IN MEMORIAM

Warren L. Bostick, M.D.

Dean and Professor Emeritus of Pathology

UC Irvine

1914 – 2006

Warren Bostick is among the most distinguished figures in the history of health sciences at the University of California. He graduated with honors in 1936 from UC Berkeley, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa scholar. As a medical student at UCSF, he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society, and was the first recipient of the Gold Headed Cane. The Cane became the most highly prized UCSF student award as it is given to the senior medical student having the greatest promise of being a “true physician.”

 

After completing residency training in pathology at UCSF in 1945, Warren joined the faculty there, advancing to the rank of full professor in 1958. He had a longstanding interest in the pathophysiology of Hodgkin’s disease, a topic on which he published extensively. He held numerous official positions in professional organizations, including elected terms as President of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, President of the California Medical Association, and California Delegate to the American Medical Association.

 

In 1964, Dr. Bostick was recruited from UCSF to become the founding dean of the UCI School of Medicine, a position he held until 1973. The migration of the California College of Medicine to UC Irvine required extraordinary leadership and political acumen, talents for which Warren is remembered fondly. Moreover, his recruitment of the founding chairs of the medical school departments established the academic tone for UCI’s first professional school.

 

UC Irvine has honored Warren many times. The Warren L. Bostick Medical Student Award is presented annually to the medical student with the highest performance in Clinical Pathology, and the Bostick Resident Award is presented to the graduating resident whose performance is most highly rated over the term of their training. In 1995, the UC Regents approved the Warren L. Bostick Chair in Experimental Pathology, and in 1998 Warren received the Academic Senate’s Daniel G. Aldrich, Jr. Distinguished University Service Award.

 

Dr. Bostick was a valued mentor and advisor who was sought for counsel by students, faculty colleagues, and administrators over the many years of his university service. He was our leader, and his leadership was greatly admired. And he is greatly missed.

 

 

Michael Selsted

Professor and Chair, Department of Pathology