The Knipp Legacy: Celebrating Five Generations of UMB Graduates

In this episode of “The UMB Pulse” podcast, we welcome Harry Knipp, MD '76, FACR, a distinguished alumnus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB).

A 1976 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Knipp represents the fourth in a line of five consecutive generations of UMB graduates, starting with his great-grandfather in 1887 and continuing with his son, David, in 2014. Knipp has made significant contributions to the medical field as a founding board member of Advanced Radiology, a past chairman of the Maryland state medical board, and a leader in various professional organizations.

He has also served as chief of staff and board member at Carroll Hospital and holds emeritus status at UMMS St. Joseph Medical Center. We discuss Knipp’s experiences at UMB, the evolution of the University, and his family’s enduring legacy.

His dedication to UMB extends beyond his career, with active involvement as past president of the Medical Alumni Association, chair of the Board of Trustees of the University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation, and other key roles. Join us to hear Knipp’s insights on lifelong involvement, legacy, networking, and his remarkable journey with UMB, while also highlighting how all UMB alumni can find meaningful ways to engage with the University.

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Visit our website at umaryland.edu/pulse or email us at umbpulse@umaryland.edu.

Transcript

Charles Schelle: 0:00

The University of Maryland Baltimore is such a tight knit family environment, and it's incredible when you find a family that spans generations here at this institution.

Dana Rampolla: 0:13

Yes, multiple generations, and we're excited to talk today to Harry Knipp, who is the fourth of five generations. Direct lineage who is here at UMB. We're going to hear his story all about his connections. And I think what's really interesting about talking to someone like Harry is it shows as an alum, how you really can stay connected with your university and how you can make a huge difference, not only in your community by living out UMB's mission, but then bringing it all back here to to your alma mater.

Charles Schelle: 0:46

You know Harry the best as the chair of the board of trustees of the University of Maryland Baltimore's foundation and he's also a past president of the medical alumni association and he was on the founding board of advanced radiology. He has done so much in his life and he's near that retirement stage but it doesn't sound like he's quite there yet wanting to retire because he's so connected to UMB and he truly, truly, truly loves his job. And I hope that really comes out in our conversation with Harry Knipp here on the UMB Pulse.

Jena Frick: 1:25

You're listening to the heartbeat of the University of Maryland Baltimore, the UMB Pulse.

Dana Rampolla: 1:39

Hi, Harry. It's great to have you on The Pulse. Thanks for joining us today.

Harry Knipp: 1:44

My pleasure.

Dana Rampolla: 1:45

I don't know if Charles knows this, but you and I were Reiserstownonians together. I'm not sure if you're aware, we lived about a mile apart, and I, I am fortunate to know your wife, Nora. She went your son, David, went to school with my my oldest son, Vincent. Many years ago. So our paths have kind of crossed. I know that we see you very often at UMB events. I can't name too many events that we haven't seen you at, which is fortunately where Charles met you. And, you know, we put our heads together and Charles said, Oh my gosh, he would be a great guy to have on the pulse. So we are thankful. Yeah, we are thankful that you're here today. Tell us a little bit, just get the conversation going. Tell us a little bit about your family's legacy here at UMB. When did you graduate? From which school did you graduate? Tell us a little about your educational background.

Harry Knipp: 2:35

So, well, we, we probably have the oldest run, longest run at UMB of any family. I think my my great, great, great uncle James Waters graduated in 1859 from the med school. And then, next up, I guess, was my great grandfather, Harry E. Knipp in 1887. His brother in law, Charles R. Davis, in 1890 and then a cousin in 1911 who became a famous radiologist, Charles Waters and then my grandfather in 1923 my father in 1951, I was class of 76, and my son graduated in 2014, so we have we have five in a row from my great grandfather through my son. And we have eight uh, grad plus one from the law school in 1902, and other uncles. So, so it's you know, I had no choice when I, When I graduated in 1976, I was their first fourth generation graduate, and of course, Gene Gural, who was the head of the Medical Alumni Association at the time, dragged me right in, you know, so I was, I got involved in the Medical Alumni early on, and and then I've continued that involvement because I love Larry Pitroff, who, who came in 1994, right after I was alumni president. So, I didn't get to work with Larry there, but now I work with him all the time on a couple of different things. So, so that's, that's kind of how we got, we got started there. I didn't even apply anywhere else, nor did my son, David. So, I was lucky to get in from the junior year of college. I took a shot and applied early and had a lot of AP, so I was lucky to get in early. We figured out that David, who you know, you know, was the first one of our, of our graduates our five in a row to graduate from college. When my great grandfather went in, in the 1800s, they went right from high school. And my grandfather was delayed because of World War One. And so he just got his credits and then got in. Similarly, my dad with World War Two, they were all hurrying after the war. So he got in without a college degree. I took a stab and got in just. By luck, and Dave was the first one to actually graduate from college. We just figured that out not long ago, actually. So another little fun family fact. So

