Hirschman, who has authored articles in such publications as the British Heart Journal and the Journal of the American Medical Association, says his professional path may have been somewhat different had he decided to stay at Harvard for the fourth year before embarking on his medical career.

“I probably would have stayed more in academics and research,” he says.

Instead, Hirschman went on to receive his M.D. in 1955 and then serve for three years as a U.S. Navy doctor.

Medical school proved to be a distinctly different experience from life at the College.

“At Harvard, we were expected to think, and in medical school, one is expected to memorize,” he said. “Although I had to struggle to get a ‘B’ average at Harvard, I went on to get all A’s in my first semester of medical school.”

After completing his formal schooling and finishing his time in the armed services, Hirschman put to work both his medical and his radio skills to develop what he calls his most rewarding achievement—a system for transmitting electrocardiograph readings via radio. It was the first on-scene emergency care system to transmit medical data by radio.

“The thread that runs through all this is networking to put together unrelated skills to solve problems,” he says.

He incorporated the new emergency care system into a curriculum he developed to teach firefighters how to be paramedics—a practice that has taken root in many cities across the country.

In the years since he created the emergency care system, Hirschman says the infrastructure has developed in ways he hadn’t anticipated, with a heavier emphasis on training than in the past.

Paramedic training now generally requires two years of junior college education, and he says this highly specialized and intensive approach means fewer people receive training in the first place.

“In many ways, it’s become too academic,” he says. “There’s the potential to hurt, as [training] becomes more expensive.”

As for his own training, Hirschman felt early on that he should put his dual expertise in radio and medicine to use on the high seas—where paramedics couldn’t reach.

“I was a young doctor,” he says. “I was successful. My practice was growing. But I wanted to do more.”

—Staff writer Alexander J. Blenkinsopp can be reached at blenkins@fas.harvard.edu.