As my practice flourished with my beloved wife helping to run the office and assisting me, my ties to the Medical Center became closer and closer. We finally decided to move our home from Bronx River Parkway to Washington Heights and combined the office and home in a first-floor apartment in a nice building, first on 173rd Street and then in a new building at 200 Haven Avenue. During this period Ardean's mother, a very sweet and charming woman, moved in with us and became a full-time member of our family. We gradually phased out the Bronx office because there was more than enough to do in Manhattan.

As the months went by, my steady and exceptional work in the Vanderbilt Clinic did not go unnoticed. Dr. Samuel W. Lambert, Jr., son of Dean Lambert, who was my chief of clinic, was very supportive and I shall never forget him. Late in 1938 Dr. Palmer asked me to come in to see him. He indicated how pleased he was with my performance and then surprised me by asking me to become director of the personnel medical department of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center on a part-time salaried basis with a stipend of $3,000 per annum, some fringe benefits, and a modest budget. The opening had developed with the retirement of the elderly physician who had been in charge. Dr. Palmer indicated that he would like me to take over and update the department's program for the ambulatory care of several thousand non-professional employees, including 500 food handlers and a large number of orderlies. A major activity was the pre-employment examination of all applicants for work and the setting of standards for a multitude of positions. I had never done anything like this before but I quickly grasped that this could be a major challenge in what was then the largest medical center in the world. There was no book or blueprint on how this could be done. This was to be left to my judgment. Dr. Palmer offered his help and support and that was all I needed to know.

The department was housed in the basement of the Presbyterian Hospital, where some space had been allocated for the purpose.