The Ethics of Vaccinations, generously supported by Dr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Allen. The lecture will take place from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 6, 2021.

Click to enlarge

Please click here to register.