$5M LeBaron Gift Heralds Science, Care & Innovation

Unconventional thinking—always looking around the corner to identify the "next big thing"—is what helped make Dean LeBaron successful in his career as an investment futurist. His sort of thinking outside of the box also inspired him to contribute $5 million to Dartmouth Medical School to establish LeBaron Commons.
Francis E. LeBaron, DO, MD Named to honor the memory of LeBaron's father, Francis E. LeBaron, DO, MD, LeBaron Commons will connect the Robert and Naomi Borwell Research Building on DHMC's campus in Lebanon to future research facilities there. The uniquely-envisioned space will promote formal and informal collaboration, communication, and interaction among members of the Dartmouth medical community.

"I am especially attracted to the notion of a Commons because that is where people will meet and exchange ideas," Mr. LeBaron explains. And for someone who has founded exceedingly unusual, but highly successful companies, and whose father was a doctor, the potential to contribute to innovative space that hastens the transformation of scientific discoveries into patient care holds special appeal.

Dean LeBaron's philosophies on business, science, and life are rooted in heady concepts such as contrarian thinking, emergent behavior, and complexity science. But he realizes, too, that transformational work can come from plain gestures, like helping construct a special space to foster innovation—or trying an unusual medical procedure.

Late one night while at home in New Hampshire, he lost vision in one eye. Under the care of care of ophthalmologist Christopher Chapman, MD, and internist Jay Buckey, MD, he agreed to try an experimental treatment that might temporarily restore his vision. The procedure—which included a four-hour period in DHMC's hyperbaric chamber— worked as hoped which pleased him, but the experience left him even more impressed because of the willingness of the two doctors to apply a unique combination of science, care, and innovation.

Dean LeBaron, who splits his time between homes in New Hampshire and Switzerland, may get his drive to pursue the unknown and unconventional from his father. Dr. LeBaron was regarded as a pioneer in many areas of his personal and professional lives. A 1931 graduate of the Massachusetts College of Osteopathy and a 1934 graduate of the Middlesex College of Medicine and Surgery, Dr. LeBaron was a self-taught researcher whose quest for new frontiers made him a lifelong student. "I think of him as continuously questing toward a better form of medicine, meaning helping people," recalls Dean LeBaron. "He was a general practitioner, and he enjoyed that. Additionally, he worked in industrial medicine, on disease or accident prevention, and also combined osteopathy with medical practice."