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GENERATIONAL
PERSPECTIVES

Living first generation medical family members in mid 2000s: Standing: (Aunt) Betty Levitt, RN, (Uncle) Herbert P. Brown, MD, (Aunt) Sylvia
Brown, RN. Seated: (Mom) Joan J. Ratner, PhD, (Dad) Irving A. Ratner, MD

Multigenerational Medicine:

HERB AND SYLVIA BROWN AND
THEIR EXTENDED FAMILY

By Herbert P. Brown, MD (retired BCMS member)

My parents immigrated to Boston during the 1920’s with a min- frames jobbing go to help him/her make the next step? I did know
imum of education. They realized the need for education, learning that I liked to fix things and help people. I went to the Jewish
English as work allowed. They also knew the importance of edu- Counseling Service in Boston (there is one here in San Antonio
cation for me and encouraged good grades with the hope of college too) which is open to young people of all faiths) for help in finding
and whatever studies or career beyond. As a result, I was the first my inner strengths to pursue (and which financial resources that
in my family to go to college and the first to go to medical school could help along the way.
(with a lot of help from my folks and my meager savings, summer
jobs and scholarships, of course). At the end of the counseling session I was told I would do well
in a number of professional areas, but it was unlikely that I would
So where does a college almost-graduate who knows something make it into medical school. Dejected but determined I studied
about electronics, neckties manufacture, and optical (eyeglass and every spare hour (there was no Kaplan course in those days that

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