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Decanus Maximus (Big Dean) is both a book and a painting, created by the same author/artist, Dr. Joseph DiPalma. The full title of the book is Decanus Maximus: The Life and Times of a Medical School Dean. The painting is an allegory that visually captures life as a medical school dean. Dr. DiPalma was Dean of Hahnemann from 1968 to 1982. In his own words, he describes the painting’s meaning:
“The central figure…is the classical medical caduceus of a bundle of sticks encircled by the body of a snake…this fiend has the head of an owl with penetrating eyes, a superior brain, and most important the ability to rotate 180 degrees so it can protect against attack from the back. I incorporated the adaptable body of an octopus whose eight arms afford a mechanism to devote special attention to the major functions of deaning. Seven of the arms are each equipped to manage finances, education, research, construction of facilities, conduct of medical practice, maintenance of justice, and adjudication of arguments. The eighth arm, which handles relations with the faculty and discretionary funds, is wounded and bleeding. This indicates the vulnerable spot of the dean’s existence. He can never make the entire faculty and all the students happy and satisfied all the time.”