Remembering Former Chair Daniel Federman


Daniel Federman, MD
Courtesy of Harvard Medical School

Daniel Federman’s obituary in The Boston Globe notes that he “helped transform medical education” and dedicated his entire adult life to it. Although most of his decades-long career was spent at Harvard, where he also attended undergrad and medical school, Federman served briefly as Stanford Department of Medicine chair during the 1970s. His four years at Stanford were his only departure from Harvard, and while here, he established the first general internal medicine fellowship in the country. Federman died earlier this month at age 89.

Impact at Stanford

The revered Harvard professor had an impact on many at Stanford, including Kelley Skeff, MD, (professor, primary care and population health), for whom Federman was a special mentor. Skeff says, “A major figure in medicine has passed.” Skeff was one of the first fellows in the program Federman launched, and without him, says Skeff, “My career may not have existed.” Skeff credits Federman in an article profiling his own career: Thirty Years of Teaching Teachers.

In an email to colleagues, Harvard Medical School Dean George Daley describes Federman as a “beloved pillar of the Harvard Medical School community” and a “towering presence.” Daley writes, “His contributions to Harvard Medical School, to medicine and to improving lives everywhere are the stuff of legend.”