William L. Haskell : An Oral History
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Dr. William L. Haskell is Professor (Research) of Medicine, Emeritus, in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the former deputy director of the Stanford Prevention Research Center. In this oral history, he provides an overview of his career in the field of preventive health, especially his studies on the impact of exercise in cardiac disease prevention and rehabilitation. Haskell recounts his early life in Wyoming and southern California, his education in physiology at University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Illinois, and how exercise physiology became central to his laboratory research. He describes collaborations with key national figures in the growing field of cardiovascular health that led to positions at the Heart Disease and Stroke Control Program of the US Public Health Service and on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Haskell describes coming to Palo Alto in 1970 to pilot a preventive medicine clinic and to work in the cardiology division at the Stanford School of Medicine. He recalls various research projects, including the Three Community Project and Five City Project, field studies of the impact of community health education in preventing cardiovascular disease; the Stanford Coronary Risk Intervention Project (SCRIP), which illustrated that multi-factor risk reduction could decrease clinical cardiac events; and research on physical activity in patients recovering from myocardial infarction and heart transplants. Haskell also discusses interdisciplinary collaborations; his work in women’s health, diabetes, and longevity; and the development of national and international physical activity guidelines.
- Summary
- Family background and growing up in Wyoming • Outdoor activities and sports • Move to El Segundo, California due to father’s health • Positive friendships and teachers in high school • Interest in science and math • Staying home after graduation to help mother after father’s death • Working in aerospace assembly • Entering University of California, Santa Barbara in 1956 • Physiology professors and laboratory assistant work • Student friendships • Meeting his future wife Wendi Hammond • Faculty advice to continue to graduate school • ROTC obligations at Fort Benning, Georgia • Program in exercise physiology at University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana • Influence of co-chairs T.K. Cureton and Robert E. Johnson • Interest in stress physiology • Value of daily lunches with faculty and library research • Colleagues James Skinner and Michael Pollock • Connection with Samuel Fox, Deputy Chief of Heart Disease and Stroke Control Program in the US Public Health Service leads to position in Washington, DC • Marriage to Wendi in 1963 • Evening volleyball in Illinois • The Cureton and Johnson laboratories as national centers of physiology and environmental exercise physiology • Heart Disease and Stroke Control Program • FAA pilot-aging study moving to Fox’s lab • Developments in feedback monitors and equipment • Building career-long relationships at national and international conferences • Physical Activity and Ischemic Heart Disease Planning Committee as program project officer • Connections with committee members, including David Bruce Dill, former director of research at Harvard Fatigue Laboratory • Wendi’s flexibility and family management • Formal chronic disease epidemiology training in Buffalo in 1967 • Meeting astronaut Jim Lovell in Washington and invitation to join President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports • Inner-city fitness programs in a time of turbulence • Coming to Stanford in 1970 via contacts with Donald Harrison, chief of Division of Cardiology and physician-entrepreneur William Helvey • Appointment as assistant professor • Setting up preventive cardiovascular medicine clinic on Welch Road with Helvey and Charles Martell • Support from Dow Chemical • Testing for Medical School researchers Peter Wood, John Farquhar, and Michael Stern • Collaboration with Robert DeBusk on physical testing of acute myocardial infarction patients • New imaging technology and new models of cardiac rehabilitation • Non-supervised nurse-managed rehabilitation programs at Stanford and in the community • Research on heart transplant patients • Lipid Research Clinic with Peter Wood and Special Center for Research of Atherosclerosis • Stanford Three Community Project and use of media to reduce public cardiovascular risk • Five City Project • Collecting cardiovascular risk factor data on cholesterol types • Pushing the frontiers of post-myocardial infarction rehabilitation • Cardiac Rehab Study • Edward Alderman’s work on quantitative coronary arteriography in the Stanford Cath Lab • Research on long distance runners • Studying rehabilitation programs combining comprehensive medical management with diet, exercise, and psychology • Demonstrating positive effects of multiple risk reduction approach via arteriography • Conducting studies for Blue Shield of California with real life populations in the multi-year Health Education and Risk Reduction Training Program (HEARRT) • Stanford Coronary Risk Intervention Project (SCRIP) • Delivering cardiac preventive care to communities and workplaces via multi-clinic group • Project with homeless people in Santa Clara County • Testing hormone replacement cardiovascular outcomes in post-menopausal