This oral history interview of M. Ralph Kaufman, MD was conducted by Albert S. Lyons, MD and Ruth Hirsch. The conversation focuses on the establishment of the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Hospital. (Psychiatry had initially been practiced within the Department of Neurology.) It also includes discussion of Dr. Kaufman's relationship with Joseph Klingenstein, Mount Sinai Board of Trustees president, as well as Dr. Kaufman's opinions on the role of affiliations, the founding of Mount Sinai Medical School, and the founding of the Klingenstein Clinical Center (KCC).
Dr. Kaufman briefly mentions other more personal topics, including: his early life; his career prior to Mount Sinai at various Boston-area hospitals, as well as being on the Harvard faculty; his time serving in World War II; his family; how he relaxes; and his health. Drs. Kaufman and Lyons also briefly discuss the book "Freud and His Followers" by Paul Roazen, as well as the role of psychobiology within the field of psychiatry.
Kaufman, M. Ralph (Moses Ralph), 1900-1977