Dana Rampolla: 5:07

That is interesting and a lot of Knipp family genetics here at UMB. Tell us a little bit about what you studied.

Harry Knipp: 5:15

Well, I, I was a chem major in college and and so, you know, after medical school, I was going to be a family doc and work with my dad has he worked with his father and he worked with his father in West Baltimore. But when I was a senior student and already locked into family practice residency first year in the brand new department that my dad helped form with all his friends on the faculty. It just hit me like a ton of bricks one day that it really wasn't me. And I went over and I talked to a new Dean Dennis, John, John Dennis was just the new Dean then. And I had met him through being the class president. I had met Dr. Dennis and he was a radiologist before, chief of radiology at Maryland. And I went over and talked to him in Davidge Hall one day, and I was sort of depressed. I had just gotten engaged to my wife, Nora, and I, I, I was thinking, you know, it was just wasn't what I thought I was going to do. And all of a sudden I was in upheaval in my senior year. And it was Dr. Dennis who said you know, you're, you're pretty good at committee stuff and, and and making sure things get done and and the like. And he said, you really, you know, think about doing something on the administrative side. So you need a, specialty where you're fungible, which is exact words, where, where you don't have your own patients that you have to be there with every day. So he said, do you want something like radiology or pathology or something like that, where you couldn't be easily replaced at the desk, you know? And so I liked radiology cause it was high tech cat scanning had just come in. And I went over and talked to the chief of radiology and actually Dr. Dennis said he'd get me out of my family practice thing and bully them into taking me in radiology, but I went ahead and did the internship because it was good training for radiology, did a little of everything. And and then I switched over much to the dismay of the family practice department and my father, and even got hate mail and anonymous hate mail, I still don't know from who, and then that, that got me off on my career in radiology and and boy, Dr. Dennis was right. Cause that allowed me the flexibility to be on committees and do stuff pro bono for the state that I've enjoyed so much. And and it's, it, it really changed my whole life. So I owe him and big time for that. And I've told, I told him that many times before he passed away.

Dana Rampolla: 7:50

And from the perspective of like what UMB was at that time, explain a little bit about what the climate was like for you when you were studying here versus maybe what it was like for your father and your grandfather.

Harry Knipp: 8:04

It was still a good journeyman medical school. Maryland always turned out good, solid patient focused doctors. It wasn't quite the research powerhouse that it is today. We still didn't even have the VA on campus. And when my, when my forebears all went there, it was, it was a much different place, you know, my, when my father went, The old university hospital was the new one, and my grandfather went to the original one on Lombard and, and and Greene that they tore down when I was a freshman. Of course everybody went to class in Davidge Hall right up through my son. And it just we, when we were in school, we were in an old Hutzler's or Herschel cone warehouse that they had quickly thrown up some risers in one of the warehouse rooms. And that was our lecture hall back then. None of the fancy things they have now were there. We had anatomy over in what was, what used to be the Bressler building on Greene street That's right across from the old 1930 hospital, and it was a, it was a whole different shebang. The library was a brick building on the, on the other side of the street from where the current beautiful library is right across from the front of Davidge Hall, and nice, but nowhere near as fancy as we have now and none of the institutes were there. One of my classmates was the son of the campus president. Albin Kuhn was the, the, them, they called it the chancellor of UMBC and UMB. And so I got to hear some of the inside stuff about what was going on on the campus from From Albin II, who was my classmate, my carpooler and and still my good friend. So, it was, it was quite different. And then, you know, when my son was there, and now we, we have all these wonderful institutes. We have world famous scientists that gradually came with Dr. Wilson and Dr. Dennis got the VA there and got things going. Dr. Wilson came in as dean and, and ramped up the research, and then Dr. Reese came and really did it, brought in the institutes. The rest of the schools have, we have a brand new law school we have the pharmacy school went from being a little building on Lombard Street to a tower and the whole campus nursing schools, always good, but now has added on beautiful big new library with a dean level head librarian. So it, it's it's just an amazing now 75 acres of downtown Baltimore which it's just hard to imagine. It's so cool. And Dr. Jarrell's new. Initiative for vibrancy of the campus and, you know, connecting us with the nearby social things and expanding the reach of the campus police and the Live Near Where You Work program. And and it's it's, it's a really it's way cool now. I'm really excited to be a part of it.

