Published in the ALUMNI JOURNAL spring 2024

“He holds the record as the longest-serving dean of LLUSM, leading for 16 years from 2003 to 2019.”

 

As a junior in medical school, he was the first student to participate in whole person care morning rounds with Wilber Alexander ’93-HON. He was part of a pilot program to fill the physician shortage by accepting medical students after two years of college. Serving as his class representative, he graduated from medical school in 1974 at the age of 22. He completed residencies in general surgery at Loma Linda University (LLU) and urology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Health, followed by a fellowship in neuro-urology, urodynamics, and female urology also at UCLA. He is double board-certified in urology and general surgery.

Tamara L. Thomas ’87, current dean of the Loma Linda School of Medicine (LLUSM), shared, “Dr. Hadley’s leadership promoted the School of Medicine nationally by serving on the Board of Directors of both the Liaison Committee for Medical Education and Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education and is highlighted by his care and interest in both medical students and medical residents.” Hadley’s contribution is especially important since he was the first LLU grad to assume these roles and they are the accreditation boards for all residencies and all medical schools in North America.

He has significantly contributed to LLUSM for several decades. He holds the record as the longest-serving dean of LLUSM, leading for 16 years from 2003 to 2019, including during its 100th anniversary in 2009. He loves sharing the story of Loma Linda University with anyone who will listen. Along with his wife, Donna R. Hadley ’24-HON (School of Nursing class of ’75), they proudly saw three daily “Rounds” devotional books (“Morning Rounds,” “Evening Rounds,” and “Grand Rounds”) come to fruition, of which she was the editor. He is known for his deep care for students and residents and has taken countless selfies with them. Every student who had a baby while in medical school received a sterling silver baby cup from the Hadleys to honor the importance of family. Some students jokingly said they had a baby “for the cup!” At the 2019 LLUSM commencement ceremony, he was awarded the lifelong title of Dean Emeritus and given the Lifetime Service Award, the highest honor LLU Health bestows upon an individual.

“His service is also marked by his leadership that continued and resulted in the formation of a unified LLU Faculty Medical Group, which currently employs over 1,000 physicians and other clinicians, serving in all the clinical departments of the LLU School of Medicine,” said Ricardo L. Peverini ’84, president of the Faculty Medical Group.

He was born in Glendale, California. He is a third-generation urologist, following his maternal grandfather, Roger W.
Barnes 1922, paternal grandfather Henry G. Hadley AFF-1917, and father, Henry L. Hadley ’46. All three generations dedicated their careers to teaching medical students and residents at LLU Health over the past century.

One of his favorite memories was operating with his maternal grandfather, a pioneer in urologic surgery, as well as with the LLU International Heart Surgery Team in Vietnam, as a medical student. One of his electives during medical school was orthopaedics in Davos, Switzerland, where there just happened to be a world-class ski area, with the whole medical team alternating time between the operating room and the ski slopes.

He is currently a professor of urology at LLUSM and plans to retire on August 1, 2024, exactly 40 years to the day from when he started at LLU Health in 1984. He is the author of numerous scientific articles in the field of urology.

He is passionate about keeping the legacy of LLUSM alive, and in his planned retirement it will be his mission to visit as many alumni and classmates as possible in their homes and on Alumni Association trips. Those trips with the Alumni Association have included exotic places such as visiting Antarctica and attending the Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany, which occurs once a decade. Other Alumni Association trips he has taken include cruising on the Danube, the Rhine, the Baltic Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea, and also exploring the Canadian Rockies, Alaska, and the Galapagos Islands.

He loves sharing the story of LLUSM through pictures and words. He is an avid conversationalist and is knowledgeable on most topics but willing to learn more in each interaction whether with a child or an adult. He is warm and amiable. Hadley’s classmate Gordon W. Peterson ’74 recalls how Hadey was greeted at a medical school graduation at which he was officiating as, “Hi, Rog,” by a high school student he knew well. He actively engages people of all ages in all environments, whether at graduation, on an airplane, on a ski lift, in a home, or at an automobile show. Gaining information and data is recreational to him. He is an enthusiastic table game player and can turn even a mundane automobile trip into a competition and game.

Peterson appreciates Roger as “a dedicated educator of not only medical students and residents but also of young people. While on vacation at Lake Powell with a captive audience of elementary-age children, Roger held vocabulary lessons, opening the dictionary and randomly pointing to a word and asking the youngsters for a definition. His instruction was well received by both parents and children.

“His passions include high-powered automobiles, traveling, and sports. He is a life-long sports enthusiast, playing volleyball and other sports during medical school. He still enjoys snow skiing, water skiing, and golfing. He has always supported his children and grandchildren in their school and summer sports adventures.”

Peterson added, “Roger was always prepared for potential problems. For example, he and David Moorhead ’73-B had the foresight to have suture material and supplies to deal with a large scalp laceration—as well as to deal with most minor medical issues—from a wakeboard accident that my son had at the far reaches of Lake Powell, hours from any other medical care. Neither my son nor I blame Roger for the subsequent loss of all his scalp hair!”

He loves spending time with his beloved wife of 48 years, Donna, and their three sons: David ’05, fourth-generation urologist; Craig, a pastor; and Scott ’13, a surgeon, and their families. He has nine grandchildren and is known to them as “Pops.”  

Compiled by Jon R. Kattenhorn ’74, issue editor.