SMCMA 2005

Distinguished Service Award:

Leo S. Bell, M.D.

        Leo S. Bell, M.D.

Known as a "mild-mannered revolutionary," Leo S. Bell, M.D., was a leader of pediatricians in California and nationwide for almost 40 years. When issues arose that were unfair or harmful to children, he didn’t just complain, he set out to change the system.

In the early days of the American Academy of Pediatrics, there was a conflict between "town and gown." Most leaders of the Academy were researchers and professors, while more than 70 percent of the members were practicing pediatricians. Dr. Bell and a few colleagues, including Drs. Bob Burnett and Glenn Austin of Santa Clara County, organized the California Federation of Pediatric Societies (Dr. Bell was president 1966-67) to help convince the Academy that practicing pediatricians needed more say in policy decisions for their specialty. As a result of that effort, several committees were formed focusing on the interests of practicing pediatricians. Dr. Bell was president of the American Federation of Pediatric Societies in 1968-69. "I’m not against academia," Dr. Bell was quoted at the time. "We can’t function without them . . . but practitioners need more representation."

After his stint as president of the San Mateo County Medical Association in 1971-72, Dr. Bell charged to the fore again to challenge the official Pediatric Academy candidate for president. Even though he was considered an upstart and a "rascal from the West" by the establishment, he came close to winning and definitely made inroads into changing the organization to become more responsive to the membership. Not to be deterred, Dr. Bell became campaign manager for his friend Dr. Glenn Austin’s run for president in 1981-82 and led him to victory.

Dr. Bob Burnett is enthusiastic about Dr. Bell’s contributions to the specialty of pediatrics. "I’ve always been an admirer of Leo Bell," he said recently. "He was instrumental in furthering pediatrics, especially through legislation and with insurance companies. For instance, he was able to get immunizations covered by health insurance and did the same for well-baby checkups. In 1970 he got a bill passed to have newborns covered by health insurance from day one. Before that, there had been a waiting period of up to four weeks."

Nationally Dr. Bell worked with Congressman Leo Ryan to extend the same newborn coverage nationwide. California Senator Jackie Speier was administrative assistant to Congressman Ryan at the time. "Leo was a robust advocate and unabashed optimist that we could get this done, and he was right," she recalled.

Dr. Bell was an Easterner through and through, New Jersey and New York bred and educated. His undergraduate and medical degrees were from the State University of New York, Syracuse and the SUNY College of Medicine (1938). He interned under Bela Schick, M.D., developer of the Schick test for diphtheria. Edith, his wife of now 67 years, was also a New Yorker and was graduated from NYU in journalism. They married after medical school. During Dr. Bell’s time as a captain in the Army Air Corps, where he served as a flight surgeon in the Pacific Theater 1942-47, he became acquainted with the charms of California and decided to leave snow country behind. He said that he wasn’t excited about shoveling out of his driveway for middle-of-the-night house calls.

The young couple came to California in 1946. Dr. Bell chose to open a practice in San Mateo, only to be told positions were being reserved for physician veterans from this area; thus he was not needed and should move on. However, many local physicians were not of the same mind and encouraged him to stay, much to the great advantage of all of us since then. "Practicing medicine in San Mateo was pretty primitive in those days," he observed. "I had just returned from the War and had used a lot of penicillin, but doctors here hardly knew anything about it."

Dr. Bell’s parents were pharmacists, and he decided at age four that he wanted to be a doctor. He never wavered from his decision and never regretted choosing pediatrics for his career. Very soon after he arrived in San Mateo, Dr. Jewyl Booth invited him to join her practice. With so many physicians in the War, all those left behind were extremely busy. His partnership with Dr. Booth lasted until she retired, and the Bell’s daughter is her namesake. Their son, David Alden Bell, M.D., an anesthesiologist in Sacramento, was also named for a special physician friend, Dr. Alden of San Francisco. Dr. Bell served as Chief of Pediatrics of Mills Memorial Hospital in 1955 and was the first Chief of Pediatrics at Peninsula Hospital.

Known as an impeccable dresser, Dr. Bell once ordered 16 new suits on a visit to Hong Kong. "I always dressed in business attire for my office hours and never wore the same suit two days in a row," he said. He also loved sports cars and has a model car collection of the favorite cars he owned over the years.

Besides his busy practice and his extensive work for his specialty, Dr. Bell devoted many hours to committees and councils of the SMCMA, CMA, and AMA. For the San Mateo County Medical Association, he served in leadership positions from the presidency in 1971-72 to the Board of Directors, chair of the Federal Legislative Committee, the Membership Committee, the Polio Committee, the Public Health Committee, and on several other committees from the 1950s right through to the 1980s. He was instrumental in reaching out to the physicians of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Group and encouraging them to join SMCMA. He retired in 1985 after 39 years of what he terms an extremely rewarding career. "I just felt I had done enough; managed care was starting to change the way we practiced medicine and I wasn’t up for it," he said.

Dr. Bell received many recognitions from the Heart Association, at the national, state, and local levels, including two Distinguished Service Awards from the American Heart Association. Edith also kept busy with civic organizations and with the Women’s Auxiliary of the SMCMA. Both Edith and Dr. Bell wrote columns for the San Mateo County Times—Edith wrote about the community and Dr. Bell answered medical questions sent in by readers. They traveled often, before and after retirement, especially to the Far East, becoming fascinated by the culture and artifacts of that part of the world.

Of being awarded the SMCMA Distinguished Service Award, Dr. Bell commented, "What took you so long!"