Curran, Jean Alonzo, 1893-

Jean Alonzo Curran (1893-1977), MD, 1921, Harvard Medical School, was a medical educator, historian, administrator, and consultant based in New York City and Boston, Mass. Curran was president of Long Island College of Medicine from 1942 to 1951 and oversaw the merger of the Long Island College of Medicine with the State University of New York to become the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in 1950. He was a consultant for historical research to Harvard School of Public Health from 1964 to 1968 and published Founders of the Harvard School of Public Health with Biographial Notes, 1909-1946, in 1970. Curran was a medical adviser to the World Health Organization where he completed studies of medical education in the Philippines, Lebanon, Iran, and Pakistan. He also served as a trustee for the Bingham Associates Fund of Bethel, Maine, and participated in over 50 studies of hospitals, contributing to the development of regional health care systems in the United States.

Dean and president of Downstate Medical Center.

Jean Alonzo Curran (JAC), President of the Long Island College of Medicine from 1941 to 1951, was a consultant for historical research at the Harvard School of Public Health and focused on international medical missionary work, historical medical research, and medical school administration, education, and consulting. JAC was born on 12 January 1893 in Ironwood, Michigan. He received his AB degree in biology from Carleton College in Minnesota in 1916, and his MD from Harvard Medical School (HMS) in 1921. JAC interned at Brooklyn Hospital in New York City from 1921 to 1923; in 1923 he married Frances Rose (FRC), a graduate nurse at Brooklyn Hospital. From 1923 to 1930 JAC served at the Carleton-in-China Mission Hospital, located in the city of Fenchow, Shansi Province, in northwest China. The hospital operated under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and was partially supported by the China Medical Board of New York, a division of the Rockefeller Foundation.

After returning to the United States in 1930, JAC became a medical educator and consultant. He was a medical instructor at both Cornell Medical College and New York University College of Medicine in New York City from 1931 to 1933. JAC was named dean of the Long Island College of Medicine (LICM) in 1937, a position he held until 1940 when he was appointed acting president of the institution; he subsequently served as president from 1942 to 1951. While president of LICM, JAC oversaw the merger of the LICM with the State University of New York (SUNY) to become the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in 1950; he served as President there through 1951. JAC was appointed Dean of the newly-formed institution in 1951, a position he held until 1954, when he was named Associate Executive Dean for Medical Education. JAC simultaneously served as Professor of the History of Medicine from 1954 to 1963.

Throughout his career, JAC was a medical consultant to both government and private philanthropic organizations. During World War II, JAC served on the War Manpower Commission and acted as a consultant to the United States Army Surgeon General from 1948 to 1967. JAC also served as a medical adviser to the World Health Organization from 1955 to 1959, for whom he completed a survey of medical education among private universities in the Philippines and conducted a study of medical curriculum and systems of teaching in Lebanon, Iran and Pakistan. In 1961, JAC served as a consultant to the Medical College and Severance Hospital Center of Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea, and contributed to the planning, construction, and organization of the new medical center. JAC traveled to East Pakistan, (later Bangladesh) in January 1963 to provide recommendations to and to assist the government of Pakistan with the development of medical colleges and teaching hospitals in East Pakistan under the auspices of the United States Agency of International Development. From 1955 to 1977, JAC was a trustee and a senior medical consultant to the Bingham Associates Fund (BAF) of Bethel, Maine, participating in studies of 50 hospitals affiliated with the BAF program and contributing to the advancement of regional health care in the United States. JAC later served as a consultant to the Health Facilities Planning Council of Maine from 1965 to 1967, where he participated in regional medical and health studies of Portland, Lewiston, northern Aroostook County, and the Bangor-northeastern areas of Maine. JAC also was a consultant for historical research to the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) from 1964 to 1968, and later chaired the Joseph Garland Memorial Fund of the Boston Medical Library from 1973 to 1977.

JAC co-authored Unmet Needs in the Medical Care of Rural People, State of Maine, a substantial report highlighting critical health care issues in Maine’s rural communities. JAC published a history of HSPH, Founders of the Harvard School of Public Health, With Biographical Notes, 1909-1946 in 1970. He also published numerous articles on the history of medicine and medical education throughout his career.

JAC died on 16 January 1977.