Herlan O. Loyd, MD

H.O. received his medical degree from the University of Kansas in 1940. He took his Internal Medicine training at Northwestern University and Washington University in St. Louis. He briefly practiced medicine in Kansas and Missouri before coming to Northern California in 1952.

He practiced until 1955, when at the age of 42, he returned to academia and took a fellowship in hematology at the University of Pennsylvania. Upon completion of his fellowship training, H.O. joined the faculty of the University of Missouri. In 1961, he came to Sacramento and was the first clinical hematologist to practice here.

H.O. was trained as a subspecialist, but he never lost his family physician "touch" for the patient and family. He embraced the philosophy that the patient must be treated, not just his disease. He often stated to the younger physicians: "the patient doesn't care how much you know until he knows how much you care."

H.O. cared for his dying patients and their families long before dedicated oncology units and hospice programs existed in the Sacramento area.

He somehow managed to maintain his wonderful sense of humor with his colleagues while simultaneously providing solace and comfort to his patients and their families.

H.O. retired from private practice in 1976. He became restless and was ready to unleash a new energy on an old ongoing commitment; the importance of medical bioethics in the training of physicians.

He was the founder and the first president of the Sacramento Bioethics Coalition and subsequently assisted the UC Davis Alumni Association in establishing an endowed chair in Medical Bioethics.

He remained on the UCD Board of Bioethics until health problems dictated his resignation in 1996.

H.O. and his wife, Marge, endowed the John C. Tupper Library Collection for Bioethics at UC Davis. Subsequently, their generous gift, endowed "The Program for Medicine and Society" in honor of former UC Davis Dean Hibbard Williams, MD, for the study of economic, sociologic and ethical factors which affect healthcare delivery.

H.O. was a man of great energy and a man of many talents. He was a physician with life-long dedication to the ethical and emotional aspects of patient care. This community is a richer place because of his dedication.

- by Neil W. Culp, MD