David F Opdyke, PhD Papers, Guide to the

David F. Opdyke was born in Montpelier, Ohio, in 1915. He attended Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio and received his B.S. degree in chemistry in 1937. For the next two years he was a graduate assistant in the Department of Zoology at Indiana University, working under Professor of Biology, Ira Wilson. His graduate study was in endocrinology. He was also working in the Original Research Division, Dept. of Fish and Game of the Indiana Conservation Commission. It was Dr. Ira Wilson who persuaded the young Opdyke to try another field of study, such as biology, so that he would have two areas of expertise. From 1939-1942, Dr. Opdyke was research associate of Dr. Oscar Riddle at Carnegie Institution of Washington, Cold Spring Harbor, and Long Island, New York.

In 1942 Dr. Opdyke received his PhD degree from Indiana University, and during 1943, he served as Instructor in the Department of Physiology, Indiana University School of Medicine. The following year he became an Instructor at Western Reserve, spending half time teaching and half time research on war problems. Between 1947-1951, Dr. Opdyke worked in the Physiology Department under Dr. CJ Wiggers, a cardiovascular physiologist. By the time he left Western Reserve in 1952, he was an Associate Professor and Associate Director of the department. Later that year, he accepted the position as head of the Department of Physiology at the Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research in Rahway, NJ. He alsoaccepted an appointment as Consultant Physiologist for the City of New York, Department of Hospitals.

He preferred teaching, however, and on February 1, 1956 he left Merck and became a professor and chairman of the Physiology Department of the new Seton Hall College of Medicine and Dentistry. It was the first faculty appointment made by the new College. He accepted the position at Seton Hall because it was a new school and he hoped to be able to influence the curriculum, since he was always interested in curriculum revision.

His assignments included not only planning and recruiting for the Physiology Department, but for the College as a whole. From February to September 1956, he assisted in the preparation of the physical facilities in the Basic Sciences Building, planned the curriculum and recruited a staff for his department.At the same time, he also acted as Admission Officer and Assistant Dean in charge of Student Affairs.

In July 1961, Dr. Opdyke had a chance to use this extensive organizational experience. He was invited bythe Indonesian medical community to reorganize the Department of Physiology in the Medical School in Surabaju, Indonesia. For approximately eighteen months, he worked on this project of modeling the Indonesia medical school curriculum after that in this country.

During the summers and during sabbaticals, Dr. Opdyke did radiation studies at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee Institute of Nuclear Studies, and work on hypertension and the shark's low blood pressure at the Biology Lab in Bar Harbor, Maine.

In 1979, he resigned his post as chairman of the Physiology Department and in 1981 Dr. Opdyke retired from the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, after being with the College through twenty-five years of change.

For recreation, he participated in the Explorers Club in New York City, was a member of the Westfield Barber Shop Quartet, and enjoyed photography and wood carving.