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URMC / Libraries / Edward G. Miner Library / Rare Books and Manuscripts / Archives and Manuscripts / Faculty Collections / Paul N. Yu, M.D.
 

Paul N. Yu, M.D.

Introduction

Paul N. Yu, M.D.Paul Nan-Gan Yu, M.D. (1915-1991) was Sarah McCort Ward Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and for many years was head of the Cardiology Unit in the Dept. of Medicine. The Yu collection is part of what must have been an extensive series of office files generated during Yu’s many years on the medical staff and faculty. These materials, the bulk of which date from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, were retrieved through the efforts of Jules Cohen, M.D., a former dean for medical education who trained in cardiology under Paul Yu. These files were an important resource for compiling Paul Yu remembered, a work jointly prepared by Jules Cohen, M.D. and Stephanie Brown Clark, M.D., Ph.D. and published by the University of Rochester Press in 2003. The Yu papers were donated to the Edward G. Miner Library by Dr. Cohen in 2005. The collection was processed during the summer of 2018. The Papers of Paul N. Yu, M.D. are contained in sixteen boxes and occupy eight linear feet.

Biography

Paul N. Yu was born in Nanchang, China to Yu Ying-Sen, a jewelry store owner in Nanchang, and his wife Lee-Hwa Yang. As Christians, Yu’s parents gave him and his three younger brothers Christian names. Yu was educated by Episcopalian missionaries and in his teens attended a private boarding school. Yu excelled in science and languages, and became proficient in English. In 1933 Yu matriculated at the National Medical College of Shanghai, from which he graduated in 1939. In 1939 Shanghai was occupied by the Japanese and the medical school moved first to Kunming, and then to Chong Qing. Yu did his residency at the Central Hospital in Chong Qing (1939-43), and in 1944, the year he was married, was made chair of the department of medicine at the National Medical College. In 1945 Yu received a British Council Scholarship to pursue postgraduate study at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School (1945), the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (1946), and the Edinburgh Postgraduate Medical School (1947).

In 1946 Yu visited his wife I Ling Tang (M.D. 1940, National Medical College), who was doing a residency in pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center. On his wife’s recommendation, William McCann, M.D., chairman of the Dept. of Medicine, provided Yu a three-month fellowship in the department. Yu then returned to England. During their absence, I Ling’s father, a Nationalist general, advised his daughter and son-in-law not to return to China, in spite of the fact that the Communist Party in Beijing had offered them professorships in medicine and pediatrics upon their return.

When in 1947 William McCann offered Yu a residency in internal medicine, he accepted and returned to Rochester. From 1948 to 1952 Yu was Hochstetter Fellow in Cardiopulmonary Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Yu was appointed instructor in medicine in 1952, assistant professor in 1954, associate professor in 1959, professor in 1963, and Sarah McCort Ward Professor in Medicine in 1969. He was chief of cardiology from 1957 to 1982, and retired in 1989.

Paul N. Yu was a member of the board of directors of the American Heart Association from 1963 to 1975, served as that organization’s president in 1972/73, and received its James B. Herrick Award in 1979. He was chairman of the Advisory Council on Research for the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (1972-75); served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute from 1978; and was a member of the Mortality Review Committee for the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute from 1978. Yu was the author or co-author of 181 journal articles, book chapters, books, etc., served on the editorial board of several cardiology journals, edited Modern concepts of cardiovascular disease (1976-78), and was co-editor of the Progress in cardiology monographic series from 1970 to 1986. He was a member of numerous national, state and regional organizations, and was the recipient of many awards. Yu was also instrumental in developing the Institute of Biomedical Sciences in Taiwan, as well as serving as personal physician to Gen. Chiang Kai-shek.

Paul N. Yu and I Ling Tang, a pediatrician, were married in 1944. They raised four daughters. After his retirement in 1989, Yu and his wife moved to Taipei, Taiwan. Paul N. Yu died in Taipei on October 8, 1991.

