I Dr. Groundwater's Early Education and Experience

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Education

Hughes

Dr. Groundwater, would you give me a thumbnail sketch of where you were born and educated?

Groundwater

I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, April 9, 1937. Grew up in Lakewood, Ohio, which is a suburb of Cleveland. Went through the Lakewood schools through Lakewood High School, and then went on to Dartmouth [A.B. 1959]. There I majored in medical science and went on to Case Western Reserve and received an M.D. [1964].

Subsequently I came to San Francisco, did my internship at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Francisco [1965-1966].

Hughes

How did that come to be?

Groundwater

Well, I was getting a divorce at that time. In Cleveland, I had been married to a medical student, and she apparently had schizophrenia. I wanted a complete change, and I'd heard that San Francisco was an interesting place to have a complete change. So I came out here and did my internship here. I had a rotating internship at Kaiser, so I gained experience with all the fields of medicine.

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Military Service, 1965-1967

Groundwater

Then I went into the navy; that was in the Vietnam era. I was on a troop carrier that took marines from San Diego and also Korean troops from Korea to Vietnam. We were stationed briefly in Danang. The first year, I just did general medicine. Appendectomies, setting fractures, and so forth.

The second year, I was stationed in Newport, Rhode Island. That second year, I spent quite a lot of time tagging along after the navy dermatologist, Bruce Burgess, who's now in Fort Lauderdale. Worked in his clinic with him, and also in the general clinic in Newport. I had a couple weeks with the frogmen school. [laughs] During that year I decided that I was most interested in treating skin disease. So I inquired into residencies.

Residency at the University of California, San Francisco [UCSF], 1967-1970

Groundwater

I came back here to San Francisco, did my residency in dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco. Marcus Conant

was the chief of clinic, actually, at least initially, and then, I think, Dave Cram became the chief subsequently.

Hughes

What year was this?

Groundwater

Let's see.

Hughes

[Consults notes] 1967.

Groundwater

Yes, right.

Anyway, I rotated through several different hospitals, the U.S. Public Health Hospital, San Francisco General Hospital, Moffitt Hospital, UCSF. At the U.S. Public Health Hospital I worked with Axel Hokl and Paul Fasal, where we managed a lot of leprosy patients. That was a good

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experience in public health. [tape interruption]

At UCSF, Marc Conant, as I said, was chief of the clinic, and so I had a good relationship with Marc and with Howard Maibach. I later taught in the Environmental Dermatitis Clinic at UCSF with Howard for ten years. I spent several months working in Rees B. Rees's office in the third year, which was in this building [450 Sutter Street, San Francisco].

Private Practice, 1970-present

Groundwater

And then I opened up private practice; I hung out a shingle in this building as soon as I finished the residency, 1970. And I've been here ever since. I was in a smaller office for about five years, and then moved to this office. Then we took over a dental office next door, and we have another little office down the hall that we use for a lunch room and storage of charts. But I've been in this building for a long time.