HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 47This law allowed for the induction of medical, dental, and allied care
specialists into the Army, Navy, Air Force, or PHS during the Korean
Wa r.^57 This deployment of qualified medical personnel, however, was
opposed by the American Medical Association, the Association of Ameri
can Medical Colleges, and the American Hospital Association which
saw the need to staff the nation’s hospitals.^58 The Berry Plan would
allow medical personnel to defer their military obligations for a certain
period of time while they continued their training. At the same time,
it would provide the military services with needed trained personnel.^59
Specifically, physicians during their last year of medical school would
opt for one of three possible choices: one, the physician could join
the military service of his choice following internship; two, the physician
could complete one year of post-internship residency, fulfill his military
obligation, and subsequently return to complete his residency; or three,
the physician could complete residency training in his choice of specialty
prior to fulfilling his military obligation.^60 The third option turned out
to be the most popular.^61
Such deferment choices, however, were not guaranteed, so an alter
native way to satisfy this military duty was by applying for service in
the uniformed Commissioned Corps of the PHS.^62 Few who applied
were accepted and those who were could be assigned anywhere in the
world, so competition for positions in the NIH Associates Training Pro
gram was fierce.^63
Although currently consisting of Clinical, Research, and Staff Associ
ates, when the program began in 1953 there were only just over a dozen
Clinical Associates.^64 Clinical Associates (CAs) consisted of physicians
and dentists who participated in research on patients under their care at
the NIH Clinical Center. The program was expanded in 1956 to include
Research Associates (RAs), who participated in laboratory research but
had no clinical responsibilities.^65 Associates such as Sid Gilman, Irwin
Kopin, Guy McKhann, and Richard Sidman, were assigned to senior in
vestigators at the NIMH and the NINDB upon arrival who would act
as mentors and the research the Associates conducted would vary from
institute to institute and would depend on their past research experience
and interests.^66