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Template:Did you know nominations/Donald Seldin

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The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Cwmhiraeth (talk) 05:56, 10 May 2018 (UTC)

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Donald Seldin

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  • ... that Donald Seldin was the longest serving chair of medicine in the United States after being appointed because the only other faculty member quit? Source: "And just six months after he arrived in Texas in 1951, he was named department chairman of what is now the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center — only because he was the last surviving full-time faculty member after the professor who recruited him had quit." and "he had served 36 years as chairman of Southwestern’s department of internal medicine — setting a record for the longest tenure as a department chairman in American medicine" [1]
    • ALT1:... that Donald Seldin served as chair of the department of medicine at UT Southwestern for 36 years after being appointed because the only other faculty member quit? Source: "And just six months after he arrived in Texas in 1951, he was named department chairman of what is now the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center — only because he was the last surviving full-time faculty member after the professor who recruited him had quit." and [When Dr. Seldin retired in 1988, he had served 36 years as chairman of Southwestern’s department of internal medicine] [2]
    • ALT2: ... that Donald Seldin, a prominent nephrologist and an early leader of UT Southwestern Medical School, developed his interest in medical ethics after testifying against a Nazi doctor at Dachau at age 27? Source: [3]
    • ALT3: ... that during his 36 years as chair of medicine, Donald Seldin transformed UT Southwestern from a school housed in a dilapidated barracks with a single faculty member into a world-class medical center with five Nobel laureates? Source: [4]
  • Reviewed: first nomination

Created/expanded by Natureium (talk). Self-nominated at 20:17, 3 May 2018 (UTC).

  • Thank you for creating an article on someone clearly very notable and very interesting. The article is well structured with sections, citations/references and its great to have listed his honors and awards.
  • There is no mention of what he actually did, particularly pioneering work on renal tubular function and adrenal steroids and most importantly more on his role as medical educator.
  • The story about being an expert witness at Dachau is interesting and I note that he retells this story frequently. Do you know who the Nazi doctor was and whether he was really executed? There is a wiki article on notable executions at Dachau. [5] Book with his story. [6].
  • Maybe include selected publications, including [7], [8].
  • The hook is interesting to me but unlikely to most. He gave evidence at Dachau resulting in death sentence, or saved lives with his pioneering research, created a world class medical school from army shack etc might be more interesting.
  • Ping me when you have had another look. I’ll help where able. The subject will be great for dyk, well done. Whispyhistory (talk) 05:13, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
  • Whispyhistory I've added more information that I found. I haven't been able to identify the physician he testified against at Dachau. If you have any suggestions for an hook, feel free. Natureium (talk) 17:16, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
Comment Intrigued, I looked at the Dachau claim. It's in numerous sources but they all seem to trace back to Seldin and nowhere does he state which doctor it was nor does he state the exact sentence as far as I can see, just saying it was "appropriate". If this actually happened as he tells it wouldn't it be recorded in some sort of official records and the name of the doctor known, particularly if he was executed? I wonder if the story got exaggerated over the years? I am not arguing for it to be removed from the article because it is in the sources but I don't like a hook based on it. I would suggest going on his medical research. I am happy to be contradicted if anyone can verify the Nazi bit. Philafrenzy (talk) 18:49, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
It's possible that it was exaggerated over time. At least one source says he was sentenced to death. It does seem strange that I can't find anywhere the name of the doctor. Natureium (talk) 21:10, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
Article is much more informative. I'll have a think. In meantime, your last source above says he saw “shacks and trash” which he was major part in transforming into “UT Southwestern Medical School" which "would go on to produce some of the most important medical research in the world”. If that information is included in the article then a possible interesting hook may result. That's just one idea. Whispyhistory (talk) 07:33, 6 May 2018 (UTC)
Whispyhistory I've made a few more tweaks to the article and added another possible alt. Natureium (talk) 14:02, 8 May 2018 (UTC)

Natureium Looking better.

  • One citation needed (tagged).
  • "He attributed his interest in medical ethics to this experience." I can't see this in the cited source [9]. Double check please.
  • Shorter hooks are easier to glance. Your revised hooks are much more interesting btw. Consider shorter ALT4 and if can adjust in article and cite then ALT5
  • ALT4: ... that Donald Seldin transformed UT Southwestern from a dilapidated barracks into a world-class medical center with five Nobel laureates?
  • ALT5: ... that Donald Seldin attributed his interest in humane medicine to his story about testifying against a Nazi doctor at Dachau.[10] - this would have to be in article. Ideas only, otherwise ALT3 most appropriate. Whispyhistory (talk) 18:09, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
  • Re "He attributed his interest in medical ethics to this experience." I must have attached the wrong source. That comes from [11]:
"Based on three days of Seldin’s testimony, the German doctor was convicted and sentenced to death. Later, Seldin would talk about the horror of seeing medicine employed to torment people. The German physician had struck Seldin as dignified, intelligent, crisp—and morally detestable. It made an impression. Such despicable doctors, he always thought, were an indictment of the entire German society. For years, Seldin would stress to both students and faculty the importance of integrity, of practicing humane medicine."
  • It's possible that alts 3 and 4 could be read to mean that Seldin alone was responsible for the school's transformation, but I suppose people could just read the article for clarification. Really, I'm fine with any of the alts. Natureium (talk) 18:40, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
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