Charles Schelle: 11:09

You really set the scene there between you and your, your son, David what about comparing the, the experience between you and, and your son about, you know, maybe the requirements or the things that he had the opportunity to participate in?

Harry Knipp: 11:24

Well, I must say the thing we always kid about medical school is it's still four years. And, and there's every year, there's astronomically more information and more technology. And, and it's still just four years. So the now I would say that the we had some very smart people in my class, but when I talked to the current medical students, they are wildly smart. I think we get over 6, 000 applicants for 150 slots now. So, so they can, I would never have been accepted, but they're wonderful people too. They're they're multi multi talented in addition to being great students. They all have secondary talents, either in research or the arts or whatever. And they're just a joy to be with. So our time in the 70s was the Vietnam era. A lot of my classmates were angry. The campus was not as pretty as it is now. And while they did a good job teaching us, we some of the faculty had left and it was in a little bit of an upheaval. We had just gotten a new dean. And, you know, when the, when you get a new dean, a lot of the chairman move around and go other places. So the place was a bit of upheaval during my class's time whereas during my son's time they, it was much more harmonious. They, I think student affairs was always good at looking out for the well being of the students. And I know I got a lot of wonderful support. I, I had a little bit of a depression over some personal stuff when I started the school. They could not have been better for me or At the end, when I was deciding to change what I wanted to do aside from Dr. Dennis student affairs were very supportive. But now the, the whole attitude is a little more nurturing And they've weeded out some of the chaff. The students don't have to do as much grunt work as we used to do. They, they realized that they only have so much time to learn. And, and so I don't think they get burned out running samples to the lab as, as much as maybe we were expected to do. But it, it wasn't terrible and it, it definitely toughened up, that's for sure. So, you know, it was fine for me'cause I was always a night al I didn't mind being up late but yeah, it was I, I wouldn't trade it, but not, not the happiest. Cheers, that's for sure.

Charles Schelle: 14:00

Yeah. Well, you know, all that grunt work must have done something because it paved a nice path for you to be part of the founding board for Advanced Radiology one of Maryland's largest medical practices. A lot of us who play sports or, or had accidents that probably had imaging at Advanced. I know I have a few times tell us about what it meant to be involved in that and, and really putting together,, a solid group that could make an impact across the state.

