Curtis Prout, former assistant dean for student affairs at Harvard Medical School, died peacefully at home in Manchester, MA on December 2, 2011.
Prout practiced primary care medicine for almost 70 years. He joined the faculty of HMS in 1949 and later served as assistant dean for student affairs for seven years. Prout was also the chief of medicine and associate director at Harvard University Health Services from 1961 to 1972. He was on staff at Brigham and Women’s Hospital from 1947 to 2010.
Prout received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College in 1937 and earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1941. While an undergraduate, he was hospitalized with a severe infection. The illness and its lasting effects had two life-changing effects on Prout. First, it inspired him to pursue a medical career. Second, it prevented him from military service in World War II.
He did, however, have an opportunity to play a part in the war effort. With the Japanese forces in control of much of the South Pacific, quinine was a scarce commodity. The United States military responded by recruiting medical researchers to “the Malaria Project,” a fast-track effort to find alternative treatments for the disease. Prout eagerly volunteered.
His keen interest in the health of a specific population – in this case, soldiers, sailors and Marines fighting in the Pacific and in Africa – would become apparent later in his career. In the early 1960s, Prout vigorously supported federal legislation that would eventually lead to the creation of Medicare.
In remarks reported in The Crimson in July 1962, he responded to critics who branded the concept of universal health care for the elderly as “socialized medicine.” “There must be a willingness to do something besides saying ‘no’,” he said.
At the time, Prout was already engaged in implementing a then-new approach to the delivery of health care at Harvard University Health Services. Established to provide health care to Harvard students, the program broadened its scope in 1961 to offer coverage to all of the University’s faculty, staff and their families.
According to his friend and colleague Eleanor Shore, “that was a huge undertaking. Almost overnight, we had 25,000 new patients. It required great conviction and imagination on Curt’s part.”
During the 1970’s, at the behest of then-Governor Francis Sargent, Prout advocated for reform of the prison medical system. He later co-authored a book on the subject, Care and Punishment: The Dilemmas of Prison Medicine.
“Everywhere Curt went, he played a role in that community,” said Daniel Federman, Carl W. Walter Distinguished Professor of Medicine and dean for medical education from 1989 to 2000. “He put his heart and soul into what he did.”
In recognition of his many contributions to the students and clinicians, the Curtis Prout Academy Fellowship at HMS is named in his honor.
Prout is survived by his wife, Diane Neal Emmons, and his great friend and former wife, Daphne Brooks Prout. He is also survived by four daughters – Diana Cherot, Daphne Cook, Rosamond Warren and Phyllis Prout, five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, four stepchildren, one foster daughter, and two step-grandchildren as well as his brother William W. Prout.
A memorial service will be held tomorrow, Saturday, February 18, 2012, at 3pm, at The Memorial Church, Harvard Yard. Gifts may be made in Dr. Prout's memory to the Curtis Prout, MD, '41, Fund for Teaching Primary Care at Harvard Medical School, c/o Matthew Durno, 401 Park Drive, Suite 22 West, Boston, MA 02215.
