Harvard Medical School Grads Practice Throughout Country

A survey of graduates of the Harvard Medical School indicates that about 70 per cent of the school's alumni are practicing in areas other than New England.

Carl W. Walter '28, Clinical Professor of Surgery Emeritus and coordinator of the survey, said yesterday that the large numbers of Harvard graduates practicing in the mid-west and far west indicates that the popular conception of Harvard Med as primarily a local school is unfounded.

The survey also indicated that 49 per cent of the school's alumni who are still actively practicing medicine spend most of their time in direct patient care, while only 11 per cent are primarily engaged in medical research.

Another 11 percent are involved in medical administration.

Walter said the percentage of graduates involved in direct patient care is an indication of the type of education they received at the Medical School.

"If the students are given a thorough background in medicine, they're going to go out and practice medicine," he said.

Dr. Perry J. Culver '37, director of Alumni Relations for the Harvard Medical Alumni Association, said last night that "Harvard is a national medical school, which produces a great number of primary care physicians as well as academicians."

The survey also indicated that medicine and surgery were the two most popular primary specialties of Medical School alumni, with 29 per cent and 22 per cent of the graduates, respectively, participating in those two fields.