New 150-bed Psychiatric Wing, Meyer Memorial Hospital, 1950. Photo courtesy of the Buffalo History Museum, used by permission. Dr. David K. Miller After graduating from Harvard Medical School in 1929, Dr. David Kimball Miller was a resident physician at Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research where his primary research interests were nutritional deficiencies and later the treatment of bacterial infections in humans, especially pneumonia and tuberculosis. He came to Meyer Memorial Hospital in 1937 as director of laboratories and in 1939 became director of the Department of Medicine where he was affectionately known as “The Chief.” An exceptional clinician and educator, Dr. Miller remained an active professor of medicine at the University at Buffalo until his retirement in 1974. In 1984, a clinical symposium was held at ECMC in honor of Dr. Miller’s 80th birthday in conjunction with the dedication of the David K. Miller Medical Office Building. Dr. Miller died in Hawaii in 1997 and the following year a memorial service honoring him was held in the Smith Auditorium at ECMC. At the service, Dr. Joseph A. Zizzi Sr., then Chief of Cardiology at ECMC, said, “Dr. Miller loved this hospital. It was a place that cared for all types of patients regardless of their ability to pay. It was a place of learning, a place of teaching, a place of research. It was a university hospital. With young inquisitive students, house staff and fellows, it was what D.K. Miller loved—as much as he loved Medicine, and I am personally proud to have known and worked with him.” Above, Polio treatment with iron lung, Meyer Memorial Hospital, 1950. Right, Doctor with child afflicted with polio, Meyer Memorial Hospital, ca. 1940. Photo courtesy University Archives, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. 29 Meyer Memorial Hospital 1939-1978 In the Maintenance Department, the late 1940s and early 1950s saw the fuel of the hospital’s steam power system changed from coal to oil, providing a more efficient and economical system and cleaner air quality. It also sent twelve firemen and coal passers the way of livery stablemen and chariot drivers. But the hospital still employed a host of electricians, glazers, screen repairmen, watchmen, assistant steam engineers, plasterers, painters, plumbers, chauffeurs, gardeners, and carpenters. In 1951, the new psychiatric building was completed with 150 beds, doubling the capacity of the former quarters. Meyer Memorial was described by one medical writer as ‘in the vanguard of medical care,’ and serving as a hospital, mental asylum, TB sanatorium, and research center set in a 65-acre park, the largest hospital in WNY and one of probably no more than a dozen in the U.S. to treat all cases, without exception, under one roof. In 1952, Meyer Memorial opened a new outpatient clinic for children with polio. One of the worst outbreaks of the disease in the nation’s history, the polio epidemic reached its peak in 1952 with over 57,000 cases and more than 3,000 deaths. Fortunately, that was also the year that Dr. Jonas Salk successfully discovered and developed a polio vaccine.