A loss in the family for UArizona Health Sciences, Colleges of Medicine, Public Health

Video interview of Dr. James Dalen on his career, influences and mentorship from CHEST Journal, an American College of Chest Physicians publication.

James E. Dalen, MD, MPH, ScD (hon), Master FCCP, beloved dean emeritus of the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, died Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024.

Dr. Dalen, 91, a UArizona professor emeritus of medicine and public health, served as the sixth dean of the college from 1988 to 2001. He also was UArizona vice president for health sciences from 1995 to 2001. During his tenure as dean and vice president, UArizona Health Sciences and the College of Medicine saw unprecedented growth and expansion in their core missions of education, research and patient care.

Dr. Dalen was instrumental in establishing UArizona’s School of Public Health, now known as the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. He is also credited as the driving force behind creation of many centers and programs at the College of Medicine – including the Arizona Telemedicine Program, Steele Children’s Research Center and Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine – as well as major expansions of the Sarver Heart Center and Arizona Arthritis Center.

An advocate for change

Mindy Fain, MD, chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine and co-director of the Arizona Center on Aging, lauded Dr. Dalen as visionary. She joined the college's faculty in 1985.

“Jim Dalen was a truly transformational leader for the College of Medicine and UA Health Sciences, an internationally renowned academic physician with remarkable vision who built and expanded impactful research across the campus, and uniquely shined a light on critically important public health issues,” she said.  

Dr. Dalen was a great proponent of gender equity in medicine and for promotion of rural health and border health programs. He also served as editor of the prestigious Archives of Internal Medicine (1988-2004), now JAMA Internal Medicine, and continued to be an outspoken advocate for health care reform throughout his life.

Among his many honors, the Zuckerman College of Public Health created the James E. Dalen, MD, MPH, Distinguished Lecture for Health Policy in 2008 for his role in establishing the college. In 2012, he received the Herbert K. Abrams, MD, Award from the College of Medicine – Tucson Department of Family and Community Medicine for his demonstration of “a lifetime commitment to public health and social justice.” And, in 2015, he received the Bravewell Distinguished Service Award from the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health for his role as a founder of the consortium and the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine.

Iman Hakim, MBBCh, PhD, MPH, dean of the College of Public Health, said, “The impact of his work is deeply embedded in the essence of our college, and we will forever remember and appreciate his contributions with gratitude and respect. His absence will be keenly felt, but the memories of his joy and camaraderie will endure.”

Integrative medicine trailblazer

Dr. Dalen later served as executive director of the Weil Foundation, which supports research and education in integrative medicine, a field Dr. Dalen helped develop with Andrew Weil, MD, also a professor of medicine and public health, and for whom the Center for Integrative Medicine is now named. The center also has a new building under construction that's expected to be complete this spring.

“I will really miss him. He was just such a staunch supporter of my work and our center. And, you know, I was hoping he would be present when we open the new building (for the center) in April,” said Dr. Weil, who noted Dr. Dalen had supported creation of Jon Kabat-Zinn's mindfulness program at the University of Massachusetts – now the UMass Memorial Health Center for Mindfulness.

“He was the first medical school dean in the country to go out on a limb and support integrative medicine, for which he took a lot of flack. Still, deans of medical colleges usually don't last long, but he had an unusually long tenure.”

Dr. Weil noted Dr. Dalen was an avid storyteller who loved to reminisce about his encounters with colleagues and patients. “He was a great raconteur.” 

He recalled Dr. Dalen being asked by a graduate student at a ceremony where he was being inducted as an honorary fellow of integrative medicine after he’d retired about how Dr. Dalen would get nutrition education into medical school.  

“He said he wouldn't even bother trying, that the medical school curriculum was so overloaded,” Dr. Weil related. “He said, ‘I would make it instead an undergraduate requirement to get into medical school. In fact, I would replace organic chemistry with nutrition as a required course.’ I personally can't think of a single instance in my career I used anything I learned in organic chemistry.” 

An era of good feeling

Joseph Alpert, MD, a fellow cardiologist who knew Dr. Dalen since his third-year of medical school and a former Department of Medicine chair (1992-2006) who was brought to Tucson by Dr. Dalen for that position, called his deanship the last great golden era for the college. Nine adult medical specialties were ranked in the top 50 on U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals list, the year he stepped down.

Dr. Dalen's period here coincided with a boom time shortly after then UArizona cardiothoracic surgeon Jack Copeland, MD, completed the first artificial total heart transplant with the Jarvik 7 device, with patients coming from all over the country and world for the procedure.