Paul N. Yu, M.D., 1960

Paul N. Yu, M.D., patient, and electrocardiograph, 1960

Organization of the Collection

The material in the Yu collection represents only a portion of his original files. The bulk of the surviving material dates from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s. The collection is arranged in six brief series:

Personal Papers (Boxes 1-2): This series includes curricula vitae and other biographical material, as well as correspondence dated 1962 to 1991.

Diaries (Boxes 3-6): Yu kept his diaries in commercially produced, bound annual calendars. The entries in his diaries are more professional than personal, and are predominantly in English. Diaries are present for most years between 1973 and 1990.

Publications of the Cardiology Unit (Boxes 7-8): This series includes five volumes of reprints of articles by members of the Cardiology Unit published between 1949 and 1982.

Organizations (9-13): These five boxes contain files that pertain to Yu’s involvement in various organizations, including the American College of Cardiology (Box 9, Folders 3-9), the Association of University Cardiologists (Box 10, Folders 4-9), his editorial work on the Progress in cardiology series (Box 12, Folder 10-Box 13, Folder 5), etc.

Retirement Event Photographs (Boxes 14-15)

Miscellanea (Box 16): Includes a copy of Cohen and Brown Clark’s Paul Yu remembered (2003), and an album of letters written by former colleagues and trainees on the occasion of Yu’s reception of the Herrick Award in 1979.

Paul N. Yu, M.D., 1970

Paul N. Yu, M.D. in Cardiology Unit, 1970

Container List

Box One

  • Folder 1: Curricula vitae
  • Folder 2: Biographical material
  • Folder 3: Publicity & newspaper clippings
  • Folder 4: Appointments & consultancies (1965-75)
  • Folder 5: Invitations accepted (1976-77)
  • Folder 6: Invitations accepted (1978)
  • Folder 7: Invitations accepted (1979-80)
  • Folder 8: Invitations declined (1974-77)
  • Folder 9: Invitations declined (1978-79)
  • Folder 10: Awards
  • Folder 11: Obituaries
  • Folder 12: Memorial service (1991)
  • Folder 13: Correspondence (1962-69)
  • Folder 14: Correspondence (1970-75)

Box Two

  • Folder 1: Correspondence (1976)
  • Folder 2: Correspondence (1977)
  • Folder 3: Correspondence (1978-79)
  • Folder 4: Correspondence (1980-91)
  • Folder 5: Correspondence from PNY’s colleagues on his retirement
  • Folder 6: Correspondence from I Ling Tang Yu to Jules Cohen regarding her husband (2000-04)
  • Folder 7: Correspondence from PNY’s colleagues to Jules Cohen

Box Three

  • Diaries: 1973, 1974, 1977, 1978

Box Four

  • Diaries: 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983

Box Five

  • Diaries: 1984, 1985 (large), 1985 (small), 1986

Box Six

  • Diaries: 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990

Box Seven

  • Cardiology Unit reprints, 1949-60
  • Cardiology Unit reprints, 1961-70
  • Cardiology Unit reprints, 1971-76

Box Eight

  • Cardiology Unit reprints, 1977-80
  • Cardiology Unit reprints, 1981-82

Box Nine

  • Folder 1: American Bureau for Medical Advancement in China (1981-84)
  • Folder 2: American Clinical and Climatological Association (1971-81)
  • Folder 3: American College of Cardiology (1968-71)
  • Folder 4: American College of Cardiology (1972-74)
  • Folder 5: American College of Cardiology (Feb-Jun 1975)
  • Folder 6: American College of Cardiology (Jul-Sep 1975)
  • Folder 7: American College of Cardiology (1976-78)
  • Folder 8: American College of Cardiology (1979-81)
  • Folder 9: American College of Physicians (1970-79)
  • Folder 10: American Heart Association. General correspondence (Jan 1972-Oct 1973)
  • Folder 11: American Heart Association. General correspondence (Nov 1973)
  • Folder 12: American Heart Association. General correspondence (1974-80)