Harry Knipp: 14:31

Well, I am so proud. I have my Advanced Radiology mug right here. I'm so proud of the, of the group. It was really the brainchild of of another Maryland alum, Mike Sherman who's a few years ahead of me, maybe 10 years ahead of me. He was the managing partner of a great big I think then 28 office radiology group in town, and there were five others of us groups, and at the time, the insurance companies were pressing hard for capitated care where they give you so much money per member per month, and you had, they wanted you to provide all of their imaging for that. And none of us wanted that. We wanted to have a discounted fee for service. And, and so, we started meeting there about eight of us that representing five or six groups that started meeting, I guess, for almost a couple of years all of the various Founder groups had very disparate structures. Some were purely hospital based and didn't own any physical assets. Others were more office based and owned CAT scanners and, and had a lot of investment money involved. Some were seven years to partnership, some were three, and we had to figure out a way to make all of that equal. It was nice though, in that most of us already knew each other. Because at the time radiology in, in the Baltimore area was much more parochial, almost everybody had trained either at Maryland or Hopkins. At least two thirds and maybe another third came from out of town. So we all kind of knew each other. And and so it was a little bit of a slog working with lawyers to figure out a formula to make it work. But, but we did. And in 1995, we opened up, we went without pay for a whole year because we didn't have any billing numbers at the beginning. So we were grinding out the work and not getting any paycheck, which was an interesting experience. And then a couple years in, we formed a national company with six other groups and formed a company named Radiologics which is now owned by RadNet based out in California. So, RadNet now owns all the physical plant of Advanced Radiology, and we're Now, 103 radiologists, I think. I've been out since 2013, but having been there at the birth, I'm super proud of it. They they, they hire really good people and, and treat them well. There are no punitive partnership things or anything. Everybody's treated as an equal right from the beginning. So there's a lot of good people. Collegiality and and they just have some wonderfully talented young people in the group. I'm immensely proud of it. It was funny. I was at a school of pharmacy fundraiser at, at Ellen Yanklow's house, who's the vice chair of the UMBF board and, and on the pharmacy school board. Wonderful, wonderful person. I hardly knew anybody there except the campus people. They were all friends of hers. And I was sitting around her kitchen table and everybody was telling what they did. And I said, well, I'm a radiologist with Advanced Radiology. And one of the women piped up, she was the graphic artist that had designed our pyramid logo and working with my partner, Chuck Wiener, who's another Maryland alum and father of two more Maryland alums and med school alums. And And Chuck had hired her and she came up with the with the pyramid logo with the x ray tube in the middle and the rays going out that we all like so much. So we had a grand time talking about that. Fortunately, I had one of my cards with the logo that everybody else could see at the day. So you never know. Smalltimore is definitely a real thing.

Dana Rampolla: 18:15

That is for sure. You talked a little bit about some of the other work that you've done because of your organizational abilities. And I know that you've served on a number of different boards. You've been a past chief of staff and board member at Carroll Hospital, for example. Tell me why that was an important part of your, your career trajectory.

Harry Knipp: 18:34

I don't know. It all started with Mrs. Kirkwood back in coming into my fifth grade room, my, my sixth grade teacher to be and tapping me, taking me out and telling me they were making me the captain of the safety patrol the next year. And and of course that was in my elementary school. That was the big shot job. Then I went to junior high and got on the AV squad and they may be the captain of that. And then I went off to high school and college and I was commuting and I didn't really do anything other than manage the basketball team at Poly for four years. But then when I got to med school One of my classmates talked me into running for class president, and I got elected, and it kind of snowballed from there. I enjoyed working with other people, and meeting other smart people, and bouncing ideas around. My partner out in Westminster, in my original practice, was of a similar ilk, and he was about 10 years older, but he got me involved in the medical staff there early on and got me involved in the state radiology society. He gave me the cushy job of being the liaison with the x ray techs. All I had to do was go to their annual meeting at the ocean, play some golf and give them a check and judge their student exhibits. And of course, when I start, they decided they wanted to become licensed. So that's that set me off on a whole thing. Six of us worked on instituting x ray tech licensure in Maryland at which we got through. And I like to think I personally got Governor Schaffer to sign off on in a very interesting story that's too long to tell here, but and that got me involved with the various iterations of the state medical board back then where, where they were licensed. And I, I did that in the x ray tech arena there for 17 years. And then. Governor Ehrlich appointed me to the brand new formed Maryland Board of Physicians and I became the chairman and I did that for two terms and stayed there for a decade. I love doing that and and radiology allowed me to do that because honestly, I was well paid enough and, and had the career flexibility enough that I could work half time and, and do that big job and go to Annapolis and be at all these various meetings and run around the state giving talks on the board and all, which I, I just wonderful, smart people I get to work with. That's why I love. Larry Pitroff when that was coming to an end there was an opening on the UMBF board that my friend, Larry Pitchoff at the medical alumni suggested me for. And I met with Sue Gladhill, who was then the, the president of UMBF and we hit it off and they I, I came onto that board in 2009 and wormed my way up to be in the chair. So, it's just you know, Been in the right place at the right time. And I'm just so privileged to get to work with so many smart people and nice people that are dedicated and learn from, you know, I kid myself all the time that I'm just a country radiologist from Westminster and I get to hang out with the CEO of T. Rowe Price and the, you know, Brian Gibbons who runs all the shopping centers around town and you know, I get to talk to these people plus all the deans and and the university presidents and it's it I still pinch myself, you know, because I don't view myself as having any great expertise other than, you know, Just being a good schmoozer.

