Branching out
Former dean shares UF Hippocratic tree cuttings and values with medical schools around the nation
A metal plaque for the University of Florida College of Medicine Hippocratic Award and plane tree cuttings.
March 31, 2023 — Beneath the cream-colored scaling bark and broad green leaves of a plane tree, medical students at the University of Florida College of Medicine have honored the Hippocratic Oath and beloved clinical faculty members who best exemplify its ethics of humanism, professionalism and teaching prowess for 54 years.
These celebrations have stood in the shadow of the father of modern medicine since 1969, when the graduating class and university worked with American and Greek consulates to receive six cuttings from a plane tree, commonly known in the U.S. as a sycamore, on the Greek island of Kos that is widely believed to be the same tree, or a descendant of the tree, under which Hippocrates taught medical students.
Decades later, UF is sharing this deeply rooted history by donating new, genetically identical cuttings so that other medical schools around the state and the Southeast can plant their own Hippocratic trees.
Craig Tisher, MD, standing beneath a growing plane tree cutting in the University of Florida Wilmot Botanical Gardens.
“As they become freshly minted doctors, it’s important to remind medical students of the ideal behavior in teaching and patient care that these Hippocratic principles espouse,” said Craig Tisher, MD, the director of UF’s Wilmot Botanical Gardens and a professor emeritus and former dean of the College of Medicine.
Four of the six original cuttings that UF received were successfully grown by a UF horticulture expert, and the most promising cutting was planted in front of UF Health Shands Hospital on June 14, 1969, as witnessed by representatives from the consulates, UF, the American Medical Association and more. That same day, the medical school class of 1969 honored the first recipient of the Hippocratic Award: obstetrics and gynecology professor and beloved mentor Hugh M. “Smiley” Hill, M.D. The award ceremony later moved to Wilmot Botanical Gardens, where another plane tree cutting also grows.
In early 2022, Tisher and colleagues noticed the tree by the hospital was struggling to thrive and had put out many suckers along its lower trunk due to stress. As part of the effort to rehabilitate the tree, Tisher and Bart Schutzman, PhD, a lecturer in the department of environmental horticulture at UF’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, removed the offshoots and immediately thought to share the wealth.
Bart Schutzman, PhD, standing beside a thriving plane tree cutting in a black pot in front of a greenhouse on the University of Florida campus.
While Schutzman worked on successfully rooting 13 of the new cuttings, Tisher contacted peer institutions to gauge interest in receiving a tree and starting their own version of UF’s Hippocratic Award ceremony. Ten schools have responded favorably, and eight have already received their plane tree.
One cutting went to the Florida State University College of Medicine, where Robert Watson, MD ’69, understands the impact of the Hippocratic tree and award from both the student and faculty perspective. Prior to becoming an FSU professor, Watson served as a professor of neurology at UF, spent 17 years as the senior associate dean for educational affairs and earned the Hippocratic Award from the class of 1985. His name appears on a plaque beneath the Hippocratic tree in Wilmot Botanical Gardens, along with every other award winner since his medical school class started the award in 1969.
“Getting a cutting from the tree under which Hippocrates is said to have taught seemed perfect,” he said. “To call the best clinical teacher of the year the winner of the Hippocratic Award … it became the most cherished award a clinical faculty member could receive.”
Watson recently worked with FSU leadership to initiate their own Hippocratic Award, which launched this spring. Plans are underway to plant a garden around their tree.
Tisher aims to spread the same joy to as many schools across the U.S. as possible by collecting new cuttings and donating more trees every year.
See a full list of medical schools working with Tisher for Hippocratic tree cuttings below, as well as a gallery documenting the original arrivals and celebrations at UF in 1969.
- Duke University School of Medicine *tree received
- Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine *tree received
- Florida State University College of Medicine *tree received
- Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine *tree received
- Tulane University School of Medicine *tree received
- University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine *tree received
- University of Central Florida College of Medicine *tree received
- University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine *tree received
- Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine
- Emory University School of Medicine
This story originally ran in the Spring 2023 issue of the Doctor Gator newsletter.
