Donald E. Pickering lab notebooks, 1963, undated

Donald E. Pickering, M.D. (1923-2006) served at University of Oregon Medical School from 1957 to 1963 as Professor of Pediatrics and then, additionally, as the first director of the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center. He was born in Sacramento, California and earned his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco in 1949. Initially he pursued an academic career; in addition to UOMS, he worked at UCSF, Tulane, and the University of Nevada. His tenure at the Primate Center was brief and marked by issues with management. In the early sixties, UOMS was well funded and rapidly growing, and it attracted strong and ambitious personalities. Dr. Pickering was one such person, and he quickly came into conflict with the dean at the time, Dr. David W. E. Baird, over issues of power, prestige, and money. A very public argument followed, with the Dean's allies impugning Dr. Pickering's personality and mental health. He eventually moved on to Tulane. Later, he went into private practice in Reno and Anchorage, before retiring to Seattle.