March 1941
From the "Prominent in February's Population" Section, Page 10.
Leprosy and Astronomy
Scientific pursuits, both on the job and off, engross Dr. Clarence C. Hopkirk, Medicine '10, who was last month appointed 1941 head of the well-known Marion Davies Clinic for Children in West Los Angeles, California.
A specialist in radiology, with laboratories in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills, Dr. Hopkirk has been on the staff of the Marion Davies clinic for several years. Away from his private practice and his hospital work, Dr. Hopkirk is still a scientist. His hobbies are leprosy and astronomy. Interest in leprosy began in 1921, when he went to the Orient to teach surgery at the Severance Union Medical College in Seoul, Korea. After teaching there, he stayed in the far east to assist in the care of lepers and in the promotion of a wider use of the ethyl ester of Chaulmoogra oil in the treatment of leprosy. Upon his return to the United States in 1925 he lectured throughout the Middlewest, arousing widespread interest in the disease.
For many years the Marion Davies clinic has been bringing increased health to children, giving them medical, surgical and dental care. Doctors of the clinic donate their services in the humanitarian service.
Dr. Hopkirk says, "Most of the children are undernourished and many present endocrine and nutrional problems. Meetings of the medical staff are frequently held to consider the problems of the clinic and the newer methods of diagnosis and treatment, particularly applied to the underprivileged and undernourished children."
His Oriental experiences include the 1923 earthquake and fire in Tokyo. He was there at the time, and assisted in the rendering first aid to many of the injured. He says that the fire that followed the quake, one of the greatest city fires in the world's history, practically surrounded the hotel in which he was staying. After a week of harrowing experiences he was able to leave on an American destroyer. On his return trip to America he toured Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, France and England. An admirer of the old masters, he spent considerable time in the art galleries of Europe, and has a collection of lantern slides of the masterpieces of painting and sculpture.