women (HERS study) • Risk factor management in women • Reflecting on interdisciplinary collaborations with Communications, Engineering, and SLAC • Managing a small endowment for interdisciplinary research and role of President John Hennessy in enabling interdisciplinary work • Postdoctoral research training at the Prevention Research Center • Evolution of the Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Program and the Stanford Prevention Research Center and its post-doctoral fellowship • Stanford’s Health Improvement Program (HIP) for employees • National and international professional collaborations • President of American College of Sports Medicine (1985) and ACSM Foundation • Elevating exercise as a field of science • Successful collaborations with physicians • Expanding the field by supporting junior investigators and national and international engagement • Collaboration with Gerald Reaven on diabetes • Opportunities for collaboration at Stanford and beyond • Cardiac rehabilitation program in Palo Alto • Studies on cardiac health of occupational groups nationally and internationally and role of exercise • Evolution of physical activity guidelines and debates • Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee • Trends: monitoring activity 24-hours a day and increasing role of wearable technology in monitoring • The politics of developing physical activity guidelines • The American Jogging (Running) Association • Kenneth Cooper and use of data from the Cooper Institute • Longevity of the Prevention Research Center • Interdisciplinary workshops in collaboration with the Stanford Center on Longevity • NIH big data group at Stanford working on Parkinson’s Disease • Wendi’s role in managing family and active engagement in Portola Valley community • Outdoor activities as a family with children and grandchildren • The story of the “220 minus age” rule for maximum heart rate • Multiple risk factor reduction study as his major contribution
Description
| Type of resource | moving image, sound recording-nonmusical, text, still image |
|---|---|
| Extent | 6 video files; 6 audio files; 1 text file; 1 photograph |
| Place | Stanford (Calif.) |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
| Date created | March 11, 2019 - 2019-03-25 |
| Language | English |
| Digital origin | born digital |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Haskell, William L. | |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Haskell, William L. | |
| Interviewer | Berra, Kathy | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Haskell, William L. |
|---|---|
| Subject | Stanford University. School of Medicine. Division of Cardiology |
| Subject | Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Program |
| Subject | Public health |
| Genre | Interview |
Bibliographic information
| Biographical Profile | Professor Haskell spent over fifty years conducting and evaluating research on the acute and chronic effects of habitual physical activity on human health and performance. His special focus was on how frequent exercise contributes to chronic disease prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. His research groups have made major contributions to the assessment of physical activity in free-living populations. He obtained a BS degree in physical education from UC Santa Barbara (1960), holds MS (1962) and PhD (1965) degrees in exercise physiology from the University of Illinois and had post-doctoral training in chronic disease epidemiology at the University of Buffalo. He spent 1966 to 1970 in the US Public Health Service and on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in Washington, DC, before returning to the West Coast and Stanford University in 1970. His appointments at Stanford Medical School were in the Department of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology and the Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Program. In Cardiology he collaborated with cardiologists in the assessment of cardiovascular function in healthy adults, patients soon after myocardial infarction, and patients following cardiac transplantation. A major focus of this research was to provide science-based recommendations to patients as they returned to their communities. He collaborated with scientists at Stanford to publish the first data showing that multi-factor risk factor reduction increased coronary artery diameter, reduced rate of lesion progression, and significantly decreased clinical cardiac events. His research team also demonstrated that a “multifactor” risk reduction program delivered through a team approach was effective in reducing heart attack and stroke risk in a variety of patient populations. Haskell acquired extensive knowledge of current physical activity recommendations for adults. He has participated in committees that have developed guidelines for physical activity and health for the American College of Sports Medicine, American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From 2006 to 2008 he chaired the Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee for the DHHS. |
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| Transcript |
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| Finding Aid | |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/ps522rq2288 |
| Location | SC0932 |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Collection
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022
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