Faculty/Administration
LECOM Loses a Wise and Joyful Spirit Philip B. Hultgren, PhD, Professor of Physiology
T
he skies are darker over LECOM today as the college family takes heart-heavy note of the loss of Philip B. Hultgren, PhD, Professor of Physiology. Dr. Hultgren was a vital and foundational thread running through the fabric that has come to form the tapestry of all that is LECOM. The bright color of his spirit and the vibrant cheerfulness that accompanied his presence from classroom to the world at large imbued those around him with his infectious joy. LECOM collectively extends its deepest and most sincere condolences to the entire Hultgren family. Dr. Hultgren has been part of the LECOM community since the very inception of the school. In the early 1990s, he allied with the founders to lend his enthusiastic support and his indefatigable energy to the development of the visionary dream that would become the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. His buoyant optimism and skilled experience, carried with him from his years of professorship at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, brought not only a great man of science to LECOM, but one steeped in the full understanding of the osteopathic principles. At LECOM, Dr. Hultgren served as Assistant Dean of Research from 1995-2006, facilitating faculty and student research. He also designed the LECOM research facility. In addition, Dr. Hultgren served as Course Director of Physiology. In 2005, Hershey S. Bell, M.D. and Dr. Hultgren developed the Master of Science in Medical Education Program. Dr. Hultgren was a published researcher in the area of Cardiovascular Medicine and he was an active member in the American Physiological Society, the American Heart Association, and the International Society for Heart Research. Dr. Hultgren’s greatest love was for his sons, Bobby and Erik, and he guided them devotedly in their education and sporting endeavors. Dr. Hultgren demonstrated that a happy spirit does not suggest that all is perfect; rather that one has determined to look beyond imperfection - for he knew that to be happy was to be wise. Indeed, Dr. Hultgren was a wise man. Dedicating his life to science, he leaves his earthly body to the calling that he so loved in the name of research. He committed his life’s charge to abating misery - his work, his purpose, his research, and his very mission was to heal; yet in so doing, his ebullient spirit scattered joy around him. In the joys of his achievements, in the students that he touched with his gift of knowledge, and in the family that is LECOM - Dr. Phillip B. Hultgren will leave his legacy. As per Dr. Hultgren’s request, his body was donated to medical science through the Humanity Gift Registry. The family has requested that donations may be made to the “LECOM Dr. Philip Hultgren Memorial Scholarship”, 1858 W. Grandview Blvd., Erie, PA 16509.
32 lecom connection / july 2012