1970's Alumni Stories

HumBio area of study: mental health
Dr. Keith Brodie was my mentor. He sponsored my Human Biology special project. I chose to study psychiatrists' attitudes concerning LGBT people. Under Dr. Brodie's supervision, I learned how to do social science research. My entire career has been devoted…

The Human Biology Program gave me the opportunity to work with extraordinary faculty and student in designing an interdisciplinary course of study. I was fortunate to serve as a student representativ (along with Vince Siciliano) on the original founding committee of the Program. I will be…

HumBio area of study: Environmental planning.
Human bio provided an integrated look at the world and life and I have never ceased doing that. If we run our lives and businesses with an integrated respective including purpose, profit, people, and planet we can achieve joy and meaning.

I was going to be a math major which was reinforced when Professor Baker congratulated me on having the highest score on the calculus final my freshman year. However, the next year I hit differentials and realized that mathematicians just had a different world view and brain than I had. My…

HumBio area of study: City Planning.
I will never forget the standing ovations for Dr. Pittendrigh's first two lectures or Don Kennedy demonstrating how frogs jump on his hands and knees in Cubberley Auditorium. As part of the inaugural class of Hum Bio, we worked with the senior faculty to…

Area of Study: Evolutionary Biology

Human Biology changed my life - twice. Through the program, I had the opportunity to visit Gombe Stream Research Center to study chimpanzees. After 6 months at Gombe, I decided that medicine wasn't all that interesting and became a professional…

Thought I would be a physicist until I met the real future physicists in my freshman dorm. Cambodia Spring on campus and two quarters in Vienna completed the disruption of that path. Returned in spring of '71 with no major, no affinity group, (remember that quarter?) and no clue. Fortunately, I…

I never realized how true the need to integrate social and biological sciences would be until I started working in mining and then the oil and gas industry and tried to make a difference in employee health and environmental impacts. Human Biology gave me the broad "systems thinking" approach to…

HumBio area of study: Primates, Gombe alumna.
Like Cay Craig, I am one of the group that worked at Gombe, studying chimpanzees - and I returned to continue with chimps at the Stanford Outdoor Primate Facility. In 2008, I returned to East Africa, and learned chimps are extinct in 4 countries…

I am appreciative of my Human Bio roots coming from the class of '74. I was free to pursue passions that eventually landed me in medical school but after a Peace Corps tour and time to sort out my dreams. I have practiced pediatrics for 25 years in an urban poor primary care facility affiliated…

Seeing great instructors and people who lived their belief system influenced me greatly. Jane Goodall who put her life on the line to protect and study primates, Dr. Kennedy who was a fantastic mentor and role model...All of them led me to a life that includes service.

HumBio research project: Lipid Tissue Extracts on Glucose Metabolism. I was deciding whether to major in Biology or HumBio in the spring of 1972. I attended both lectures of Bio 1 and HumBio 1 when the mosquitos in the bromeliads in Trinidad captured my interest forever. I was hooked. I loved…

HumBio area of study: Anthropology.
I have always loved seeing the big picture, but Human Biology taught me the importance of learning the basics to give depth to the broader connections. So I did family medicine in a small Idaho town for 17 years but came to believe the health of my…

HumBio area of study:Gerontology, Primate Behavior.
As a Human Biology student adviser, teaching assistant and research assistant, I had the privilege of working with some of the best professors Stanford had to offer: Donald Kennedy, David Hamburg, Jane Goodall among others. I learned how to…

HumBio area of study: Education/Psychology.
I was in Jane Goodall's class and on the last day someone wore an ape suit and gave her a bouquet of roses! HumBio gave me a comprehensive overview of people, helping me glimpse the mysterious links between our physical and social aspects. I liked…

"Interdepartmental" was the hook that brought me to Human Bio. To look at the world and assess it from multiple disciplines became the inspiration for my career as an Emergency Physician and interest in injury prevention and public advocacy. The crew of students and faculty became my family…

HumBio area of study: Air Conditioning?! I can still do the baboon alarm bark and the chimpanzee "excited, I've found food" calls from Jane Goodall's class - great party tricks and highly amusing to small children. I frequently quote Ehrlich's Rule Number One: "Don't Be Stupid."  Great…

Although I have rarely referred to my Human Bio background during my accounting career, I remain fascinated by the fields of neurobiology, psychology & sociology. It has framed my perspective on human behavior. Oh, and I still fondly remember all those great lecturers: particularly Sandy…

HumBio was just what I wanted to do: biology, social science and policy. It broadened my perspectives and deepened my understanding. Not sure why knuckle-walking sticks in my head, but I've seen plenty of it in politics since! I have enjoyed many years in community-oriented family practice in…

HumBio area of study: Native American Culture and Society.
Learning the science core helped me to go on to become more focused on Medicine. I subsequently went to Medical School and now practice Emergency Medicine in a small town in Nevada.

HumBio area of study: Autism.
Hum Bio definitely influenced my career. It introduced me to the idea of studying the cause of disease and illness and of disease PREVENTION instead of treatment. I still remember Don Kennedy talking about running to the Dish and then taking a cold shower to…

I have been working the field of preventive medicine and public health for over 20 years. Looking back on my Human Biology experience, I now see that the core curriculum was perfect preparation for my career in this specialty of medicine. Unfortunately, as an undergraduate, I didn't know…

HumBio area of study: Geriatrics.
Loved my HumBio days. I feel that they prepared me well for my future studies and my perspective on life. "The Donald" (Kennedy) was one of my inspirations.

HumBio area of study: Epidemiology.
Great students and great teachers. I still remember Don Kennedy's wonderful lectures on nerve impulses. It inspired me to become a physician. It would be a better story if I became a neurophysiologist, but instead, I'm a medical epidemiologist with the…

Area of Study:  Health Care Policy.

Effect of HumBio on my life - Two things, really. First, I remember designing my own hospital administration internship with the hospital CEO in my hometown and spending the summer after my sophomore year having…