Box Ten

  • Folder 1: American Heart Association. Paul N. Yu memorial resolution (1991)
  • Folder 2: American Heart Association. Genesee Valley Chapter (1979-81)
  • Folder 3: Asian-Pacific Congress of Cardiology (1976)
  • Folder 4: Association of University Cardiologists (1969-71)
  • Folder 5: Association of University Cardiologists (1972-75)
  • Folder 6: Association of University Cardiologists (1976-77)
  • Folder 7: Association of University Cardiologists (1978-79)
  • Folder 8: Association of University Cardiologists (1980)
  • Folder 9: Association of University Cardiologists (1981)
  • Folder 10: Beta-Blocker Heart Attack press conference (1981)
  • Folder 11: British Cardiac Society (1974)
  • Folder 12: Cardiology Unit. Long-term needs survey (1972)
  • Folder 13: Cardiology Unit. Training and research grants (1969-71)
  • Folder 14: Cardiology Unit. Training grant funds (1973-74)
  • Folder 15: Cardiology Unit. Training program brochure (1973?)

Box Eleven

  • Folder 1: Cardiology Unit. Yu symposium (1989)
  • Folder 2: Cardiology Unit. Miscellaneous correspondence
  • Folder 3: Cardiology Unit. Yu Heart Research Fund (1982-89)
  • Folder 4: Cardiology Unit. Yu Fellowship
  • Folder 5: Cardiology Unit. Yu Cardiovascular Institute (1992-96)
  • Folder 6: Chicago Heart Association. Heart Attack Prevention Program. Public information fliers (1978)
  • Folder 7: Chicago Heart Association. Heart Attack Prevention Program (Mar-May 1978)
  • Folder 8: Chicago Heart Association. Heart Attack Prevention Program (Sep 1978-Jul 1979)
  • Folder 9: Gould Pumps, Inc. (1981)
  • Folder 10: Indiana Coronary Care Unit Technical Advisory Committee (1976)
  • Folder 11: Mended Hearts (1966-75)
  • Folder 12: Mobile Coronary Care Unit (1973-78)
  • Folder 13: Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (1978)
  • Folder 13: Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (1979)

Box Twelve

  • Folder 1: Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (Jan-Feb 1980)
  • Folder 2: Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (Jun-Jul 1980)
  • Folder 3: Myocardial Infarction Research Unit (1968)
  • Folder 4: National Institutes of Health. Board of Scientific Counselors (1977-80)
  • Folder 5. National Institutes of Health. Task Group on Pulmonary Vascular Diseases (May-Aug 1978)
  • Folder 6. National Institutes of Health. Task Group on Pulmonary Vascular Diseases (Sep 1978)
  • Folder 7. National Institutes of Health. Task Group on Pulmonary Vascular Diseases (Oct 1978-Apr 1979)
  • Folder 8: Ohio-Genesee Valley Heart Group (1974-75)
  • Folder 9: Patient Care, Darien Ct. (1977-79)
  • Folder 10: Progress in cardiology (1983)
  • Folder 11: Progress in cardiology (Jan-Apr 1984)
  • Folder 12: Progress in cardiology (May-Aug 1984)
  • Folder 13: Progress in cardiology (Sep-Dec 1984)
  • Folder 14: Progress in cardiology (Jan-Apr 1985)

Box Thirteen

  • Folder 1: Progress in cardiology (May-Aug 1985)
  • Folder 2: Progress in cardiology (Sep-Dec 1985)
  • Folder 3: Progress in cardiology (Jan-May 1986)
  • Folder 4: Progress in cardiology (Jun-Dec 1986)
  • Folder 5: Progress in cardiology (1987)
  • Folder 6: Rochester Cardiovascular Society (1971-76)
  • Folder 7: Miscellanea

Box Fourteen

  • Photographs of PNY’s final clinic
  • Photographs of PNY seminar and early reception
  • Photographs of reception

Box Fifteen

  • Photographs of late reception
  • Photographs of retirement dinner and presentations

Box Sixteen

  • Album of letters received from PNY’s colleagues on receiving the A.H.A.’s Herrrick Award (1979)
  • Copy of Jules Cohen and Stephanie Brown Clark’s Paul Yu remembered (2003)