Page:The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology-ItsFirstCentury.djvu/356

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344
ARMED FORCES INSTITUTE OF PATHOLOGY


has been especially active in the newly developing field of aviation pathology, and the even newer field of bioastronautics.

Two months earlier, in June 1959, Dr. Goodpasture had resigned as Scientific Director of the Institute, and returned to Tennessee. His successor was Dr. Robert E. Stowell (fig. 113), one of the Nation's leaders in pathology, who came to the Institute from the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kans., where he had been, for n years, professor and chairman of the Department of Pathology and Oncology, and director of Cancer Research.

Through all changes in the directorate and professional staff, in the new building, as in the old, there was no change in the fundamental mission of the Institute to serve the needs of pathology through consultation, education, and research. Within the first year of occupancy of the building, space problems arose, and it became "apparent that the cut made in the original plans was a doubtful economy." In other respects, however, the new building and its equipment proved to be satisfactory, and the Institute staff expressed appreciation "to all those responsible for its planning and equipment." Special appreciation was expressed to those who had secured congressional approval of the new plant, and also the commanding general at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and his staff. "Everything possible has been done to welcome the AFIP as a part of the Center and to extend to the AFIP all the services available," the Director said, in his 1955 annual report. 5[1]

Shortage of Space

Not even the most cordial cooperation from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, however, could relieve a space problem that became apparent as the Institute settled into its new quarters. The problem that "engrossed the attention of the Directorate" was to find room for essential facilities for expanding professional studies, storage space for the ever-increasing flood of specimens, and space to store exhibits between the times when they were shown in public. To meet such needs, plans for a wing of some 103,000 square feet were prepared for inclusion in the Army Medical Services budget for fiscal year 1958, but such plans did not meet with favor in the processes of budget making and approval. 6 [2]

One consequence of the space shortage at the main building of the Institute is the maintenance of warehouse space at Franconia, Va., where a large part of the more than one million specimens in the Institute's collection is stored.

  1. 5 Annual Report, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, 1955, pp. 3, 5, 6.
  2. 6 Ibid., pp. 53, 54 .