Bruce W. Halstead, MD, was born March 28, 1920, in San Francisco, California, as Newton Bruce Mellars. According to family folklore, he was related to Isaac Newton (1624-1727), an English mathematician, astronomer, and physicist who is widely recognized as one of the most influential scientists of all time. Bruce took on the name Halstead when he was adopted at age 6 by his stepfather.
Bruce was graduated from Golden Gate Academy in 1939. As a student volunteer at the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences, Bruce was greatly impacted by his mentor, Howard Walton Clark, its curator. Thus at age 15, he became enamored with the world of marine biology, and published his first paper at age 18. This early influence eventually resulted in Halstead making a major contribution to world medicine.
Bruce studied pre-medicine at the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated with a BS degree in Zoology in 1941. During his studies he got so excited about parasitology that he became a parasitologist. Later, as a student at the Loma Linda College of Medical Evangelists (CME), he knew so much about parasitology, his teachers asked him to join the faculty. He taught tropical medicine before he graduated from CME as president of his class in 1948. He then completed one year of internship at the Marine hospital, U.S. Public Health Service, in San Francisco.
During his third year of medicine, Halstead visited with CME President Walter E. Macpherson, MD, and told him that he had been invited to join the faculty to teach parasitology and tropical medicine. After evaluating Halstead’s brief resume, Macpherson agreed it was a good idea. Halstead then emphasized that his real interest was to start a School of Tropical Medicine.
Somewhat surprised, Macpherson smiled: “You know you are not the only one with that idea. There is a Harold N. Mozar who served with the Army as a malariologist in New Guinea, and he is also trying to start a School of Tropical Medicine. The two of you ought to get together. Here is Mozar’s phone number.”
A few days later, Halstead and Mozar met on the phone and began a long series of meetings that eventually resulted in the establishment of the School of Tropical and Preventive Medicine (STPM) on the Loma Linda campus. From its start in 1948, the STPM (forerunner of Loma Linda University School of Public Health) was intended to be more than the usual tropical-medicine training institute. From its inception, “Preventive Medicine” had been included in its title. In an essay published on campus, Bruce outlined his vision for the STPM:
“It will provide a great stimulus toward directing the attention of both undergraduate and graduate students to a career in foreign mission work…. The faculty…will be required to spend a portion of their time in tropical mission fields. Thus, the problems of the tropics become the problems of the faculty members of the school. More determined efforts will be made in interesting individuals in mission medicine because of the very nature of the school; it will be possible to expose the students to the problems of mission medicine in a good coordinated exposure program. At the present time one of the greatest weaknesses of the College of Medical Evangelists is that there is no direct contact between the teaching staff…and our outlying medical institutions in the tropics. We do not have a mutual understanding of each other’s problems. How can we expect the undergraduate to dedicate his life to mission medicine when the instructor has never seen the fields that he is attempting to interest others in?”
For the first two decades of its existence, the College of Medical Evangelists (now Loma Linda University) did not prioritize research. Instead, corporate energy had to be directed toward establishing the institution, defining its purpose, and direction, and developing curricula in nursing, medicine, and dietetics. Addressing one of CME’s perceived early weaknesses, Halstead continued with insight:
“Research will be encouraged and in most instances the full-time faculty members will be required to submit a paper on at least one major research project a year. Definite measures will be taken to make worthwhile contributions to some of the lesser known branches of medicine. The spirit of research is catching. One of the greatest needs of our pre-clinical division is a powerful stimulus for research. The School of Tropical and Preventive Medicine will help to supply this need… As a denomination we have one of the most extensive medical mission programs in the world. We are in a position to carry on extensive statistical studies, yet we have never taken advantage of our opportunities. It also means that we are in a position to carry on tropical research studies at a minimum of expense. With a school of tropical medicine, CME has an opportunity of making an outstanding contribution to the scientific world.”
And then, with conviction, Halstead concluded: “One of the greatest cries of the administration of the College of Medical Evangelists is that we are short of funds and that we must find ways of obtaining finances. The School of Tropical and Preventive Medicine will make accessible…funds which would not be available in any other way. Tropical medicine is of international importance and is not limited in its scope by either national or denominational boundaries. Foundation grants for studies in tropical medicine are available from various organizations. We should take advantage of them. With the expansion of American interests into the tropics, tropical medicine has become of the utmost importance to the military and industrial economy of our nation. With the establishment of the School of Tropical and Preventive Medicine, CME takes a step in the right direction towards becoming an outstanding educational institution of this nation.”