Randall and his plaque

A lexander Randall, the only son among the four children of known lawyer J . W. Randall, was born in 1883. Alexander graduated from the John Hopkins Medical School in 1907 but was not very interested in surgery at that time. He spent 18 months as an intern in the German Hospital (actually, the Lankenau Hospital) of Philadelphia. While there, he came under the influence of Dr. John B. Deaver, who stimulated his interest in surgery. In 1915, he joined the staff of the Philadelphia General Hospital. Two years later, he entered the Army in the University of Pennsylvania Hospital Group and was abroad from 1918 to 1919. In 1921, he was made an associate in urology at the University of Pennsylvania and became assistant professor in charge of the urology department 2 years later. He was promoted to associate professor in 1926 and to full professor in 1929. When he directed the department in 1923, he initiated the residency training program at the University of Pennsylvania and remained as the chief until about 1949. He is probably also the physician who deserves credit for introducing intravenous urography to the United States. This technique had been developed in Germany by Von Lichtenberg, who accepted an honorary degree at the University of Pennsylvania shortly afterwards. Around 1937, Randall was treated with high doses of sulfathiazole because of an inflammatory process, and he had a total renal shutdown. His kidneys eventually functioned again, but residual hypertension led to a minor stroke in 1941; he then suffered multiple strokes until his passing away on November 18, 1951 (Fig. 1). We know additional details about Randall’s life because of the kindness of his son Peter Randall, now a plastic surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania, and because of a report written by his close friend H.B. Wilmer, published in the 1939 “Scope” of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Wil-