 Alumni
Interviews:
Donald Mishler, M.D.
Stemming from Iowa roots, Donald Mishler, M.D., has seen nearly
a century pass. As he celebrates the 75th anniversary of his 1929
graduation from medical school at what was then known as the State
University of Iowa, Mishler, 99, represents the oldest medical
school class with a living member.
To recognize this historic occasion, current UI Carver College
of Medicine students, faculty and staff created and signed a special
card that was delivered to Mishler at his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
by fellow UI alumnus and former assistant dean for student affairs,
Gerry Clancy ('83BA, '88MD, '93R psychiatry). Clancy, currently
dean of the medical school at Oklahoma-Tulsa, said that Mishler
was most appreciated and moved by the gesture.
The son of a postal worker and schoolteacher, Mishler was born
in 1904 and raised in Centerville, Iowa. It was here he first discovered
an interest in medicine. Although he admired the abilities of his
community doctor and the medical practice of an uncle, Mishler’s
first passion was music.
An aspiring opera singer and accomplished saxophone player, he
was a member of the Cornell College pep band and also played in
a band of his own, Don Mishler and the Imperial Collegians, during
his college years.
Growing up in Iowa had an effect on Mishler’s aspirations.
You can’t help but be affected by Iowa surroundings, he said.
The state’s central location exposed him to people and ideas
from across the nation.
" Iowa is in the center of America," he said. "Growing
up here you are naturally Americanized."
Eventually Mishler’s interests returned to medicine, and
following his undergraduate studies he was accepted into the UI
medical school. After his graduation, he completed an internship
in Toledo, Ohio, and returned to the UI for an otolaryngology residency.
Fearing he wouldn’t find success with otolaryngology, Mishler
opted to complete a second residency in ophthalmology, at Strong
Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York.
Eventually he made his way to Tulsa, where he established his
own practice in 1959 and worked until his retirement in 1984. Mishler
has been credited with completing a few of Tulsa’s first
facial plastic operations, nose and ear surgery on people with
deformities. He was also among the first to speculate a link between
smoking and cancer in the early 1950s.
He was among the first to use an operative microscope for endural
surgery, a practice now used daily in hospitals. Mishler notes
the most profound change during his 50-year medical practice came
with the advent of antibiotics.
Although he has gone far and accomplished much, Mishler keeps
Iowa and education in the forefront of his mind. To honor his mother,
Mishler established the Centerville Community Schools Foundation,
which awards a Centerville teacher each year. He has also established
a nursing scholarship fund at the University of Rochester.
Mishler has been named Doctor of the Year by the Tulsa County
Medical Society, and professor emeritus of the University of Oklahoma
College of Medicine. His fellowships have included the American
College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery.
He is a member of the InterAmerican Society of Cosmetic, Plastic
and Reconstructive Surgery, and the American Academy of Otolaryngology.
A Renaissance man, Mishler never forgot his interest in music.
An active volunteer with the Tulsa Fair and American International
Charolais Association, he also enjoyed fishing, quail and pheasant
hunting, and cattle ranching in his younger years.
In the 1960s Mishler operated a 930-acre ranch of French Charolais
cattle. The well-known ranch attracted such visitors as Bing Crosby,
but Mishler never deserted his medical profession. His first wife,
Mary Alice, died in 1994 after 61 years of marriage. He has two
daughters, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
He lives in Tulsa with his second wife, Dorothy Wood, where he
enjoys reading and relaxing in his den, and is often seen taking
walks down his block. He will celebrate his 100th birthday in August.
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