Thomas Henry Wood – 50th Reunion Essay

Thomas Henry Wood

1752 14th Ave S

Seattle, WA 98144

tomhwood@hotmail.com

206-595-6412

Child(ren): Sam Wood (1975), Lilith Wood (1978), Jane Corpos (1981), Whitney Wood (1994), Ella Wood (1997)

Grandchild(ren): Maggie Wood (2003), Henry Wood (2006), Lila Corpos (2009), Daisy Corpos (2010), Roisin Corpos (2015)

Education: University of Washington, MD 1973; Carnegie Mellon, Masters in Medical Management 2001

Career: Solo medical practice on a remote Alaska island for 17 years, urban safety-net practice for 6 years, healthcare software development and implementation for 20 years.

Avocations: public education, environmental stewardship

College: Saybrook

My father told me that we couldn’t afford Yale; he’d counted on the thin rejection letter arriving. I’d never been east of the West Coast until September 1965; I yearned for a challenge bigger than “the 13th grade.” We compromised: he would pay half, and I would earn the rest. Bucking paternal preference to attend Yale steeled me to persevere through discouraging moments during college and beyond.

I was inadequately prepared for the depth of study required, the brutal load of five courses plus science labs, a bursary job, and crew practices. A summons before my college master and the pairing with a gifted senior tutor retooled my skills, and I successfully majored in the field that I was failing first semester.

Yale has always been a part of my identity, but rarely a part of my brand. I’ve never displayed “Yale” on my clothes or car window, but I have consistently donated. My dad’s half plus my half added up to a fraction of the true cost of my Yale education. I’ve been making up some of the difference since.

I learned a number of important things at Yale beyond carbon being quadrivalent. I learned to manage uncontrollable demands. I learned the importance of communication and rational discourse. I learned the educational value of alcohol-infused midnight roommate conversations. I learned that I could perform well with the best.

I lack the ambition gene to be on a magazine cover, but found my satisfaction in making tangible improvements in people’s lives and by designing successful systems. I started as a small-town physician working one-on-one with people. I moved into one-to-many as a city councilman and school board president. After 17 years, I exchanged my remote Alaska solo practice for a California indigent clinic, then a leadership position in a Seattle multi-specialty safety-net clinic, followed by an IT executive position in a five-hospital system, then principal in an international actuarial firm, and finally a vice-president in a 50,000-employee multi-state health system.

I never identified with, “The shortest, gladdest years of life“ but I do give Yale significant credit for my confidence in the face of challenge and courage to make changes.

I was flattered when colleagues in a national forum introduced me as “the Dean of Medical Informatics”, but more gratifying was my 90-year-old mother describing the wonders of her electronic health record. “Is that what you do, honey?” I affirmed and she said; “Now I understand. Very cool!”