Rose Reynolds

Second Generation Medical Illustrations

Born in Rising City, Nebraska, in 1906, Rose Reynolds was one of the longest-standing medical illustrators in UNMC’s history. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and briefly attended business school before taking the job opportunity at UNMC in 1929. The initial illustrator position was part-time, so Reynolds also assisted a hematologist and was secretary to the anatomy department chair, John Latta, MD. Through her time at UNMC, Reynolds eventually became an assistant professor in anatomical illustration.

To hone her skills, Reynolds attended anatomy classes with students. She even dissected cadavers herself to help her develop accurate illustrations. She also attended surgeries, where she created rough drawings during the procedure and refined them later. Early in her career, Reynolds took a sabbatical from the College of Medicine to study medical illustration at the University of Illinois.

Reynolds first worked with J. Jay Keegan, MD, in the Department of Surgery. Dr. Keegan was a renowned neurosurgeon who worked on mapping the skin in relation to spinal nerves, known as dermatome. With the help of Reynolds, Dr. Keegan was able to create and visualize this dermatome map, which was widely used in the field. After Dr. Keegan, Reynolds did most of her work with Edward Holyoke, MD, in the Department of Anatomy. A collection of her anatomical illustrations is preserved as part of the Edward Augustus Holyoke Papers in UNMC’s McGoogan Health Sciences Library Special Collections and Archives.

Robert Swift Wigton, MS, MD, and Programmed Learning

Robert Swift Wigton, MS, MD, built a career on innovative thinking with appreciation for legacy and history. A third generation Nebraskan on both sides, Dr. Wigton attended Omaha Central High School, Harvard College, and UNMC, graduating in the class of 1969. He served the College of Medicine as associate dean for graduate education and chief of the section of general internal medicine. Dr. Wigton’s investigative curiosity related to health care in Nebraska has made him the unofficial historian of the UNMC College of Medicine.

During Dr. Wigton’s time as an educator, he found personal interest in the process of medical decision making. In evaluating this process, he developed a “programmed learning” curriculum that encouraged students to reason through standardized patient diagnoses that allowed them to see their effect on a particular situation—a “choose your own adventure” exercise of sorts. In this multi-question process, students would evaluate a path to take at each step. Every right answer would lead to the next question while an incorrect answer would lead to an explanation of why the choice was wrong and lead the student back to the beginning. This process enabled Dr. Wigton’s students to make their own choices on cases and learn from their mistakes in a supportive, educational environment. Dr. Wigton’s work in the classroom and in studies on medical decision making led him to publish over 160 scientific papers and book chapters on the topic, in addition to studies on computer-based teaching programs.

Try a programmed text yourself!