It Sounds Like Hoosier Pride
ROBERT HOLDEN, MD '63, RETIRES AS DEAN
Robert Holden grew up in Indiana, the son of public school teachers.
But his early lessons went far beyond the three R's. The human politic
that infuses public school administration impressed young Robert,
who can clearly recall the heated talks when parents came calling
on his father, the superintendent, about their children. Robert's
take-away lessons not only included the dynamics of persuasive speech
but a bent toward leadership.
Seeking roles of leadership in whatever he tackled, Robert sought
opportunities available to rural Indiana youth. He was an American
Legion Boy's State representative, school thespian, basketball player,
school reporter and a member of Sigma Delta Chi at Purdue. He attended
the Methodist church in Martinsville, where he absorbed faith-based
values that have provided strength through times of personal loss
and adversity.
He credits Purdue University's pharmacy school for developing his
curiosity and giving him the framework for' his professional development,
and the: Army for his first taste of leadership.
As Robert Holden turned to medicine, he sought out mentors, many
now close friends, whose qualities he strived to integrate into
his character. He says IUSM colleague Eugene Klatte, MD 'S2, Dr.
Holden's teacher and boss as chairman of radiology, could inspire
him to do anything. Long-time colleague and teacher John Robb, MD,
was "a man's man." Harry Shumaker, MD, was "an awesome
surgeon." And Stan Battersby, MD '39, "is probably, technically,
the most proficient surgeon I've ever watched." He describes
recently retired John Mackey, MD (Dec.) '44, as "one of the
most genteel, wonderful human beings." Walter Daly, MD '55,
is "a terrific friend who has been my confidant during my times
of stress. I say he gives me group therapy; my wife says `that's
bunk, he gives you individual psychotherapy,"' chuckles Dr.
Holden.
"You go through life and pick people, impacts and experiences,
and you grow as you evolve," he says. "All of these things
have been instrumental, but when you come to the end, you can only
be as successful as the institution or company you work for allows
you to be."
His five years as dean have been a labor of love. "It's a
very pressure-packed job; on the other hand, it is a job made worthwhile
because the School is so important to Indiana," says Dr. Holden.
One of his most stimulating experiences has been as chief advocate
for an identifiable and cohesive medical school faculty As the physicians
at IUSM develop their business relationships with non-faculty who
share medical staff status in the Clarian Health-owned facilities
of Riley Hospital for Children, IU Hospital and Methodist Hospital,
he has sounded the waters to raise institutional pride. "I
am proud that I could promote and maintain consensus and endorsement
of the school's faculty at a provocative time for academic medicine,"
he says.
Dr. Holden has focused much of his energy on convincing Indiana's
legislators that state support of biomedical research in the School
of Medicine - and the university as a whole - is urgent. As federal
dollars flow into the National Institutes of Health (Congress just
proposed a budget that would increase the NIH budget by $2.7 billion
to $20.5 billion), he believes a robust biomedical research engine
will promote education, quality of life for Hoosiers, products for
commercial industry and dramatic disease cures or total avoidance
of disease.
The $50 million the General Assembly approved for the 1998-2000
biennial budget is the product of a concept Dr. Holden carried to
IU President Myles Brand, who championed it with the academic and
industry research communities. Dr. Holden looks forward to the upcoming
legislative session; this time he will be encouraging the General
Assembly to identify $100 million, with half for biomedical research,
half for technology research.
"The School must double its current level of research funding
from NIH over the next five years to remain a viable force among
medical schools," he says. "I hope Indiana will want to
promote this. Every dollar we bring to the table we can leverage
four-fold. We need a progressive and visionary Indiana."
"Robert Holden has been a superb dean and, even more importantly,
a wonderful, caring, committed person," says Gerald Bepko,
chancellor of IUPUI and vice president for strategic planning of
Indiana University. "I've been privileged to work with him."
A similar sentiment is echoed by the man Dr. Holden succeeded.
"Bob Holden's strength is identifying a vision which is contemporary
with the future and marshalling the resources to carry through with
it," says Dr. Daly "He's a passionate, honorable, emotional,
hard-working and surprising individual. By `surprising' I mean that
he's sufficiently independent in his thinking; he doesn't follow
the obvious railroad track."
The passion that Dr. Holden has brought to his work in the School
of Medicine during the past thirty years is surpassed only by his
passion for family and the successes of his wife Miriam. "What
I'm most proud of is the thing I have not done, and that is my family"
he says. "I have a truly wonderful life; I have two wonderful
kids who have married two wonderful people, and two superstar grandkids.
I don't know that I deserve that; I'm really lucky, in the vernacular
sense. I chose a wonderful wife, and she has done a super job with
our family, because I've been an absent husband."
But that's a situation Dr. Holden intends to change. "Bob
wants to start a new business with the kids," says Mrs. Holden,
"something that they can do together. A legacy that he wants
to leave them." (And then there are those sign-up sheets for
the children and their spouses and children to join him for blueberry
picking.
Certainly, whether it's a legacy of better health care for all
Hoosiers or pursuing new possibilities with his family, leaving
legacies is what Bob Holden is all about.
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