Dana Rampolla: 22:06

Maybe it's a good human being.

Harry Knipp: 22:08

Well, thank you for saying that.

Dana Rampolla: 22:10

Well, there's an old saying that says we not only count our blessings, but we also make our blessings count. So let's migrate the conversation a little bit because you certainly are being very humble. You obviously are a very bright man, but you've gone beyond that. You have given so much as you've just shared a little bit of that with UMB. So what, what ways have you served UMB in recent years, that makes you feel good. I mean, you've, you've commented what you've done, but how, how does it make you feel to be able to give back to the university? Because you've stayed connected. A lot of alumni graduate from various schools and they go their own way, but you keep coming back. Is that tied into the legacy that you have? Or is it just something really special about UMB?

Harry Knipp: 22:57

Well, in part to the legacy, but and it's sort of a mutual thing. I mean that, you know, I, I did some things and they made me feel good about it. And you know, when you feel good about it, then you, you want to do more things and you know, And then I I've made friends with the with the leadership and I've gotten got to know people in all of the schools, not just the med school. I'm a lifelong baltimorean. I was born in the city. never left. 100 percent of my education from preschool through my fellowship at the end of my radiology training was all in the Baltimore City limits. I went to the Baltimore City public schools all the way. And until I till I moved out to Reisterstown, I lived in the in the city and in West Baltimore. The whole family's always been in the city. My father and grandfather's practice. So I'm like a dyed in the wool Baltimore in and and what, what better thing than to, you know, with huge anchor institution in West Baltimore that. We, we all were a little bit of a part of, and I've just had fun being there and they make me feel good. I hope I, you know, I'm doing things that are nice. I, I really enjoy at the medical alumni. I was always on, there's a joint magazine that the med school and the medical alumni put out quarterly. It's fairly nice 40 some page glossy magazine called The Bulletin and I was on the editorial board under one of my mentors, Dr Joe McLaughlin as the chair. And then when he retired from that, I was able to chair that editorial board, which I love doing. I. I edited the school newspaper when I was in medical school and now I'm doing that again. I proofread the thing and suggest articles and and and that I really enjoy. We just, the current issue is all about the whole campus and Dr. Gerald's vibrancy project and all of the wonderful new things for the whole campus, not just medicine. And I hope that Dr. Gerald's going to love that when it, when it it's, I guess it's out now. So, And then people like your colleague, Jennifer Litchman, I've, I've worked with her for many, many years, the fundraising people I've known for a long time, and I've gotten kind of the, the gotten into the development world now and I'm interested in helping raise money and, and honestly, it's kind of fun to give some of it away. I went around the school and tried to do little things to memorialize my various family members who went there and you know, a room there or a scholarship here or an award there. for various, for various of my forebears. Never. I never did anything in my name until just a year or so ago. I, I I endowed a little award for the graduating med student who was interested in doing something in organized medicine. I figured, you know, that, that, that changed my whole life. So, I'll I'll find my somebody who's following in my footsteps. And so I've had a lot of fun doing that. And and I guess we'll continue to do more as I go along in retirement and get older. My, my kids are into it. My, my daughter, who's a big shot banker is is well aware of my desire. So, Someday when I, when I depart, I'm sure she'll take care of remembering UMB again.

Charles Schelle: 26:30

That's great. You, you mentioned how much you talk to people, whether they're connected with UMB or not, but As you said, you get to talk to a lot of students and alumni. And I'm wondering when, when you make that connection with alumni and they're like, I, I want to be part of UMB again, maybe giving my time or money. Is there like a common thread that you hear from these alumni about what makes them so proud? What makes them want to, you know, still be part of UMB?

