URI names its Health Services after Dr. Pauline Wood

KINGSTON, R.I.-September 13, 1999 -- URI Health Services not only has doctors in the house, but it has a doctor's name in front of the house.

URI Health Services, located in the Potter Building on the main campus, is now called the Dr. Pauline B. Wood Health Services to honor the doctor who focused her attention on keeping URI students healthy for nearly a quarter of a century.

Dr. Wood of Westerly first arrived on the Kingston campus as a concerned parent. Her son had broken a leg and she visited the health services to obtain documentation so that he could obtain a handicapped parking permit.

When Dr. Wood identified herself as a physician, Dr. Jim Guthrie, the medical director at the time, asked Wood about working part time. She accepted and a few years later she and Guthrie switched roles.

Twenty three years later, in June of 1998, Dr. Wood hung up her stethoscope and retired but not before leaving a legacy of innovative service. Leading the clinical staff, Dr. Wood pushed and achieved progressive changes in health services. She initiated specialty clinics. She sought and encouraged relationships for clinical collaboration with academic departments, most notably nursing, clinical laboratory science, pharmacy, physical therapy, and the Brown Medical School Residency Program.

Dr. Wood was also the person most responsible for the recent addition and renovation of the Potter Building. Wood initiated several clinical studies which examined such topics as the common cold and the Lyme disease vaccine.

Her performance did not go unrecognized. In 1996, Wood received the URI Foundation Administrative Excellence Award.

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For More Information: Jan Sawyer, 874-2116