Obituary
From the April ACP Observer, copyright © 2003 by the American College of Physicians.
Ralph F. Reinfrank, MACP
Ralph F. Reinfrank, MACP, a long-time educator and former President of the American Society of Internal Medicine (ASIM), died Sept. 27, 2002. He was 78 years old.
Born in Switzerland in 1923, Dr. Reinfrank served in the U.S. Army in World War II. He graduated from Long Island College of Medicine in 1949 and began residency training at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Conn. After a one-year rotation in 1951 at the Army's 320th General Hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, he went on to complete residency at Hartford Hospital in 1953.
After five years in private practice, Dr. Reinfrank became director of the outpatient department and physician-in-chief of the diagnostic clinic at Hartford Hospital in 1958. In 1964, he became the hospital's first chief of internal medicine.
Dr. Reinfrank taught at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Dentistry for decades and wrote many scholarly papers on the practical aspects of internal medicine practice. He was a pioneer in applying advanced technology to health care, and he established an automated electrocardiographic analysis system in the Hartford area in the late 1960s.
He served as President of the ASIM from 1975-76, helping establish a spirit of cooperation between the ASIM and the College that ultimately led the organizations to merge in 1998.
Dr. Reinfrank was awarded College Mastership in 1977.
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