Faculty Bibliography

The researchers said they had not definitely established that the substance identified in the blood test is such a marker. But they said that in about half of alcoholics it appears in the blood at about twice the level at which it is found in nonalcoholics, regardless of how much the alcoholics consume. Researchers generally acknowledge, however, that it is difficult to obtain accurate data on past alcohol consumption from alcoholics. Dr. Boris Tabakoff, scientific director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said he had not seen the research report. But he said several other research groups had been exploring possible genetic factors in alcoholism. They have been trying to discover ways of identifying people at risk of becoming alcoholics. But none of these methods is ready for routine use, he said. Team's Accidental Discovery Sensing that the finding might be relevant to alcoholism, the Wisconsin scientists changed the direction of their research. They tested 25 alcoholic men from 18 to 52 years old who had an alcoholic father and 24 men from 20 to 48 years old who were neither alcoholics nor had immediate blood relatives who were alcoholics.. The alcoholics averaged 81 drinks per week and the non-alcoholics 4

''We were nervous because it took us years to become comfortable in using such drugs in the emergency room,'' Dr. [Mark V. Sherrid] said. ''We didn't want to give a drug in the field we hadn't used in the emergency room.'' ''Now the question is, how do we make the service more widely available,'' Dr. [Henry Greenberg] said, adding that he and others intend to discuss plans with city and other hospital officials. One problem, he said, is the reluctance of some hospital administrators to initiate such programs because of the malpractice risks involved in having a non-physician inject the drug. Another problem is financial. It would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to equip every ambulance in New York with the new cardiogram machines. Dr. Greenberg said he ''would insist that the issue of cost-effectiveness of such a program be debated up front as part of policy before anything is decided.''

Dr. [Virginia V. Weldon] observed that ''the pipeline is long, taking many years for men to become deans.'' But Dr. Weldon added that she believed ''an ingrained prejudice'' existed against the selection of women as medical leaders. ''The leadership has to take a strong position, which it hasn't,'' she said. ''Traditional academic medicine may have been oblivious to changing national priorities.'' She noted that academic medical centers, even private ones, are dependent on tax money and that many have stationery saying that they are equal opportunity employers. ''That's a slogan and slogans won't do.'' Dr. Weldon said

Dr. [Jere E. Goyan] said he would like to see a broadening of the groups participating in such discussions to include more critics. He said he was concerned about the ''impatience'' of critics, who if not listened to, ''will eventually destroy what is basically a very good system.'' Dr. Goyan also said that the F.D.A. can be insular. ''The agency gets very inward-looking and has a very hard time looking to outside sources,'' like industrial experts, academics and patient advocates, he said. ''There is a certain amount of paranoia within the agency and within the industry about one another.'' ''there may be a few,'' he said, and ''we need to use every bit of evidence we can get, even if it has not been collected by the double-blind, controlled trial.''

Several prominent psychiatrists have expressed dismay and anger over what they believe is Harvard University's harsh treatment of Dr. Shervert H. Frazier, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health. Some psychiatrists who are admirers of Dr. Frazier called the 67-year-old professor ''a beloved, respected elder statesman'' and a man who ''inspired a generation.'' ''Harvard Medical School was perhaps weighing its reputation when it was weighing Shervert Frazier's reputation,'' said Dr. Alan A. Stone, a former president of the American Psychiatric Association who is a member of the faculty of Harvard's medical and law schools. Dr. Stone, who has worked at McLean Hospital, said Dr. Frazier's punishment was ''inappropriate'' and ''unreasonable'' considering his record. He added that he had expressed his displeasure in letters to Derek Bok, the president of Harvard, and Dr. Daniel C. Tosteson, dean of the Harvard Medical School. 'Looking for an Excuse' Dr. [Louis Jolyon West] credited Dr. Frazier for ''a staggering performance'' in creating ''a first-rate department'' at Baylor Medical School in Houston while serving as Texas Mental Health Commissioner at the same time. ''A great university should not just offhand accept the resignation of a man like that without a major faculty review of all the circumstances,'' he said. ''It isn't going to do Harvard much good.''

In interviews with more than a dozen medical leaders, many said they believed [Shervert H. Frazier]'s downfall and disgrace amounted to far stiffer punishment than he deserved. These experts, who know Frazier, praised him enthusiastically; one said he planned to offer him a temporary teaching post. Two other national medical leaders said Harvard had no choice but to accept Frazier's resignation. Officials at the Harvard Medical School said Frazier offered to resign in August when the charges first were brought by a graduate student, Paul Scatena, of the University of Rochester, and again last month after an investigating committee verified the charges. George Putnam, chairman of the board of trustees at McLean Hospital, from which Frazier resigned as psychiatrist in chief and general director, said in a written statement that 'it would not be appropriate for Dr. Frazier to continue to hold his leadership positions' at the hospital and at Harvard. Frazier has been on a medical leave of absence since Oct. 14, Putnam said

Neither Dr. [Daniel C. Tosteson] nor Dr. [Shervert H. Frazier] were available for comment yesterday. Harvard officials said Dr. Tosteson was traveling and could not be reached. At Dr. Frazier's office at McLean Hospital, where he was psychiatrist-in-chief and general director, Laurin Ericson, Dr. Frazier's secretary, said Dr. Frazier was ''out of town'' and would not receive messages ''for one week or longer.'' She said she had been given instructions to refer all calls to the Harvard Medical School's public affairs office. Dr. Melvin Sabshin, medical director of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington, said in an interview that the 67-year-old Dr. Frazier was ''a major psychiatric leader for a long time and a strong advocate for high-quality research.'' Dr. Sabshin said Dr. Frazier also was ''a significant policy maker and advocate for rational policies for the entire field of mental health,'' one who tried to ''promulgate excellence in the field.'' ''Then,'' he said, ''I came across a paragraph that I immediately recognized'' as from an earlier Scientific American article. ''As soon as I read that I went down two flights to the medical library and got out the original paper and I had it.'' Published in '60's and '70's

Imreg Inc. said today that the committee's decision to defer action was based on a ''seriously flawed'' analysis by the F.D.A. staff. Dr. Zoon and Dr. H. Clifford Lane, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health, said some patients with [Kaposi]'s sarcoma responded ''dramatically'' to alpha interferon. The F.D.A. said that about 40 percent to 45 percent of Kaposi's sarcoma patients who received large doses of alpha interferon ''responded with a significant reduction in the size of their tumors.'' Dr. Lane and Dr. [Kathryn C. Zoon] said new findings show that alpha interferon works best in people with the earliest stages of the disease

''My interest was piqued because it was an orphan area, so few people were working in it,'' Dr. [Don H. Catlin] said. In addition, Dr. [Robert Voy] said athletes often know more about tricks to escape detection of drugs than the doctors do. ''There isn't a textbook on this,'' Dr. Voy said. Dr. Catlin noted that until recently, a lack of funds made it difficult to attract scientists to the field. But with the [Ben Johnson] case, he said, ''I bet you'll see research money flowing into this area.''

'I'll tell you why,' he said. 'It's because nobody has dropped dead or died. If all of a sudden you had empirical data that said 137 American athletes died in the '76 Olympic Games and anabolic steroids did it, you would have people sit up and take notice. But they have not been able to link one death to it yet