Dr. Augustus Thorndike, Chief of Surgery to the University Health Services, is retiring this June after 35 years of service. His successor will be Dr. John Brooks, now Associate Surgeon with Health Services.

Thorndike began treating Crimson football and hockey players in 1926 and became known to thousands of Harvard alumni as "the doc who ran onto the of honor (Harvard Stadium) to the wounded."

Hospital In South Pacific

During World War II, Thorndike was in charge of a Harvard Medical School hospital in the South Pacific. After the war the Surgeon General's office placed him in charge of the reconditioning of sick and wounded in all United States hospitals.

More recently, Thorndike has organized and operated for the Veterans Administration a program to rehabilitate the handicapped.

A Chief of Surgery at the University, Thorndike has supervised the care of all University students who receive surgical treatment from the Health Services. also in general charge of medical for athletes.