“Everybody was doing well,” Dr. Alpert said. “Cardiology was $1 million dollars profitable every year. Dalen would keep $500,000 to help the sections that weren't making money. We had $500,000 to do research projects, to send people to academic and research meetings, and so forth. I mean, we had a fabulous time. No cardiology section is a million dollars profitable every year anymore. That was a time that the golden age really had something to do with gold.”

The notoriety and surplus allowed also for recruitment of additional physician-scientists who added to the research contributions of College of Medicine – Tucson faculty, which only attracted more students, residents, fellows and faculty interested in research as well, Dr. Alpert added.

“Like now, we were recruiting a lot of wonderful people. And we were profitable. That's what enabled you to recruit whoever you wanted. In many ways, it enabled you to do whatever you wanted,” he said.

Still, with the fast pace, Dr. Alpert recalled Dr. Dalen was just as concerned about clinician wellbeing, citing an instance during a four-day Chicago medical conference where he suggested they play hookie halfway through the third-day. 

“He said, ‘You know, Joe, just up the street from here is one of the world's greatest art museums. Why don't we go?’ ‘This afternoon?’ I say. He said, ‘I love impressionism and the Art Institute of Chicago has a fabulous impressionist collection.’ So, we spent the afternoon in the art gallery. I mean, that was fabulous,” Dr. Alpert said.  

Coast to coast

A graduate of Washington State University, Dr. Dalen received his medical degree from the University of Washington and held graduate degrees in psychology from the University of Michigan and public health from Harvard University.

He completed his residency in internal medicine at Boston City Hospital, now Boston Medical Center, and the New England Medical Center, now Tufts Medical Center. After a cardiology fellowship at Harvard’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, now Brigham & Women’s Hospital, he served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School from 1967-75. In 1975, he became chair of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Massachusetts at Worcester, serving later as Department of Medicine chair (1977-88) and as the university’s interim chancellor (1986-87).

His heart in cardiology

Dr. Dalen also served on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Medical Association, and as an associate editor of the American Journal of Medicine until his death. He established and served as co-chair of the American College of Chest Physicians Consensus Conference on Antithrombotic Therapy, which resulted in the publication of eight supplements to the ACCP’s CHEST Journal. He was the author or co-author of more than 350 publications in medical literature as well as 11 books and monographs.

He served as president of the ACCP and New England Cardiovascular Society, and governor of the American College of Cardiology and American College of Physicians. He received the University of Massachusetts’ 1987 Distinguished Public Service Award, alumni achievement and merit awards from the University of Washington, Washington State University and the Harvard School of Public Health, and won ACCP College Medalist (in recognition of his many contributions to understanding pulmonary embolisms) and Master Fellow (the organization’s highest honor) designations in 2000. In 2012, he was named a Master Fellow also of the ACP and, a year later, awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of Massachusetts.

The shoulders of giants

While Dr. Dalen was able to usher in progressive thinking on health care during his time as dean of the College of Medicine – Tucson, his work in cardiology was what drove him. In a 2016 CHEST Journal article, he was named one of the “Giants in CHEST Medicine.” The author, for whom Dr. Dalen had been a mentor, noted, “Of all that he has accomplished, it is interesting to note that he cites his work on creating the antithrombotic guidelines as the work of which he is most proud.”

Likewise, Dr. Weil noted, during Dr. Dalen’s retirement address in 2001, he said the achievement he was most proud of in Tucson “was starting the integrative medicine program at the University of Arizona.” For more than a decade, the program and center have operated as a business unit or division of the Department of Medicine. But it will move under the stewardship of the Department of Family & Community Medicine later this year.

Celebration of Life & Memorial Service

Dr. Dalen is survived by his wife, Priscilla M. Dalen (Dunton) – pictured with him above right; and loving children James E. Dalen, Jr.; Angela M. Snodgrass (Dalen); daughter-in-law Suzan M. Dalen; and son-in-law Daniel N. Snodgrass; as well as many step-grandchildren.

A service will be held at Vistoso Funeral Home, 2285 E. Rancho Vistoso Blvd., Oro Valley, Arizona, on Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, at 1 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the James E. Dalen Lecture Series at the Zuckerman College of Public Health (see the “Giving” link on the referred webpage). 

Click here for an Arizona Daily Star obituary for Dr. Dalen that posted late on Jan. 19.

ALSO SEE:
“‘MEZCOPH Remembers Dr. James Dalen,’ Message from the Dean, College of Public Health” | Posted Jan. 19, 2024​
“Message from the Dean, College of Medicine – Tucson” | Posted Jan. 19, 2024
“James E. Dalen, MD, MPH, emeritus vice president, dean and professor passes away” (Announcement, UArizona Health Sciences Connect) | Posted Jan. 19, 2024