Harry Knipp: 26:58

Well, I think that. We're such a powerhouse place now with so many terrific research projects going on world famous scholars that are are teaching at the school now and in the leadership that when people see that through the various media that we put out, if it's not our bulletin magazine or the wonderful things that the that all of the campus publications people put out. so much. Or even the newspaper these days, we're getting more press in The Sun than we've ever gotten. And and when people see that, I think they're proud of the school. And and then they when they come back for reunion or whatever, if I run into them at meetings I always try and talk it up even more and, and tell them ways that they can be involved. A couple of my class, one of my. Classmates Mel Scirocchi went on to be the head of a, of a pharmaceutical company, and he's been very generous and served as the chair of the med school board for years, and others the class ahead of me, class ahead of our classes are big givers. Our class is still angry, but but the, the, the class of 75 are really good givers. So, I'm always trying to to wheel people to tell them how much I've enjoyed it and and how valuable it's been to me and and bring up all the good people. I'm always trying to invite people down to campus to to see things. I'm on the board at the Proton Treatment Center on campus, which is a private thing, but it's the school is invested in it and it's in our BioPark and and I'm always bringing people down for tours of that, you know, to show them and then they see the BioPark and they flip out and I'm so proud of that. My wife, Nora is is really into the biopark. She, from the beginning, she, she just the first time she saw it going up Martin Luther King Boulevard, she was like, wow, look at this. And And has been a big fan ever since. And she hasn't even seen 4MLK yet. You know, our amazing new building that we're doing with Wexford is just incredible. That's on my good buddy Jim Hughes, which is another treat. I always loved Jim Hughes, who for people listening in as our senior VP of business development and economic development, wonderful man, a doctor's son. And and I always enjoyed working with him. Now he has a bigger role in the UMB foundation and I get to hang with Jim all the time, which is a real treat. It's just a lot of fun. I do it because it's fun and the people are so great and enthusiastic and we're doing wonderful stuff. It's a no pay job and in terms of money, but it's huge pay in terms of personal satisfaction and, and the wonderful people you get to meet and work with.

Charles Schelle: 29:54

It's a relationship business, and it's all about the connections and the people you meet, and on a fun aside there's another connection you have where maybe you could go on one of my favorite TV shows, Finding Your Roots, with Henry Louis Gates Jr. With one of our members of the administration. Tell us a little bit about that.

Harry Knipp: 30:16

Roger Ward. Oh, what a hoot that, that is. So, Roger is our wonderful provost who has more degrees than anybody I know. Brilliant man from Trinidad. And and we were at a, at a UMB Christmas party over at Hidden Waters. And It just, it dawned on me that, you know, I said, Roger, you know, my, my, my mother's father came from Barbados. He immigrated from Barbados where he grew up. So I'm one quarter Bajan. And and his younger sister married a fellow named Harry Ward on the island and blended our two families together down there. And the Wards were quite prolific. And there were a lot of them throughout the Caribbean. And so, after I got home from that, that breakfast with Roger there, I, I messaged my cousin, Richard Ward up in Toronto and said, Richard, what are the odds that I could be related to an African American Ward from Trinidad who has relatives on Barbados? He said, a hundred percent. He said, so apparently one of, one of. My forebears by marriage was quite the lothario. And so there's a, there's a good possibility that Roger and I might be related by marriage, so we wouldn't have a DNA link, but we certainly have a lot of fun with it cause we're an unlikely pairing, but what a great guy he is and he, and of course he ran the grad school until Dr. Wong came and and now he's in the provost role and we just have a terrific time. At the meetings together and You know, so many, so many smart people. Dr. Wong is wonderful. I've really enjoyed working with him. All of the deans Rene Hutchins at the law school and Mark Reynolds I was talking to at a dinner one night, his wife was there. It turns out we went to the same community pool in West Baltimore when we were kids. And then, Sarah Michel being from Sarasota. And going to the same school as my grandnephew. I, I loved Jane Kirschling at the nursing school. And when she retired, we got Dr. Ogbolu and she's very, very nice. And our, our new librarian, Mrs. Hurst, I think it is. I've only met her one time, but she seems terrific. And and of course, Mark Gladwin, I worked with Dr. Reese for 16 years at the at the medical school and he retired and we got the wonderful Dr. Gladwin, who's got all of the energy in the world. And I'm glad that he stayed around that CARTI, the research training institute there. And I try and talk to him on a regular basis to Just just a real treat. I never thought that I would know so many brilliant academic people.

