More than 75 join to celebrate lives of Drs. Jim Dalen, Jay Smith

[Drs. Jim Liao and Joe Alpert, current and a prior chair of the Department of Medicine, address attendees of memorial for the late Drs. Jim Dalen and Jay Smith, former dean and vice dean of the College of Medicine – Tucson, who died within weeks of one another] The Department of Medicine paid tribute to the lives of two of its most prominent former faculty members on May 22 with a memorial event in the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson Social Hall for James E. Dalen, MD, MPH, and Jay W. Smith, MD.

About 75 people attended, including multiple professor emeriti and former leaders of UArizona, the college and various departments, centers or programs. Two photo slide shows illustrated each man’s lives on different monitors. See below for a mini-photo gallery from the memorial.

The evening started with a welcome and description of both men’s careers by DOM Chair James K. Liao, MD. Afterward, Joseph Alpert, MD, spoke. A former DOM chair (1992-2006) recruited to Tucson by Dr. Dalen, Dr. Alpert had known and worked with him since Dr. Alpert’s third-year of medical school, and was close with both late physician’s families Then, the floor was opened to family and friends to speak, with several taking advantage of that including Jim Dalen, Dr. Dalen’s son.

A cardiologist, Dr. Dalen, who died Jan. 16 at the age of 91, came to Tucson to serve as the college’s sixth dean, holding that role from 1988 to 2001, as well as being UArizona vice president for health sciences from 1995-2001, when he retired. He had been instrumental in launching the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health as well as the Arizona Telemedicine Program, Steele Children’s Research Center and Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. During his tenure, several centers – including the Sarver Heart Center and Arizona Arthritis Center – also underwent major expansions.

As Dr. Alpert and several others commenting noted, many of those accomplishments wouldn’t have been completed as smoothly or successfully without the support of Dr. Smith, who served as Dr. Dalen’s vice dean for academic affairs from 1990 to 1999, when Dr. Smith retired. He had joined UArizona’s faculty in 1970, overseeing student and resident rotations at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix. He moved to Tucson four years later and served as section chief of General Internal Medicine and director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program. Dr. Smith died Feb. 2 at the age of 87.

Both widows, Mrs. Priscilla Dalen and Mrs. Sandy Smith thanked everyone for their comments and well wishes. Mrs. Smith had visited the Department the previous week to share photos of her husband’s career and was thrilled to see two placards listing the winners of the Jay W. Smith, MD, Award for Outstanding Students of Medicine, which has been presented annually by the DOM since 1994. The DOM Education office’s Bersabe Lopez shows the list of awardees to Mrs. Smith at right.

For the images below, mouseover to read the caption. Click on them to enlarge.