Dr. Thomas Bowman Zerfoss, affectionately known by generations of Vanderbilt students as Dr. Tom served as director of the Student Health Center at Vanderbilt from its inception in 1926 until his retirement in 1967. He was born in Bedford, Kentucky June 15, 1895 the son of Louis Frank and Elizabeth Peak Zerfoss. He attended the University of Kentucky playing both varsity basketball and football before transferring to Vanderbilt where he also played both sports, and graduated in 1917. He volunteered for service in World War I attaining the rank of first lieutenant before being discharged in December 1918. He returned to Vanderbilt to earn a medical degree in 1922. He also completed his residency training at Vanderbilt. In addition to a private practice of general medicine and surgery, he served on the clinical faculty for a time and was athletic director at Vanderbilt from 1940 to 1944. At the time of his retirement, the Student Health Center was renamed in his honor but he continued to serve the center until 1976. He died in Nashville, on August 5, 1988.