Charles Schelle: 33:02

We should quickly congratulate, we should quickly congratulate the, the Maryland Carey Law dean because she is now Renee Hutchins Laurent. She got married over the summer.

Harry Knipp: 33:12

Oh, I didn't know. Wonderful. I worked with her on a couple of search committees and we got to know each other a little better. And she's just been terrific. I mean, Don Tobin, who was there before and another doctor's son that we we had a good time talking about and he's, he stayed around to teach and Renee came and uh, Judy Postmas over at the social work school taking over for Rick Barth who I got to know really well. And Judy and I have a, have a really nice relationship now. I'm just getting to know her new development person. And so, It's such a treat. Of course, my, my time will be coming to an end. I've done this for a while and I keep telling telling them they, they need to spread the wealth around, but they nobody else wants to do it. So, so as long as they're happy with me. And Zoom works really well and I can fly up from Sarasota. I'm up at our place at Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland for the summer and and I can easily drive down from here. So I've come down for, for several meetings and at the same time going out to dinner with my Reistertown friends. So, that's been that's been a lot of fun.

Dana Rampolla: 34:24

So Harry, you certainly are well connected and you've been very involved. You, you mentioned retirement, but it doesn't sound like you're really slowing down any. What, what does that next season look like for you? Oh,

Harry Knipp: 34:34

I, I, I, I'll keep doing all this stuff. I have my hobbies you know, and my, my wife keeps saying you need to retire, but I love doing these. This, this stuff is me. I mean, it's just and I think, I think Nora has come to realize that it's just part of my, I tell her it's like heart muscles. People, you know, heart muscles intrinsically beat, you know, it's not work for them to beat. They beat because they like to beat and, and that's me with doing stuff like this. I'm the president of the road association up here at Deep Creek, where I live. And and I'm on, I think I'm on five boards all together. One of them actually pays me. So that was a, that was a nice treat. And it's I just I love it. I, you know, zoom has changed everything. That was one of the good things to come out of COVID was everybody learned to zoom and our attendance at meetings has gone way up because all of the people that had trouble driving in or or were wonderful people like on the alumni bulletin thing. We have wonderful people all over the country that couldn't be involved in that until zoom came around. And now, you know, I have 14 people on my on my board meetings there and and the whole UMBF board always shows up and the people that live in DC or live out of town. That was one of my big goals with the UMBF board was to get more people from out of town. We have so many Baltimore centric people, but we're a national institution, and we need to get our message out across the country. And one way to do that is to start having your board members be influential people in other big cities. So Dr. Gladwin, I keep wanting him to You know, get his Pittsburgh people on our board. We have a board member in St. Louis now, Jennifer Estabrook, who's the retired CEO of Fila is on our UMBF board and participates from New York and could not be a more active board member. So, I'm really excited about trying to expand the reach, at least have that sort of be my legacy, if you will Is to try and, and get the board to be we, we kind of were dragged kicking and screaming from a little board of 18 up to in the forties now. And at first some people were uncomfortable with that, but it turned out to be a great thing. And we have. Just multiplied the talent that Dr Jarrell has to call on for for various activities, whether it's real estate or finance, our finance committee that oversees all the donated monies are just brilliant people that and I and I want my kids. My daughter. Is the head of lending for the whole United States for JPMorgan's private bank. She has a Duke MBA and and is and is brilliant. So when I go off of the board, I want my daughter to, to come onto the board and, and replace me. So there's still a Knipp involved even if she has a different last name now, but or my son, Dave I keep prodding him. He's a new partner in his practice in, in the Clearwater area. And and I keep prodding him to get involved in the Florida Radiologic Society where I have some friends that I've made over the years. That was truly a pleasure. Last summer, the Florida Radiologic Society met in Sarasota and my son drove down from Clearwater and I was there and we went to the meetings together. I got to meet his partners and he got to meet some of the senior people from around the country that were speakers that I'd known from my career and my other Florida friends in radiology. And we just had a wonderful weekend there together. And I'm so excited to have him in the field. I mean, we, we talk about cases every day and And he, he's and he, he, I, I wish my father had been alive when Dave graduated because Dr. Reese made a big deal out of it and Dave. Being the smart little boy that he is won the faculty gold medal, which my father would have been immensely proud of. Dave went on to train at Harvard, you know, and so he's he's my little Ivy Leaguer Penn and Harvard and, and, and still just came to Maryland for med school. What

Dana Rampolla: 38:54

would you say to an alum who might freshly be graduated, who is trying to, you know, they hear this story, they're empowered by it, what would you recommend or encourage them to do to, to become involved with their alumni groups?

