Medicine abroad
After graduating from Amherst, Buchanan attended the Cornell University Medical College. Buchanan finished his residency program at New York Hospital, the principal teaching hospital affiliated with Cornell Medical College.
Following his residency, Buchanan served as a U.S. Army physician at a 1,200 bed hospital housed in Quonset huts in South Korea near the demilitarized zone. His duties as a physician included supervising Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (M.A.S.H.) units. "Korea demonstrated to me, most emphatically, that war was as damaging a human enterprise as one could imagine," said Buchanan. "Though it is sometimes necessary, I think the occasions of which war is fought far exceeds the occasions in which war is necessary."
Returning to the U.S.
After Dr. Buchanan came back to the U.S., the chief of medicine at New York Hospital asked him to stay on at the hospital. The chief set Buchanan up with a mosaic of medicine-related jobs that made it financially possible for him to stay. These jobs included working in the clinical research ward and with outpatient department patients.
In 1962, Buchanan married Dr. Susan Carver, a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University and the first female chief resident in the history of New York Hospital.
The next year, Buchanan received a World Health Organization Traveling Fellowship and with his wife embarked on a journey to the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Czechoslovakia and Russia. The fellowship allowed them to learn how different European countries were administering medical care to the community, as well as the methods governments used in financing that care. While abroad, the Buchanans were also able to gain a perspective on European social welfare programs like elderly care and maternity leave.
Managing a hospital
In 1982, Buchanan returned to the Bay State to assume the position of CEO at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass. General is the third oldest hospital in the U.S. and the largest hospital in New England. As the oldest and largest teaching hospital associated with Harvard Medical School, Mass. General consists of an active staff of physicians who are nearly all on the faculty at the university.
Buchanan says his 12 years serving as CEO of Mass. General Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School was no easy task. "Though it was complicated and challenging, there was never a single moment in which I did not love my job," he said.
Amherst experience
When he was applying to college, Dr. Buchanan looked for a liberal arts college-somewhere he could receive a well-rounded education-and one that was highly respected. He applied to both Amherst and another prestigious university, but after he was interviewed by Gene Wilson, a former Dean of Admissions, Amherst won his heart.
Buchanan chose the College for its qualities as a whole. To him, Amherst "just seemed right," as he loved the size of the student body, the geography of New England, the school's liberal arts orientation and the overall excellence of what he saw in both the professors and the students. Buchanan notes that Amherst did a great job with admitting an intellectually diverse class. He consistently found people who were willing to challenge him to different intellectual heights.
Buchanan acknowledges that without the education he received at Amherst, he likely would not have been granted the bevy of opportunities that he has thus far enjoyed. Though the college years were an important time in his life, he admits that as one ages, the dominant thing in life becomes the retaining of friendly connections and the development of families. "My life has been the product of a lot of hard work and excellent opportunity. The career I have had is a very privileged one, and one that ensured my family was be provided with the same educational privileges that I have been provided. Having had the opportunity to do the things I have been able to do is a godsend-it has been nothing short of wonderful," he said.
Dr. Buchanan currently resides with his wife on a farm in Connecticut, not far from Long Island Sound. The Buchanans have a daughter and a son, the latter of whom graduated from Amherst in 1987. They are proud grandparents of two granddaughters.