Medical Society Salutes 2

Medical Society Salutes 2
By LARRY BUSH
News Science Editor

Dr. Rhoda M. Powsner, local cardiologist, and Dr. L. Dell Henry, Ann Arbor allergist, were recipients of the Washtenaw County Medical Society’s second annual “outstanding doctor” awards at a society meeting Tuesday night in the Ann Arbor Town Club.
The area physicians also elected Dr. George W. Morley, U-M professor of obstetrics and gynecology, society president. He will succeed Dr. Roger W. Postums, outgoing president, on Jan. 1.
Dr. Daniel J. Fall, chief of staff at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, was named president-elect; Dr. Fred E. Patterson, radiologist at that hospital, was elected secretary; and Dr. Leonard H. Wolin, local urologist, was named treasurer.
Drs. Powsner and Dell were presented plaques by Dr. Postmus for their “outstanding service and contributions to the society, the medical profession and the community.”
Selected by a society committee chaired by Dr. Robert S. Ideson II, local family physician, the two women doctors were called appropriate selections by Dr. Postmus because “this is the year of the woman,” in addition to their outstanding contributions.
Dr. Powsner has spearheaded the drive in Michigan for medical malpractice arbitration forms that will be provided to Michigan hospitals and physicians for patient signing when the new state law goes into effect on Jan. 1.
“She has put us on the map with other states seeking advice from her on establishing arbitration.” Dr. Postmus said of the award recipient.
Dr. Powsner has been a member of the society’s executive council for the past four years, a delegate to the Michigan State Medical Society for the past three years, and has served as co-chairman of the joint Washtenaw County Medical Society-Washtenaw County Bar Association committee on malpractice arbitration.
She has traveled throughout the U.S. to obtain information on malpractice legislation and programs in other states. Dr. Postmus said her effort was “the start that snowballed into the new state law permitting malpractice arbitration.”
A 1949 graduate of Adelphi University, she received her doctor of medicine degree from the Yale University Medical School in 1953, and interned at Wayne County General Hospital. She pursued her residency in cardiology at the City of “Detroit” Receiving Hospital and the Dearborn Veterans Hospital.
Dr. Henry, who established the first private practice in Ann Arbor in the specialty of allergy in 1941, also was a leader in establishing the Pediatric Allergy Clinic at the U-M Medical Center.
A past president and member of the executive council of the Washtenaw County Medical Society, she was graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in bacteriology in 1922.
Dr. Henry served as senior bacteriologist with the Michigan Department of Health from 1922-1928, when she became chief of the University Hospital Division of Bacteriology here. She served in that post until 1931 when she decided to return to the University of Chicago to obtain a medical degree. She was graduated from the University of Chicago Medical School in 1935, and then interned and took a residency in pediatrics at the U-M Medical Center.
After engaging in private practice in Hammond, Ind., from 1937 to 1939, Dr. Henry returned to the U-M as an instructor in allergy and pediatrics, prior to establishing her private allergy practice in Ann Arbor which she continues on a four-day-a-week basis. She is a past president of the Michigan Allergy Society and of the Ann Arbor Zonta Club.
Voted in as new members of the county society at last night’s meeting were Dr. John McGillicuddy who was sponsored by Dr. Richard C. Schneider, U-M head of neurosurgery; Dr. Argueta Rodolfo who was sponsored by Dr. Alexander Gotz, local internist; and Dr. Tom Schultz who was sponsored by Dr. Howard R. Williams, local gynecologist; and Dr. Shirley Ann McCormack who was sponsored by Dr. Michael Papo of Chelsea.