Harry Knipp: 39:09

I mean, don't, don't forget where you began your career, you know, and for me, it was multiplied because not only did I go to school there, but I trained there as well. And a lot of docs have some affiliation to where they trained, even if they didn't go to medical school there. But I would, I would say, remember your roots and and pay it forward a little bit, you know, Other people were very kind to, to do things to make my experience better I've tried to, and my family's, and, and I've tried to to pay that forward and in medicine, and I hate to harp on medicine because I feel this way about all the schools there but it's only natural, I guess, but It's a good feeling and and it's it's a way to put some richness in your life and and do good and, and pay your good fortune at being one of the 150 that got picked out of the 6, 000 to to show your appreciation a little bit and, and do something nice for the, for students coming up. I always tell them, keep, keep learning. That's one beautiful thing about medicine. You have to keep learning all the time. And and there's a lot of joy in giving back, you know, even if it's just a little bit, if you can't afford a lot of money. And I'm certainly well off, but I'm not as rich as some of the people that, you know, I'm not going to name the medical school. That's for sure. But but it's it's just, you know, if you can help somebody out with a scholarship, you know, and that's, I did that to memorialize my grandfather, the Bajan grandfather. He loaned me money early in my career to allow me to, buy into a medical office building when I was just a young pup just joining my practice. And that ended up being a very successful investment. And when we finally sold that thing, I didn't need the money then. And I had the money and I said, well, darn it, I'm going to do a scholarship in my grandfather's name and, and remember him that way. And and so we, we have that. We did another one when Dave graduated for our five generations. And and it's just, it, it makes me feel good to know that there there's a student out there that's had their burden lowered a little bit by our, you know, by what we were giving. Or at the student awards ceremony. I had such a good time sitting with the families of these seniors that have gotten one of the awards that we've set up and and their, their parents are so proud and, and it's just wonderful to see how brilliant they are and what they're going to do.

Dana Rampolla: 41:43

So as we wrap up, I, Harry, I thank you. I thank you for shedding light on the school of medicine specifically here at the university of Maryland, Baltimore, but also giving a nod to all of the other schools. I am going to put a little plug just to all of our alumni. We try to host you know, one or two events each year for the overarching alumni of the university. We like to try to encourage people to stay connected and certainly if you're not in a position to be as generous as the Knipp family has, you know, there's many ways that our alumni who are listening might be thinking, well, how else can I get involved? And there's opportunities to be mentors for current students different ways that you can be involved. So I encourage our listeners to reach out to the alumni departments within your individual schools or, you know, reach out to Charles and I, and we can help connect you in some way that works for you. So, Harry, thank you so much for sharing and

Harry Knipp: 42:35

then I'll mention the Jennifer Lichman's UMBrella program who I've hooked her up with a couple of speakers for, you know, for the young women on campus, faculty and students it's been terrific and being the father of a smart girl you know, You know, I thought that was a great program that she's running there. So there's so many wonderful things that you guys do for us and could not be more grateful to have so many wonderful people in the family. And we really are like a family down there, you know, it's I love UMB and hopefully they'll have me for a few more years yet. So

Dana Rampolla: 43:12

we certainly hope so. Well, thanks again, Harry, and we look forward to seeing you at the next event.

Harry Knipp: 43:17

Absolutely. I'm very flattered to talk to you today. It's nice to work with both of you.

Charles Schelle: 43:21

Yeah. Thank you, Harry.

Jena Frick: 43:28

The UMB Pulse with Charles Schelle and Dana Rampolla is a UMB Office of Communications and Public Affairs production, edited by Charles Schelle, marketing by Dana Rampolla.