STANFORD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
STANFORD UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS

CLAY AND WEBSTER STREETS

DEPARTMENT OB.RADIOLOGY
Henry 7
Henry Fyefies, M.D.
Herbert L. Abrams, M.D, SAN FRANCISCO 15, CALIFORNIA
Joseph P. Kriss, M.D.
Wilham L, Anderson, M.D.
Sarah K. Hochstetler, M.D. | 9 September 1 958
Steven E. Ross, M.D.
Malcolm A. Bagshaw, M.D.

   

George W. Reimer, M.D.
Mitchel Weissbluth, Ph.D.
Robert Loevinger, Ph.D.

Professor Joshua Lederberg
Department of Genetics
University of Wisconsin
Madison 6, Wisconsin

Dear Josh:

I trust that you and Esther had an uneventful trip home and that you are
now settled back in your laboratory once again. Lee and | tremendously enjoy-
ed your visit, and 1 only wish that we could have had more time together, but
we'll just have to be patient until next summer. I wanted to drop you a note
now for two reasons, the first being that I will not be making that project
site visit in Madison and will therefore not be able to come by for a visit
with you as | had hoped to do.

The other item is to solicit your best advice on behalf of one of our
faculty whom you have not yet met, Dr. Ruth (Toby'') Gross, Associate Professor
of Pediatrics and Acting Head of the Department of Pediatrics since Bob Alway
assumed the Acting and now the permanent Deanship. Toby has long been one of
the most effective teachers we have in the clinical departments. She became
interested in research on the evolution of biochemical pathways in newborn in-
fants about three years ago, at which time she began to discuss some of these
problems with Kalckar and Horecker, in particular. For the past two years she
has done a beautiful job of research on carbohydrate pathways in the red
cells of newborn children, and has shown some quite interesting phenomena, some
of which are summarized in a recent article in the Journal of Clinical Investi-

gation.

At the moment she has two problems. The first is that she is due for a
sabbatical leave next year, and feels that she must get away for a year to
free herself of the administrative pressure she has been facing in addition to
her research, and to get a fresh point of view on her research. The second
problem, which clearly relates to the first, is that she finds herself more
and more attracted to the new field of 4® biochemical genetics of pediatrics.
She has met Bart Childs and indeed some of her recent work closely parallels
his but leads her to a different conclusion than he reached with regard to the
Dr. Joshua Lederberg Page Two

genetic patterns underlying glutathione metabolism. With just a bit of encourage~
ment, | think that she would move over quite seriously into genetics, particular-
ly since she is quite excited about the fact that both you and Arthur Kornberg

are now coming to Stanford. If she were in fact to do so, then it would seem best
for her to spend her sabbatical year learning genetics in as productive a way as
possible with reference to her future research, At the same time she would like
to retain some contact with the kind of biochemistry she has been doing. Finally,
in terms of a choice of location, she is anxious to go to Europe, having just re-
turned from the meetings in Vienna and Rome, and would prefer Italy, particularly
Rome, as a place to spend the year, though | believe Paris would be an almost
equally good second choice. She has a young son, Gary, who is now nearly ten, and
she feels also that it would be highly desirable for him to learn a foreign lan-
guage, which he could do most easily by living abroad. When ! discussed the
situation with her, Cavalli's name came to mind, and | told her of your rather warm
feelings about Cavalli, but | really knew next to nothing about Padua as a place
for a divorcee with a child to come for a year. 1! also wondered whether there was
anybody in Rome with whom she might profitably work. In any case t know that she
would be tremendously grateful for your advice both with regard to the potential-
ities of the field in general and more explicitly with regard to people and places
where she might work next year if she were to elect to work in the field of
genetics.

With many thanks for any help you can give her and best personal regards
to you and Esther.

Sincerely,

fle | i
Henry S. Kaplan, M.D.