Sanford attended the
University of Michigan and graduated with honors from the
University of Michigan Medical School. He trained in internal medicine at
Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston,
Harvard Medical School, and
Duke University Medical Center. Sanford served two years in military service at the
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, where he was chief of the Bacteriology Section in the Department of Experimental Surgery. Sanford's career in infectious diseases began in Dallas in 1957, when he joined the faculty of the newly established
University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at
Parkland Hospital. While there he served as chief of the Infectious Diseases Division, director of the Diagnostic Microbiology Laboratory, and vice-chairman of the Department of Medicine. In 1970, following his presentation at Grand Rounds on newer antibiotics, Sanford conceived the idea that doctors everywhere needed a practical guide to antibiotic use. He then led his fellows and faculty in a brain storming session on what should be included in this guide. The result was
The Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy. Over the years Sanford and his family published the Guide, which is in its 55th edition and used by health care professionals worldwide. His expertise in infectious diseases and his leadership skills brought him to the forefront of many national organizations. Sanford served as councilor, secretary and then president of the
Infectious Diseases Society of America (1966 to 1979.) He also served as chairman of the
Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education, chairman of the
American Board of Internal Medicine, and chairman of the ABIM's Subspecialty Committee on Infectious Diseases. In 1968 he was president of the
American Federation for Clinical Research. He also held leadership positions at the
National Institutes of Health, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the
Food and Drug Administration, the
National Library of Medicine, the
National Science Foundation, the Institute of Medicine, the
American College of Physicians, the
Association of American Medical Colleges and the
Society of Medical Consultants to the Armed Forces. He served on many editorial boards, authored or coauthored 166 publications, wrote 18 editorials, book reviews, and volumes, and published 23 textbook chapters. From 1975 until 1990, Sanford was dean and then president of the
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. A military medical school had been a dream of his and during his time at the helm, he saw 2,000 military doctors graduate. Sanford was in the
Army Reserves all his life, and at the time of his death in 1996 he held the rank of colonel. He was assigned to an airborne Special Forces group, and as long as his health permitted continued to jump from airplanes. In 1992, the French government awarded Sanford the ''
Médaille d'Honneur du Service de Santé des Armées'' for his contributions to military medicine in
France. He was the first American to receive this honor. ==Legacy==